Hyphen domain effect SEO?
-
Hi Guys,
I am looking to buy some domain that have the keyword I want in - but my question is;
Does using hypehns in a domain effect your SEO?
Thanks
Gareth
-
-
Hi
We've been using all kinds of domain endings including .co.uk, .uk.net and even .co, it doesn't seem to hurt ctr massively, what it can hurt is people coming back to site, people will forget a domain ending and, if you're uk based, assume it was .co.uk or .com. This is what happens in my experience.
-
Hi Matt
Thank you for your answer..
Glad to hear that using 1 hyphen wont make much difference..
Do you think it matters if I use the UK.NET domain if I am using the website for the UK??
-
Hi Matt
Thank you for your answer..
Glad to hear that using 1 hyphen wont make much difference..
Do you think it matters if I use the UK.NET domain if I am using the website for the UK??
-
There is no penalty as such for having a single hyphen in a domain. There are some related considerations though:
Is the domain likely to cause any confusion? Depending on how you are marketing the site a hyphenated domain can be a pain. Trust me: The main domain I have used for the last 16 years has a hyphen. I get very bored of spelling it out and having the whole "Dash.. no dash - a hypen. Like a minus sign... no that's an underscore" conversation on the phone.
If the non hypenated version of the same is being used for anything similar that can present bigger issues.
Also, hyphenated domains can look more spammy or "low rent", although that isn't usually a big issue with a single hyphen in the name. However it could potentially have a small impact on click through rates in some sectors.
However, short answer is "not really".
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Would a mass data update have a negative effect on SEO?
We have a large eCommerce site with the ability to do an export, change data, and import new data in mass. Over the 15 years that this site has been growing, it has accumulated several inconsistencies in product titles, descriptions, title tags, etc. The question is: If we were to update thousands of product titles ( 's on those pages) and some of the descriptions, would it have a negative SEO impact because of the groundbreaking number of products effected? Or would it only be for the better if they were all technically improvements (both in SEO and UX)? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | frankandmaven0 -
I have rebuilt a website on a new domain and followed SEO protocol to maintain authority, but the results and rankings are declining.
We took over an account for a company called knightdoorservices.com who specialize in doors and windows in Edmonton, Alberta. We built them a new website on a new domain: knightdoorsandwindows.com. We did 301 redirects on all of the old URLs so that they now point to the new URLs so most of the authority should transfer over. Additionally, each page has a properly optimized title, h1 tag, a series of pertinent alt tags, and many instances of the focus keyword for that particular page. Additionally, the website loads quickly and has many high authority inbound links pointing to the domain. We have done this for many other companies and have seen their rankings maintain their position or increase. Is there something that I am missing for this company in particular? Thanks so much!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Web3Marketing870 -
SSL for SEO?
To obtain an SEO benefit from an SSL is there any particular type or brand which is recommended or has a track history? It seems you can pay anything between $20 and $???? (For that matter whatever you want to pay!). Any experience gratefully accepted! Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoman100 -
Sub domain on root domain
Hello,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | dror999
I have a question that I can't find a good answer on.
I have a site, actually a "portal"/ "directory" for service providers.
Now, for start, we opened every service provider own page on our site, but now we get a lot of applications from those providers that thy want sites from their own.
We want to make every service provider his own site, but on sub domain url. ( they don’t mind… its ok for them)
So, my site is www.exaple.com
There site will be: provider.exaple.com
Now I have two questions:
1. can it harm my site in SEO?
2. if one from those sub domain , punished by google because is owner do "black hat seo" , how it will affect the rood domin? It can make the root domain to get punished?
Thanks!!0 -
Aged domain and 301 redirect? (11 year old domain)
Hey everyone, I'm about to launch a new website for an accounting firm. They currently have a website, which has an 11 year old domain. They are doing very well locally for SEO, and i'm guessing it's because of the aged domain, as their website is very badly built, and contains almost no content. They would like to launch the new site with a simpler, easier to remember domain. If i launch the new site, point the aged domain using a 301 redirect, and do redirects for all of the old pages to the newer versions of them, is there a chance the company will lose their current SEO rankings? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RCDesign740 -
Domains for regional websites
Please take a look at 7city.com This landing page contains links to: www.7city.co.uk www.7city.ae www.7city.com.sg and our US website which is also www.7city.com It is programmed so: If you are a first time user and type www.7city.com you go to the landing page above. If you then click on AMERICAS, it sets a cookie and directs you to http://www.7city.com/home . When you revisit www.7city.com in the future as the cookie is set you will be automatically sent to the AMERICAS website i.e http://www.7city.com/home. Our US websites is nor performing well on organic ranking compared to other regional website. Is the above technique hindering our organic ranking in the US. Also, I have been led to believe that you get a higher ranking if the domain is specific to a country. Is this true? Does 7city.com receive higher ranking than if I created it as 7city.us for example? Many Thanks Mark
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | markc-1971830 -
Effects on SEO with CDN
Should we be concerned about any adverse consequences to our site's SEO value when moving the site's assets (javascript files and css files) to a CDN (Akamai)?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Volusion.com0 -
Domain certificate
Hello, I would like to know if there is any certificate we can buy to increase the Seo of my website. Thanks very much for your time
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Cartageno0