Forum

Domain Name question
 

Does anyone know if using a dash (-) in a domain name will cause it to have lower google indexing?
:ranger:

For example, someone has widgetsales.com, and you want to register widgetsales.com too, but that other company doesn't sell widgets, they just blog about them or something... if you made www.widget-sales.com, and actually sell widgets, is this advised? Or would a person be better off using a different domain?

No it won't affect your ranking in google if you have a - I know plenty of top rankings site with it. But it would be harder to advertise since some people will forget and go to the other site also names like that are harder to type so you got to consider that. But overall if you can't find anything better theres no problem with that. Or maybe make it shorter using the abbreviation. w-sales etc

right right..... I suppose you could use widgetdashsales.com as a redirect

I don't think the site I have in mind will ever be a household name... more along the lines of traffic from search engines.

I always leave out the stupid factor of people

It's fine, there is no rank difference. The only problem is when people type in the wrong domain name (without a dash); repeat visitors of course.

Is the repeat visitor aspect a problem? In my situation, the other taken domain has completely different content than the one I have planned.

It's really annoying when you get stuck on a catchy name... new ideas are hard to come by.

It's better to work on a brand name rather then go for a keyword only domain name.. brand names are more professional anyway. Keywords in a domain name help with ranking sure, but don't sacrifice a business name just to get a tiny boost in the search engines.

If you really like it I would recommend getting it and getting another one without the dash redirecting to that one so you can advertise two. Most your loyal customers will bookmark it but the ones who don't will most likely end up on the other site give up on finding yours like noobs and google for another one.

Thanks for the advice guys!

Absolutely lose the dash. Its more harm then good. If you are using the dash because the whole word is already used, they will get a ton of your traffic. And as noted above, people will forget to use it, get lost and move on. There is a very good reason you almost never see it

Yeah the only successful sites i see with the dash are ones that have content that is not easily found on other sites thus people are more likely to bookmark it like video sites from a particular show or sport people love.

^^ What he said.

I got over 70 domains..

Go for a keyword domain. Have atleast one keyword in your domain and also have the same keyword hotlinked throught your website


And dont use a dash for ecommerce if you want to be professional.. People will forget the dash and it just dont look good.

Make your domain no more 3 words long

And finally my secret

Start the first word of domain with a Verb second noun..

If you need help with rankings I work for a good seo business that can rank you top page of google for lots of keywords such as cheap widgets etc...

We work with many top business and many million dollar jewelry companies