To Hypen or not to Hypen, That is the Question...

[abercrombie]

These are just some observations I've made. I'm sure this subject has been pounded to death so lets beat on this dead horse a bit more. I have several celebrity sites and my oldest ones are 8 and 9 years old respectively. The old sites have dashes in the domain because the non-dashed domains were taken long ago. Both are doing fine in the serps. The key word searches for search engines reveals FirstName LastName searches.

I've recently bought some newer up and coming celebs and was able to get the names without the dash which I find so annoying. What I've found is that I rank higher for the FirstnameLastname strung together for both sites than the keywords separate. I don't have the firstnamelastname strung together anywhere on the pages nor with external offsite anchor text.

So... from my findings, the dash does help for SE ranking but probably not for human direct traffic which is usually lower quality in regards to advertising.

 

[Hurley4540]

You spelled "Hyphen" wrong :lol:

 

[MicroGuy]

Do not hyphen, that is the answer.

 

[soggyindo]

Watch out for TMs, and general bad stealing mojo. I'm thinking the individuals will regard the non-hyphened version more of an infringement.

 

[MicroGuy]

You could get both hyphen (SEO) and non-hypen (Human) and redirect hyphen to non-hyphen. Return visitors would be human and use the non-hyphen for main site URL.

 

[Traveler]

Celebrity names are asking for trouble, but it looks like you have gotten away with it so far. I hope your luck holds out for you, personally I stear clear of names with TM issues.

As far as hyphen versus non hyphen, the non hyphen is almost always worth more. I would say always, but if I did I'm sure someone would dig up some random sale where the hyphen actually sold for more than the non hyphen. That however, would be the very rare exception and not the rule.

 

[Federer]

I caught Shopping-Center.com and already have a few companies interested asking "how much?"

Most end users do not care about the hyphen. Search engines even less as the hyphen is the same as a space between the 2 key words. Domainers do care, however, and place little/less value on hyphenated domains. Having said that, there has been a trainload of $xx,xxx sales over the past 2 years.

There is even one at Sedo auction now (3 days left) at:

- Faire-part.com €22,000 (over $30,000) - End user sale.

(Faire-part = is one of the French terms for invitations)

 

[Brunch]

I have always avoided hyphens in general although i think in some rare cases they can work well such as some of the e-domain, i-domain type of names.

 

[DnEbook]

you can see a good hyphen sale each week at dnjournal

 

[weblord]

for serp (and for keeps) use hyphen,
for domain selling, don't use hyphens.

 

[bmugford]

Most end users care about the keywords, more than one well placed hyphen. Most domainers say hyphenated names are "Good for Dev", which is exactly why end users want them. They are developing them, not flipping them.

I caught Shopping-Center.com and already have a few companies interested asking "how much?"

Most end users do not care about the hyphen. Search engines even less as the hyphen is the same as a space between the 2 key words. Domainers do care, however, and place little/less value on hyphenated domains. Having said that, there has been a trainload of $xx,xxx sales over the past 2 years.

There is even one at Sedo auction now (3 days left) at:

- Faire-part.com €22,000 (over $30,000) - End user sale.

(Faire-part = is one of the French terms for invitations)

 

[Federer]

Most end users care about the keywords, more than one well placed hyphen. Most domainers say hyphenated names are "Good for Dev", which is exactly why end users want them. They are developing them, not flipping them.

I couldn't have placed the words any better.

 

[gazzip]

I caught Shopping-Center.com and already have a few companies interested asking "how much?"

Cool, that was quick - Good luck and please keep us posted :tu:

Most end users do not care about the hyphen. Search engines even less as the hyphen is the same as a space between the 2 key words. Domainers do care, however, and place little/less value on hyphenated domains. Having said that, there has been a trainload of $xx,xxx sales over the past 2 years.

Very True, they do seem to be selling, I see them as good for development and a cheaper alternative for endusers who can't pay low to mid 6 figures for strong 2 keyword domains.

I only have a few, maybe less than 20 ish

Most end users care about the keywords, more than one well placed hyphen. Most domainers say hyphenated names are "Good for Dev", which is exactly why end users want them. They are developing them, not flipping them.

:bingo:



.