Question about domains with 2 or 3 hyphens
-
I have a client who has 3 domains in the following format:
keywordkeywordkeywordkeyword.co.uk
keyword-keyword-keyword-london.co.uk
And needs advice on the best one to use.
The client is leaning towards the one with 3 hyphens because it has more keywords but I am a bit worried about using it at the risk of it looking too spammy because of the hyphens.
So my question is will 3 hyphens as in the above example cause anything negative in terms of SEO? We will not be doing any black-hat seo tactics but even so will 3 hyphens cause any problems or is it safer to go with just two hyphens?
And secondly the client asked if Google can understand different words or is it better to have hyphens so Google can understand that there are different words?
-
Totally agree with Moosa's suggestion, even for just one reason:
It looks spammy and is associated with spammers, this is one of those things that can make or break website conversion.
-
Google have the ability to read and separate words accordingly so hyphens are not really a need!
As far as choosing the domains is concern, if I would be at your place I would have turn down all the domains as I always keep certain things in mind when choosing a website URL
- Google either give no or very low weight to keywords within the domain, so if you have “pet store” in your domain name it alone will not really help you get better rankings for pet store! You still need to go for all other SEO practices to achieve that target.
- URL should be a name that people can easily remember so that they can mention easily if they want in their day to day conversations. It’s always easy to say “Moz” then “Search Engine and Digital Marketing agency Moz”
- Too many hyphens in the domain are normally of low quality or at least it’s an assumption because back in the time (to an extent still) these type of domains are normally used by spammers
My advice would be to use a domain name that is short, catchy and relevant to your niche (not necessary to have a keyword in it) and then invest on building a brand name so that you can get natural links which is not really possible with too many keywords I the domain name.
Hope this helps!
-
Hi
To answer your last question first, yes, Google can generally understand different words joined together, but hyphenated is better for human readability.
Regarding your domain name choice, it really depends what keywords you are using in the domain as to what will work the best and what may or may not appear spammy. The spammy feel, if there is one, will really be to do with how people read the domain - and also maybe how long-winded a long domain name can be to type in.
Re Google, I'm not sure you are going to get much advantage from an SEO perspective by using multiple keywords in your domain, especially in the move towards semantic search, but as I say, it really depends on what those keywords are.
I hope that helps,
Peter
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
-
Is it legitimate to both ask and answer question in GMB
I've got a list of FAQ's that my manager would like to see in GMB. Is is ok to simply ask the question and answer them? I thought I'd be able to add them, rather like a photo, but realised, being Google, it's not that straight forward.
Local Listings | | Catherine_Selectaglaze0 -
Website with higher domain authority and good content not ranking locally?
I've got a client that has a higher domain authority than top ranking sites, is pretty well optimized from a content perspective, has good local reviews but still isn't ranking well at all... often not at all in local results. We don't show in map pack or even regular organic listings in a pretty small city. They are a local sign shop- so they make business signs/church signs etc. Have you seen anything negatively impacting local rankings that is worth digging into as possible cause? A few historical insights: They had some spammy backlinks (we think a competitor was being shady) that I've sent disavow files into Google for They had a previous SEO person create 100's of orphan pages for every possible city + offering combination you can think of- I've cleaned those up via 301 redirects Should I just keep waiting, doing content optimization or am I missing something else?
Local Listings | | karmadigital0 -
Local citations - domain or business name
I have a bit of a tricky situation with a client where there is some history with old domains. But this is the current situation which I need to stick to: Business name (all made up) is Acme Print 2 live websites - acme-niche(dot)com and productsandservices(dot)com Third website acmeprint(dot)com is live and owned by an old partner, different NAP. acme-niche(dot)com and productsandservices(dot)com share the same NAP. Not much traffic and a bit of a poor domain profile for acme-niche(dot)com, so suggest just using productsandservices(dot)com. Also acme-niche(dot)com would be a bit misleading for use for the whole business in any case. However, all content for productsandservices(dot)com refers to Acme Print. Because of all the confusion should we keep the productsandservices(dot)com referring to Acme Print throughout, or update with new productsandservices(dot)com logo, mention that it is a trading name of Acme Print and refer to the trading domain name throughout the content. I want to know the best option for listings and citations - the trading name which is a domain name or Acme Print? I've not worked with a local site where domain name and business name and a separate business with domain are mixed up.
Local Listings | | MickEdwards0 -
Domain Purchases!
I am a website developer and designer and I know all about the basics with regards to seo, webmaster tools, content and meta tags! I am currently re-building my main site from the ground up and is nearly finished! Within my site I have a section with 5 pages that's designed for potential clients who are thinking about hiring a developer like me to build them a website. This section I have named _'So you want a website!'._It's designed to make people think about what, why and what they want their website to achieve as well as how much it costs to have it built. My question is this.... I have just purchased the domain soyouwanta.website with the intention for it to basically redirect to the named section above! I hear it's good to have similar named domains to redirect to main sites and is good for seo! How do the search engines treat new domains to redirect to main domains and how do I add this to webmaster tools? Looking forward to your answers. Phillip Dews
Local Listings | | Brumdesign0 -
Strange question about link juice.
I have been trying to get to the bottom of a Google algorithm error and have been showing examples of the issue at hand in another forum. This is not the same link that I have mentioned in other forums, so this is just an example. If repeated several times in a thread or series of threads, would this shortened link carry any juice for the featured result on the page? I was told it would, I do not believe it does anything other than illustrate my question in the thread.
Local Listings | | Krankensigns0 -
Local listing ranking higher than domain name
Hi everyone,I was wondering why on my ranking report there is a fluctuation between the local listing page and the domain name page. Is it a way to always get the domain name ranking higher than the local listing?Thanks for your support,RM
Local Listings | | skrauss0 -
Question about onsite NAP as it relates to Local Search
Hi Gang, State requirements mandate that our law practice (Keller & Keller) properly display their distinct business entities on all advertising materials, including our website. Specifically, our offices are set up in a way that makes Indiana's law office an LLP, New Mexico's an LLC, and Michigan's a PLLC. All 3 offices/states are represented on a single domain, but I want to be careful about mixing the different registration titles (LLP, LLC, PLLC) throughout our site when we commonly refer to ourselves simply as Keller & Keller throughout the main pages and in our content. I worry it may negatively affect our local listings? (One idea is to place a simple 'disclaimer' in the footer throughout our site that identifies the business entities, however, I'm still concerned this too might affect/confuse our local listings?) All thoughts, advice, and theories are welcome! Thanks, everyone! (And to my fellow Yanks, enjoy a safe Memorial Day weekend!) W-
Local Listings | | Wayne760 -
Local Listing Question for Vet Office
We have done the off-page directory listings work for a veterinary office (submitting to the main data-aggregators, as well as sites such as CitySearch/Manta/Yelp) & now want to supplement those with submissions for each individual doctor. There are 8 doctors at their practice. The plan was to submit them to only 3 sites - the main data-aggregators of LocalEze, ExpressUpdateUSA & Factual. They only have one phone number (their main number) to use for listings. So can we submit the doctors all with the same number? Or is that a total waste of time b/c listings will end up being duplicated/merged down the road? What do you recommend that we do?
Local Listings | | JohnWeb120