Which is better?

[gray929]

Which is better?

www.buycars.com or www.buy-cars.com

Thats just a random example but is it better to have a domain with a dash or without?

Thanks

 

[Zepia]

I'd say without, I don't like hyphens, they tend to devalue the domain.

 

[shockie]

without is usually best.

 

[teelamph]

Definitely without. Think of telling someone verbally. BuyCars.com=much easier to say.

 

[weblord]

if you can get your hands on the first one, then get that one, if you're branding it and with seo, get both.

 

[Hurley4540]

buycars dot com is better

 

[bloggernoob]

seems like an easy choice considering people don't like - in their domains. i'll start another one. what's better, buycars.net or buycars.org?

 

[Coastalguy]

No dashes if possible and the .net is better than the .org in your example IMO.

ST

 

[gray929]

Why is it easier to brand a domain with dashes for SEO?

Thanks for the answers. . .

 

[bmugford]

In this example BuyCars.com is clearly better, however that type of domain is out of the price range of most domainers.

If you are an average domainer then Buy-Cars.com would be fantastic domain to develop.

Hyphenated domains are awesome to develop and very underrated (Look at the hypenated sales thread). As long as they have decent Word Tracker, Google Results, and PPC Ads.

The hyphenated domain indexes the same way in Google. The downside is you won't get type in traffic. However, 2-3 Word Domains rarely get type in traffic in the first place. You will also lose some traffic to the non hyphen version

But, it is much easier to develop a domain with natural search, than to use a "Brandable" domain, especially for someone with a smaller budget.

seems like an easy choice considering people don't like - in their domains. i'll start another one. what's better, buycars.net or buycars.org?

For a profit generating site .NET is always better.

 

[waynej]

From what I've heard so far, com beats net, net beats org, and no dashes are preferable.
BuyCars.com...wouldn't mind having that one

 

[bmugford]

From what I've heard so far, com beats net, net beats org, and no dashes are preferable.
BuyCars.com...wouldn't mind having that one

Com is always the king, but NET/ORG the content matters.

I would rather have BuyComputers.net, but QuitSmoking.org

 

[Vilice]

I prefer the first one .I don't like the dash.Without it ,spell will be more easy and simple .May be I am lazy

 

[ezimedia]

HI

Yes without the dash is better...

Tom

 

[netzilla]

I would never use a domain that includes a hyphen UNLESS the non-hyphenated .com domain happens to be taken and the keyword(s) are a must have. I would attempt to find other keyword combinations available instead of using a hyphen though.

 

[Pichichi]

i prefer buycars all together

 

[Premiere]

99.999% of the time, the non-hyphen wins. There are only a few cases where it wouldn't, such as for high-end SEo situations for indexing. Bottom line is the non dash always has a higher price.

 

[bmugford]

99.999% of the time, the non-hyphen wins. There are only a few cases where it wouldn't, such as for high-end SEo situations for indexing. Bottom line is the non dash always has a higher price.

The non dash version is always better without a doubt, however if you are planning on developing a site you have to factor in the cost.

Let's say your budget is a couple hundred. It is easier to use a hyphenated domain with high word tracker.

Let's say BuyCars.com is $25K. Buy-Cars.com would cost much less, and be just as good to develop. It is a better choice IMO than a similar domain like BuyCarsToday.com

The downside to hyphenated is mainly the loss in traffic to the non hyphenated version, but unless you have a huge budget it is small trade off for the lower cost.

 

[[email protected]]

all the views expressed till now are of domainers & website owners ....

but do the end-user think the same way?

they open what they want to open, be it the non-premiums, worst nouns , hyphens ... jsut anything.

It all depends on what the site is all about and how it is presented in terms of offline & online marketing.

Domain Type-ins might be lower, but then we talking about the building of brand, building a website!

e-Commerce is most common example used even though one can write ecommerce.

Think!!!! as End-user and bit of Domain-user

 

[commsskills]

my opinion is that if we want the end user perspective, then let's look at the top brands:

eg:
apple.com
ibm.com
hp.com

most are short simple words...even hewlett packard is just hp without hyphens or full spelling

so my vote goes to without hyphens