Plural or hypenated domains worth more or less?

[goofart]

I was just wondering what everyone's opinion is on plural domain names?

Is it better to own a singular domain name rather than plural? ie.

cookies.com instead of cookie.com (a common item that can easily be visualized in bulk)
bulldozer.com instead of bulldozers.com (something that is less common in bulk)
weddingcake.com or weddingcakes.com
wristwatch.com instead of wristwatches.com? (notice thr addition of 2 characters)


what about hypenated domains?

ie. hot-stove.com instead of hotstove.com (regular adjective)
strawberryjam.com instead of strawberry-jam.com (important adjective)
strawberrystudio.com instead of strawberry-studio.com
homersimpson.com instead of homer-simpson.com (name)


the above domain names are just random examples... I don't own or endorse any of those names if they exist.

 

[Domainate.com]

It depends from name to name, and usually depends on either the usage of the plural compared to the singular or the likelyhood of someone searching the plural over the singular. There are obvious cases of each (Pants better than Pant, Email better than Emails, etc.), and some that seem to lean one way over the other for whatever reason (Blog slightly better than Blogs, probably because people usually make only 1 blog, Ringtones slightly better than Ringtone probably because people usually buy and have many ringtones, etc.).

I would say overall, singular is usually better than plural, if anything because the name is that many characters shorter. Some would say plural is better because search engines would pick up both the singular and the plural in the name if it's plural and only the singular if it's singular. However, you can always google both and assume the one with the most results is better and you'll probably be right most of the time, as Google shows usage.

Another thing I've noticed: Plurals of abbreviations are worth far less than singular (DVD better than DVDs, MP3 better than MP3s, etc). Also, plurals using es, y -> ies, etc. are also usually worth far less than singular (business far better than businesses, library far better than libraries, etc.). I'm sure there's more quirks to it than those too. Hope this helps!

Regarding hyphenated names, they are almost 100% always worth less than non-hyphenated.

 

[Phronesis]

Agree with Crooky.

Non-hyphenated are definitely worth more particularly if the name is apt to get type-ins. Who types a hyphen when looking for a domain?

Singular vs plural depends completely on the domain and extension. For instance, mortgages*com and mortgage*com would probably have comparable value, whereas mortgage*info would likely draw greater value than mortgages*info - just because it fits the extension better.

 

[Domainate.com]

Singular vs plural depends completely on the domain and extension. For instance, mortgages*com and mortgage*com would probably have comparable value, whereas mortgage*info would likely draw greater value than mortgages*info - just because it fits the extension better.

Good point there. I'm sure extensions like .biz and .tv would also have their quirks in that regard also.

 

[TrueServers]

Agree with Crooky.

Non-hyphenated are definitely worth more particularly if the name is apt to get type-ins. Who types a hyphen when looking for a domain?

Singular vs plural depends completely on the domain and extension. For instance, mortgages*com and mortgage*com would probably have comparable value, whereas mortgage*info would likely draw greater value than mortgages*info - just because it fits the extension better.

I also agree with Crooky and Phronesis.

 

[goofart]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. I'm not actually looking for a specific name actually... just thought it would be a good discussion. I only have a couple of domain names but I'm thinking of getting another one specifically for a short story I want to write.

 

[Dr.Lee]

Good points. I also learned much from this post. Thank you all.
Lipeng

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Most have answered already, but I'd suggest getting the one that "sounds" best in common use. If you were going to look for the product and type in a name, which would you type first? That's the better one.

If you have a choices, get both. The sum of the two is worth more than both separately. Also, don't forget other word types for non-nouns as well, such as this sample:

ski - very good
skis - good
skiing - very good
skier - okay

The only version that's almost always worth passing on is the past tense, such as skied.

 

[Domainate.com]

The only version that's almost always worth passing on is the past tense, such as skied.

Also I would add -ly words to that list. Barely any of them are worth regging.

 

[Charley]

Made me analyze better on seleting words . Nice thread.

 

[rocknrollo]

hyphen-names

I have never typed in a hyphen on a search and I am not sure if anyone ever does, but I have two hyphen domains that get well over a thousand uniques every month. So I would not dismiss the dash.