I am in the process of registering a domain name for a website. I am NOT looking for a brandable name and I am focused on getting the maximum Exact Match SEO benefit. My question is:
Does adding hypens in a domain name lessen the exact match benefit in Google and other search engines? For example, just based on exact match, which of these domains would work better as a exact match:
keyword1-keyword2-keyword3 dot com
keyword1keyword2keyword3 dot org (the com and net are already parked by someone else)
I have been searching on Google for an answer and very few pages deal with this specific issue or the answers are unfounded generalizations and do not come from knowledge or experience. A few pages said that exact matches with hypens do not get as much juice as those without hyphens. Anyone experimented with this and know from experience what the answer is?
If you have the exact keyword phrase that was searched for in your URL then it’s going to add a little bit of ‘relevance’ to your SERP score. It doesn’t make a big difference and certainly doesn’t guarantee you a ranking. Hyphens help a search engine bot distinguish the seperate words in the URL but don’t have any other SEO impact (Assuming that Google can read dashes as well as they read underscores wish is still not 100% certain)
From experience and a general consensus in the SEO industry.
I know that there are no guarantees, but my question was whether hyphens lessen the impact of an exact match domain name, not whether there is an impact to having keyword phrases in a domain name. I am trying to decide between a hyphenated name and a non-hyphenated names for maximum ‘exact match’ benefit. Should an exact match domain be with hyphens or not?
ANY time you do something JUST for search engines, without regard for your REAL visitors, you will end up regretting it (unless you are a short-term spammer).
Yes, hyphenated words in a URL are easier for search engines to distinguish. No, it hasn’t been proven how much difference it makes in a domain (having a hyphen or not).
I work with one of the biggest brand names in our country that has the exact match keywords in the domain. They are not hyphenated. Competitors have tried ursurping our SERP dominance using hyphenated domains without success because the search engines are smart enough to recognise concatenated words in a URL.
In that case if you want to gain the maximum value from an “exact match” domain then you’d be aiming for the version without the hyphen.
But the options you presented are hyphenated dotcom Vs exact match dotorg, which adds other factors to be considered (eg. if you’re a business site, why would you want to appear as a dotorg to your users?)
If you’re still not sure and you have the time, register both domains and setup up two related websites, one on each domain. Then see which gets better rankings.
The site is really an information resource. I do not want to use the dot org, but the dot com is not available and I wanted to play around with an exact match domain. I love the whole SEO thing and like to experiment to see how things really work. The site will provide quality original articles contained in a blog. The site will also provide a format for consumers to post reviews about a related product. It the niche, there are a lot of sites that provide very biased reviews, so that they can make money. I want to provide a place where normal users can post their honest reviews, so that other users can get honest opinions and not self-serving ones.
It is amazing to me that if you ask about maximizing SEO, people like to imply you want to spam or will not provide a great resource for your users.
I want to create a quality website that helps users, but I also want to maximize the SEO of the site using white hat methods. Is that so bad? The site is a fun, learning experiment and experience for me.
I really, really don’t want the dot org, but might have to use it to try out what I want to see.
That’s because people who understand how Google works have realised that the best way to rank well is not to do anything at all except be genuinely useful. Therefore, if you’re ‘trying’ to rank well you’re a spammer (not saying YOU are) because you must be trying to attain a rank that you don’t actually deserve.
As for the dashes, if they help search engines distinguish the individual words in your URL then surely that’s a better exact match?
A lot of people are spammers and scammers! That isn’t to imply that you are, but it’s depressingly common. And quite often, myths around SEO get taken up as fact, when they only work for short-term spam and scam, and will do no good for a long-term strategy.
Hyphenated domain names is just one of those myths. While a hyphenated domain name just might give you a 0.1% edge in short-term SEO, you’re setting yourself up for problems in the longer term, because people just aren’t good at using hyphens, and you reduce the likelihood of people successfully finding your website through direct addressing. Likewise, if you have the same domain name as another site but with a different TLD, you may well lose visitors to the other site if they type in the wrong URL - particularly if the established site is a .com - and you may be risking trademark infringement as well.
Your best bet, if you can, is to get a unique domain name - you might have to add words to get that, but it will usually pay off in the long run.
There used to be a consesus to use hyphens but in my opinion it makes little difference to search engines. They seem to use character matching on domains anyway so if the search words appear in the domain name they appear highlighted whether theres hyphens between or no space at all. The only real difference is it breaks up the words so a visitor can read them more easily. As far as search engines go… little or no benefit I’d say.
I really am just trying to find out if ‘Exaxt Match’ domain names are really ‘Exact match’ if they contain hyphens. Not really looking for advice on anything else like the value of quality content, responses that imply that being interested in SEO makes you a spammer, the value of different TLDs, or trademark infringement, or how to create a unique or memorable domain name, branding, what it takes to build a quality site, or what it needs to develop a good site. I read plenty of SEO books and blogs, but many books do not deal with ‘Exact match’ when in comes to domain names and whether hyphens lessen the effect.
I am trying to learn about ‘Exact Match’ domains and what are the specific guidelines for one. Do hyphenated names really count as an exact match and get the Google exact match boost. I am trying to get input from SEOs that have experimented with this and really know from experience what really counts as an ‘Exact Match’ domain name.
Cut and pasted from my very first post:
"If you have the exact keyword phrase that was searched for in your URL then it’s going to add a little bit of ‘relevance’ to your SERP score. It doesn’t make a big difference and certainly doesn’t guarantee you a ranking. Hyphens help a search engine bot distinguish the seperate words in the URL but don’t have any other SEO impact (Assuming that Google can read dashes as well as they read underscores wish is still not 100% certain). From experience and a general consensus in the SEO industry. "
So, if there is an advantage using hyphens it’s so miniscule as to not be something worth worrying about. Just design your site/pages for humans and you’ll be doing what Google wants you to, always the safest route to take. That’s not patronising you, it’s not general advice, it’s not bland assurance, it’s an important fundamental concept in SEO and is the best way to answer questions like the one you asked. If you’re not sure, ask yourself - “Would I do it if there were no search engines and does it help my users?”
JMcClure, I did not post a question about how to make a quality site or how to best serve web users. Let’s assume that I know how to do both of those things. I already know the website 101 stuff about creating quality content for users. I asked a very specific question about ‘Exact match’ domains. Do you have anything relevant to add to what exactly qualifies as a ‘Exact Match’ domain? Hyphenated or no? That was the only question I asked for information on.
I dunno, maybe I’m not speaking english or you’re just not reading my posts properly. You asked a very specific question and you got the most specific answer you’re gonna get AND you got a really good perspective to answer questions like this from in the future but you’re just not having it are you. I give up on this now, mostly because of your attitude.