Domain name with hyphen or not?

[KM-Tiger]

Apologies if this has been covered before and I've missed it.

If I want to promote blue widgets is it better to get the domain

bluewidgets.co.uk

or

blue-widgets.co.uk

if I want to be high in SERPS for "blue widgets".

[neither are available, to save anyone looking!]

 

[Recover My Image]

Buy them both, before someone buys them before you

 

[Recover My Image]

bluewidgets.co.uk was Registered on: 19-May-2005

Lol should have read small print

 

[webpromoterservice]

try and avoid hyphens in a domain.Its easier for a visitor to remember a domain when it does not have any extra characters

 

try and avoid hyphens in a domain.Its easier for a visitor to remember a domain when it does not have any extra characters

who cares about the visitor.

They remember the company name not the domain .

Hyphens have an advantage as the SE's can't always decipher the words as in "essexsex"

Earl

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

And depends on how many words. the more unhyphenated words the harder to interpret.

I'd put it on the hyphenated, and redirect the unhyphenated towards it.

But that's just me, no doubt someone will be along shortly to tell me i'm wrong.

 

[Dawg]

I'm with Boxby and Earl. There is no hard and fast rule, and it's always a balance between memorability, brevity, clarity and what is available.

Availability got me my hyphen as dogtreat was not available, but if you Google 'dogtreat' ...

 

[An Oasis]

There was talk of number of hyphens 1 = fine, 2 = OK, 3 of more and you fall into the hands of the spammer god. Never got to find out if the spammer god descended.

 

[eventdomain]

Simplicity is the key. If you make it tough for someone to visit, remember names, or navigate your site - then it's just another excuse to click away or worse still - not click/visit at all

And no, I cannot stand hypenated domains or 4 word domains, it screams amateur

 

And no, I cannot stand hypenated domains or 4 word domains, it screams amateur

Cause we are dear, but wee's learning.


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...=E4s&q=wind+farms+explained&btnG=Search&meta=

Earl

 

[SEO Positive]

in my experience, if its a short name like - Top Taps, then i would buy toptaps, however if it is - Essex Top Taps Ltd, then i would buy essex-top-taps.com for example.

 

[Colin Parker]

And depends on how many words. the more unhyphenated words the harder to interpret.

I'd put it on the hyphenated, and redirect the unhyphenated towards it.

But that's just me, no doubt someone will be along shortly to tell me i'm wrong.

Spot on Boxby ... that's the way to do it, list on hypen ... especially for PPC.

Your url is an often unlooked but very important part of your CTR (click thru rate) for PPC AND SEO.

Earl uses the apt example of "essexsex" to illustrate how hard unhypenated url's can be to read. Another example from my market is the url 'leadsexchange' ...

Colin Parker

 

[eventdomain]

Cause we are dear, but wee's learning.


http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...=E4s&q=wind+farms+explained&btnG=Search&meta=

Earl

Please, not the serps say so bit. I'm talking about normal folk remembering the business name so it sticks in their minds. You know, the

we love your site so much, I just have to spread the word or I'll burst....

 

Please, not the serps say so bit. I'm talking about normal folk remembering the business name so it sticks in their minds. You know, the

Normal folks send an e-mail or text there mates saying click on this link for a great site called Ocean Octane e.t.c.

As for the SERP's well I would rather have a target audience of 1.3billion as I feel sure I might get a sore throat using word of mouth or any other means.

Earl

 

[robertt]

Please, not the serps say so bit. I'm talking about normal folk remembering the business name so it sticks in their minds. You know, the

What about making your company name the domain name , covers all bases

 

[eventdomain]

As for the SERP's well I would rather have a target audience of 1.3billion

But those 1.3 billion won't be targeted Earl. It's too broad a segment, too much general traffic for it to work well enough.

Oh some will be on-target and sift through to websites, but it's a small amount and not enough for them all to suddenly start talking or recommending some common service.

Basically, most businesses fail to stand out, bcos the web is too big - all those websites, businesses and serp results - millions and millions of results. We are but a needle in a haystack, and that haystack is covering what could be good services to uk industry.

As far as 'finding businesses' on the web, it will get worse before it gets better

 

Basically, most businesses fail to stand out, bcos the web is too big - all those websites, businesses and serp results - millions and millions of results. We are but a needle in a haystack, and that haystack is covering what could be good services to uk industry.

You speak for yourself.

we get about 1 million+ visitors a year to the bigger sites.

So I reckon we are at least a knitting needle.

Earl

 

[An Oasis]

...As far as 'finding businesses' on the web, it will get worse before it gets better

How will that happen? Both G & Y's results have become very good, it's difficult not to find what you are looking for.

 

[eventdomain]

we get about 1 million+ visitors a year to the bigger sites.

www.eventdomain.co.uk gets about 600k of visitors per year, but I doubt the average biz supplier will, whether their SEO'd to hell or not.

So the 1.5 million biz websites out there, are all SEO'd - that's what your telling me right. Ok, so if SEO is that great, then why can't those 1.5 million get on page 1 of any search engine?

Answer that please

 

Eventdomain.co.uk gets about 600k of visitors per year, but I doubt the average biz supplier will, whether their SEO'd to hell or not.

Are well thats down to the demand there is for there products allied to how high they are on the search engines,

Afraid in general your average business owner does not give a lot of thought to there products popularity,

Generally they been selling it in there bricks and mortar,and think all they have to do is whip up a website and hey presto.

Earl

 

So the 1.5 million biz websites out there, are all SEO'd - that's what your telling me right. Ok, so if SEO is that great, then why can't those 1.5 million get on page 1 of any search engine?

Answer that please

Not at all I should imagine at a guess less than 1% are properly SEO'd if that.:|

well come to think of it I know its far lower than 1%

Including your site.

Earl

 

[eventdomain]

Generally they been selling it in there bricks and mortar,and think all they have to do is whip up a website and hey presto

Yes, there's more to this than hypening a domain name, SEOing and hoping for results. But the website name is very important, its the identity, possible branding and what people will memorize, pass on etc - so cannot be taken lightly.

hehe - I know my site isn't seo'd very well, but the thing is my traffic isn't based on the normal general visitor so its no good to me anyway.

And thats my point, many businesses seek a select clientelle, and those visitors are after certain suppliers, want to find them quickly and will bypass the Googles to find it.

2009 Online Advertising Attitudes report found 56% of ABC1 (Professional Status) adults go to specialist niche sites, and a further 34% of British consumers spend the majority of their online time on niche sites

34% - that's a big chunk of traffic, not using major engines, and there's a lot of niche portals out there

Now, taking all this hyphen domain stuff into consideration, each website will be different, and the industry the site represents, the domain can't afford to be silly looking. Nobody will type in eg: www.accommodationforsnowmeninthealps.uk.org

its too long a domain and not memorable, so the 99% of sites won't be found as poor Mr searcher cant find houses for his snowmen So only option is to trawl through the web which will take hours and hours due to the junk these days

So I see its well worth killing yourself brainstorming for that perfect domain name, as this is what people will remember. Suggest a short name for this, or else something catchy.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I don't type in anyone's domain, hardly ever. If it's a company/website i know I google it on name. There is a website I visit several times a day, it doesn't rank in google on it's name because there are too many companies worldwide with simliar names, so instead I google it's name, and the town.

Now, why do I do that rather than type in the URL - because, to me, its easier.

So, what's important to me isn't whether or not its hyphenated, its whether or not I can remember it in the first place, and then how easy it is to find in google.

Hey, I even google my own URL rather than type it in

 

[An Oasis]

I don't type in anyone's domain, hardly ever.

Only domains that don't rank.

 

And the proof of Boxby's point may be found here.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ev...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Earl

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I've just been thinking about it, and it's purely laziness and keystokes. The website I was talking about - its name and town are a total of 6 characters with a space inbetween, and an enter button.

Boxby, is five letters and an enter button.

So, it must be the having to type ".co.uk" that puts me off

 

[webhostuk]

I will prefer the first domain option.

 

[KM-Tiger]

So, it must be the having to type ".co.uk" that puts me off

I think that's more the case of not being sure whether it's co.uk, or .com or something else.

I can think of a few where a well known name doesn't own both, and it's annoying to end up on the wrong site.

 

[SusanP]

People who include a hyphen in their domain name often do so because the non-hyphenated version is already taken. That means that there is someone out there with a very similar name to you and may pick up business that was destined for you.

It's always worth writing your proposed name on paper, all in lower case and without any spaces between the words, just to check what it looks like. The editing company Publish It and the showbiz agency Who Represents clearly didn't do that.

 

[KM-Tiger]

The editing company Publish It and the showbiz agency Who Represents clearly didn't do that.

powergenitalia.com is my favourite.

 

[SusanP]

we get about 1 million+ visitors a year to the bigger sites.

So I reckon we are at least a knitting needle.

Earl

1 million as a proportion of the 1.3 billion mentioned in the email previous to Earl's is still only 0.0008%. Still a sewing needle, I'd say.

 

[TheAlbear]

Again I am with Boxby on this, It really depends on what the domain is, basically you also need to think what are people going type into the search engines to get to your company. As long as it bring up your domain then hyphens or no hyphens doesn’t really matter.

 

[Turismotec]

For me domains with hyphens look spammy, even though they definitely help with search rankings more than a non hyphened URL.

 

[edmondscommerce]

just get both

i would make the hyphenated one the default tho (for SEO purposes) but let the use visit the non hyphenated and get gracefully 301ed to the hyphenated version

 

[QVA - Emma]

just get both

i would make the hyphenated one the default tho (for SEO purposes) but let the use visit the non hyphenated and get gracefully 301ed to the hyphenated version

Agree with that 100% - helps with off line marketing too as you can use the non hyphenated on printed flyers, letterheads, adverts etc and see who's visiting typing your full domain name in off line.

Emma

 

[An Oasis]

For me domains with hyphens look spammy, even though they definitely help with search rankings more than a non hyphened URL.

Do they? I see no difference. Love to see proof of that one.

 

[eventdomain]

Ok, to put an end to this thread, I will say that hyphens are widly used when copying an existing company/domain name, which is illegal as it would be claiming to be what they aren't.

Most companies ARE trademarked, and you can get in much legal trouble copying trademarked biz names (domains). Trouble is, you can't always tell what is trademarked or not, as many don't bother displaying the (R) symbol - so I'd be careful if I were you.

You could be messing with a company that has trademarked the words of their company name. So the fact that hyphen domains are cool, useful or whatever is really irrelevant, as chances are anyone hyphening a domain and connects it to a website, has just broken trademark law.

Very risky thing to do

 

[Frantic Fish]

The main purpose of keyword domains that I see is to get 'service location' or 'certain type of product'. Trademarks usually aren't granted for generic terms like these, even if it's the name of someone's business.

For those worried about whether dashes incur a penalty of themselves, Matt Cutts (Google's head of webspam) said in 2005 that they don't.

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/

He does hint that they could be a taken to be signal of the webmaster's intent so it's possible that they raise some sort of flag. Personally, if you're considering more than one, I'd consider a different choice of domain.

 

You could be messing with a company that has trademarked the words of their company name. So the fact that hyphen domains are cool, useful or whatever is really irrelevant, as chances are anyone hyphening a domain and connects it to a website, has just broken trademark law.

Very risky thing to do

Why on earth would one want to copy a company name,very little value in that unless maybe coca cola.

One would in normal circumstances use hyphens in a product keyword rich domain.

Earl

 

[Dawg]

Ok, to put an end to this thread, I will say that hyphens are widly used when copying an existing company/domain name, which is illegal as it would be claiming to be what they aren't.

Why are you presuming to put an end to this thread? You didn't start it, you aren't a mod; why should you try and end it?
Do you have anything to back up the assertion that hyphens are widely used for illegal purposes? Personally, I doubt it, but am willing to be convinced.

Most companies ARE trademarked, and you can get in much legal trouble copying trademarked biz names (domains). Trouble is, you can't always tell what is trademarked or not, as many don't bother displaying the (R) symbol - so I'd be careful if I were you.

Companies are not trademarked. Company names and logos can be trademarked, and if they are, the trademark usually applies within certain categories only. This limits the chance of a similar name, or domain name, being in conflict with an existing trademark.

You could be messing with a company that has trademarked the words of their company name. So the fact that hyphen domains are cool, useful or whatever is really irrelevant, as chances are anyone hyphening a domain and connects it to a website, has just broken trademark law.

Trademarks are specific I believe, (although again I'm open to correction), and a hyphenated name will be seen as different to a non-hyphenated name. You might well fall foul of the laws dealing with passing off, a different area of law.

Very risky thing to do

Hyphenating a domain name is not "very risky". As with everything, due diligence should be taken, but the risk level is minimal for the most part.