Choosing correct domain name: with or without the hyphen?

Previously we wrote about the importance of having dot com domain over other top level domains (TLDs) like .net.

Choosing the correct domain name is important for SEO. Just for an example:

We used the Keywords to search in Google, which has highlighted domain name, title and meta description in the above screenshot:

• The name and link that is appearing on the top of the search result with one keyword made bold by Google.
• In the meta description; the keywords are highlighted too.
• In the domain name the keywords are highlighted too.

We did the search with “Customize Windows 7” ; this website has little to do with customizations. The domain name has now been some what a misnomer.

Google Webmasters tool does not show “customize” as a important keyword for obvious reason. But, observe, how important is the keywords within the domain name.

As one or two word domain name are getting harder to find, web masters often think of using hyphen between the words of the domain name.

The question whether a domain name might have the same impact on search engine positioning using hyphens in between compared to a non hyphenated domain name; unfortunately has no universal answer, still we will try to come to an conclusion.

Example of having hyphens within the domain name

domainname . com is without any hyphen; domain-name .com is with a hyphen.

Domain name as a url of a website from visitor’s point

Novice users are not used with using hyphen within the domain name (to type it in the address bar). They simply understand that domain name would be a continuous series of meaningful words ending with .com / .net / .gov / .org .

So, it is possible to miss some visitors for the typographical problem. If we had the name customize-windows; many people might remember it as “customize windows” and then forget the hyphen in between. So, the parked domain, customizewindows would get the direct traffic. Visitors could not recall the hyphen in between from their memory.

Domain name from SEO point of view

In the search engine optimization the domain name and title of the page are also important. Especially from the perspective of search engine optimization the dashes means within the domain name positions it successfully with good keywords in search engine result pages because the search engines interpret dashes as spaces.

Domain name : conclusion

So, from SEO point of view, hyphenated domain names, provided that they are actually separate words is therefore clearly is the better choice.

On the other hand, a hyphenated domain name might be difficult to remember.

If the domain name you bought is without hyphen and it is very valuable in the SEO market, it is worthy to buy the hyphenated domain name as well and redirect it to your main domain. Our guess is, within 2017, even the two worded hyphenated domain names will be very difficult to find free.