Questions: hyphenated domains

[trevor]

I know it's best to not have a hyphenated domain. However, if you are going for a generic term, what are the disadvantages of getting a hyphenated domain (besides losing type-in traffic)? I'm basically interested in domain names with only one hyphen.

How do search engines treat hyphenated domains? For example, are Baseballfield and baseball-field treated the same?

Can anyone provide some insight?

Thanks

 

[Prof. Goldbloom]

If you do a search for just about anything, on just about any website, you'll usually see the unhyphenated names before you see any hyphens. That could be because the developers and end users don't put much stock into hyphens. Therefore, the unhyphens would get more focus and tend to rank higher, but I personally believe that a hyphen WILL penalize you in search rankings.

On top of that, hyphens are harder to say and remember when giving out your address. As a matter of fact, I would go with a CC before going with a hyphen.

 

[Diabro]

It's harder to explain the hyphen over the phone so you lose market share IMHO. The best solution is to have both but that is not practical in all cases.

 

[Shasta]

Directly typed into search box...

Baseballfield - Google - 3,290 Yahoo - 3,600,000 Ask - 52
Baseball-field - Google - 194,000 Yahoo - 143,000,000 Ask - 389,500

When you type in baseballfield Google serves up mainly sites with baseballfield in the url.

When you type in baseball-field (or baseball field as most people would) Google serves up mainly sites with the word baseball field somewhere in the text.

I believe that Search engines and parking services appreciate the dash as it helps optimize your domain. Especially, when it comes to compound words. It's hard for them to know that baseballfield is not base, ball, field, or baseball field or if you wanted it to be baseballfield as one word. If you want it to be baseball-field tell them with a dash.

In closing I'd say that if you want to get the most visitors to your site, you should register both versions.

 

[Name Trader]

That's an interesting example. I had always been of the opinion that search engines treated non-hyphenated and hyphenated domains the same. (It was the content and backlinks that mattered most).

 

[.tv]

I personally love hyphenated names.

san-jose.com was recently sold for xx,xxx.

Here is the list of hyphenated domain name sales:
http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/161100-another-reported-hyphen-domain-sale.html

Reps appreciated.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Directly typed into search box...

Baseballfield - Google - 3,290 Yahoo - 3,600,000 Ask - 52
Baseball-field - Google - 194,000 Yahoo - 143,000,000 Ask - 389,500

Better comparison might be:

"Baseball Field" - Google - 1,450,000 (With quotes)
Baseball-Field - Google - 1,450,000 (With quotes)

Just my .02

-Allan :gl:

 

[hostingsearch]

I think search engines are very friendly to hyphenated domains.

I've sold many hyphenated domains on sedo. here's the price list:

174 GBP
174 GBP
80 GBP
75 GBP
104 GBP
100 USD
100 GBP
75 EUR
60 EUR (a free .info)
60 GBP
100 GBP (.org)
190 EUR
250 EUR
60 EUR (a free .info)
140 GBP (.org)
325 EUR (.org)
>3300 EUR
150 EUR
700 USD
400 USD

 

[Shasta]

Better comparison might be:

"Baseball Field" - Google - 1,450,000 (With quotes)
Baseball-Field - Google - 1,450,000 (With quotes)

Just my .02

-Allan :gl:

Yeah, he asked how the search engines would see baseballfield as opposed to baseball-field so that's what I told him. However, I should have included that as well. Thanks!

 

[Cyberdev]

I agree and have found that hyphenated domains with the right generic keywords can be profitable. Probably best to develop them in a seo friendly manner and monetize with ppc.

I think search engines are very friendly to hyphenated domains.

I've sold many hyphenated domains on sedo. here's the price list:

174 GBP
174 GBP
80 GBP
75 GBP
104 GBP
100 USD
100 GBP
75 EUR
60 EUR (a free .info)
60 GBP
100 GBP (.org)
190 EUR
250 EUR
60 EUR (a free .info)
140 GBP (.org)
325 EUR (.org)
>3300 EUR
150 EUR
700 USD
400 USD

 

[JMJ]

In all fairness

"BaseballField" 2,750

"Baseball-Field" 1,390,000

Sure it's better to have a name without - but SEO specialists love them. I personally (yes even being a domainer) would prefer - over spending $xxx,xxx for the alternative.

 

[mhdoc]

More and more I find the "good" names are parking pages. So if you are into content you can take a hyphenated dot anything and beat them in the rankings. I suppose some day the owner(s) of the good names will build them out but that could take years.

 

[comicbookguy]

I have a question. What about if say Baseball-field.com , then would baseball--field.com be just as good with search engines. (Note 2 hyphens) .Not talking for resale , just parking purposes.

 

[SlickWorld]

If you are targeting search engine traffic only and not trying to build a brand with your website, hyphenated domains are actually much better. It helps the search engines know what the keywords are.

There are very few situations where I would buy a hyphenated domain, but targeting search engine traffic (like when keyword sniping) is a great time to do so.

 

[Shasta]

More and more I find the "good" names are parking pages. So if you are into content you can take a hyphenated dot anything and beat them in the rankings. I suppose some day the owner(s) of the good names will build them out but that could take years.

Great point! I was just thinking about that after looking over a posting in the fixed listings section from a guy selling some names like i-french.com for as low as $14 each. Those names are a bargain, however, he's trying to sell them here (in the four letter capitol of the internet) to resellers rather than directly to some geo related businesses / endusers.

 

[DnEbook]

i have a few
j-o-b.info
p-e-t.inffo
3d-tv.tv
3d-tvs.tv
solar-robots.com

i think with the 3d tv it doesn't hurt ?