When to use hyphens in domain names

Considerations when choosing hyphens in domain names

Finding a great idea that doesn’t already exist on the hugely expansive internet can be quite difficult. Once you’ve got the idea, finding the perfect domain name (which isn’t already taken) is usually the next challenge.

When the perfect domain name for your future site is taken should you keep searching? Or, is it a smart idea to use hyphens in domain names?

There are quite a number of questions you need to ask yourself when it comes to choosing whether or not to use hyphens in a domain name:

1. Is my initial goal to rank highly in Search Engines to benefit from free organic traffic?

If the answer is yes, then choosing a hyphenated domain name that contains your target keywords can allow you to achieve high rankings within search engines a lot easier than choosing a domain name which doesn’t contain target keywords.

The reason for this is that it’s quite easy to get inbound anchor text* links to your website containing your target keywords which are also contained within your domain name.

* (Anchor text is the hyperlinked words on a web page – the words you click on when you click a link. It tells search engines what the page is about. Used wisely, it boosts your rankings in search engines, especially in Google).

Higher search engine rankings can outweigh the initial disadvantage of how inconvenient a hyphenated domain name is. This is simply because visitors coming from search engines won’t need to type in the domain name in order to access it. They can simply click on the listing given in search engine results.

2. Are there any SEO benefits to simply having my target keywords within my domain name?

Anchor link benefits and ease of readability (for humans) are undoubtedly the greatest SEO benefit. However, the recent launch of Bing, the search engine formerly known as Live Search, has led to talk that it is more likely to return websites higher within the results pages if they contain the searched-for words in the URL. This will no doubt become more obvious as the engine algorithm is more widely studied.

3. Where are those people who forget to put in my hyphen going to end up?

Word of mouth can result in some of the best leads to any business. It is worth keeping in mind that most people are not accustomed to using hyphenated domain names and a lot of potential visitors may not assume there is a hyphen within the domain name of the website that was recommended to them. Even return visitors may simply forget to include the hyphen when they are coming back to your site. If these potential customers could end up at a competitor’s site (who owns the non-hyphenated version of your domain name) then the decision on whether or not to choose the hyphenated domain may not be a wise one.

Are there any other factors to take into account when choosing whether to include hyphens in a domain name?

Webmasters should also consider whether or not their domain name is more understandable if they use a hyphen. On first glance the domain dollarsexchange.com may not clearly highlight that they offer currency exchange! The use of a hyphen can make such a website much clearer (e.g. dollars-exchange.com).

Hyphenated or Unhyphenated?

There are indirect SEO advantages to using hyphens in domain names through the use of anchor text. In some cases, a hyphenated domain name is necessary to make its meaning easier to understand.

One of the main reason people choose hyphenated domain names is to get target keywords within the domain. If Bing makes a dent into Googles market share and chooses to give noticeable weight to keywords within the actual domain there could be a much greater importance to ensuring your website name contains the keywords you target in search engines.

When do you use hyphens in domain names?
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