Need help with - in a .com name such as ie www.cell-phones.com

**youngmarketplace** · 08-09-2006 09:17 PM

Hey you all!

I am thinking about buying another domain name.

I have wondered for a long time if having a - hyfin in the name would be bad for search listings for in general are harder for people to reconize?

Such as if I wanted American Airlines (just and example)

lets say www.americanairlines.com was already taken. would I be hurting myself largly if i had www.american-airlines.com ? what about if you added --- of them such as www.cell---phones.com

I am just asking is it bad to use a - between two words, will I still come up higher on lets say google listings or actually lower because of the - ?

Thanks alot!

**youngmarketplace** · 08-10-2006 12:50 AM

does anyone know?

**NeeJam** · 08-10-2006 09:32 AM

Depends on how many high ranknig sites are linking to you. For example keyword ''poker'' and you have www.poker-site.com for example if you have alot of high ranking poker sites and other high ranking sites linking to you then for that keyword your ranking will rise.

- is sometimes better then not having it becuase for example www.penisland.com it would be better as www.pen-island.com for obvious reasons. Also it gives you two seperate keywords clearly makred for the search engines even though they are getting alot better at working out the exact words its hard to detect if you have a domain like www.penisland.com becuase you immedialtey think ''Penis Land'' instead on ''Pen Island''.

However i would never recommend -- as not alot of people will type - in twice.

Hope this helps,
n-james

**Aletheides** · 08-10-2006 09:58 AM

Lol yea james that's a perfect example where a - would fit.

"what about if you added --- of them such as www.cell---phones.com "
But young I think that's just tacky, 2 would be overdoing it, 3 is laughable.

**sl.market** · 08-10-2006 10:04 AM

Well, a hyphen doesn't stop results...

Its just not looked upon.

For example, if you were to try to buy www.cellphones.com and it ws taken you could try www.cell-phones.com, but why not just use www.mycellphones.com

"my" is a good replacement for the hypen because aot of good domain names don't have a my in the begining, like www.myclassbuzz.com or mymail

Continuing, "i" is another good replacement, like www.ilance.com

It is frowned upon becuase the user sees it and it look complicated, and sloppy

Myclassbuzz.com looks a whole lot better then class-buzz.com

**youngmarketplace** · 08-11-2006 10:52 AM

thanks, thats a great help!

**Karen** · 08-11-2006 11:01 AM

I have tons of domains, some with hyphens and some without. I have not experienced much of a difference between the two when it comes to rankings or visitors.

Personally, I find most people - when talking in person - need the domain name writen down (unless your domain is less than 4 letters) so it doesn't matter if it has a hyphen or not.

Karen

**gambit** · 08-11-2006 11:08 AM

-dashes is good for SEO or internet marketing. Without one is good for over all marketing such as offline or online marketing.

**fattony** · 08-11-2006 11:08 AM

A hypen in a domain name can hurt your site for the reasons mentioned above i.e. people forgetting that the hyphen is there etc.

But i have never heard of it hurting your rankings. Now where a hyphen can really make or break a domain is in the domain resale market. Then a hyphen can make the difference between a $1000 domain and a $200 or less domain.

BTW lol at penisland.com. I clicked on it and theres actually a real site there hahaha