Alternate Domain Names and SEO

undoIT

undoIT

New Member
I have a domain name that can be entered with or without hyphens and decided to go with the hyphenated version because I it would be better for SEO to have the keywords distinct. I also have the domain without hyphens.

I added the non-hyphenated URL to my hosting as a parked domain and then created a 301 redirect to go to the hyphenated version. I am wondering if there are any caveats to doing this and if there is a better technique. I remember reading that Google doesn't like redirected domain names.
 
abwebdesign

abwebdesign

New Member
undoIT said:
I have a domain name that can be entered with or without hyphens and decided to go with the hyphenated version because I it would be better for SEO to have the keywords distinct. I also have the domain without hyphens.

I added the non-hyphenated URL to my hosting as a parked domain and then created a 301 redirect to go to the hyphenated version. I am wondering if there are any caveats to doing this and if there is a better technique. I remember reading that Google doesn't like redirected domain names.
Click to expand...

Firstly, it is a common misconception that hyphenating your domain name will positively affect your SEO and SERPs results. You should probably go with the domain without the hyphens, as that is usually easier for people to remember. Adding hyphens can be problematic if there is a competing website using the same words without hyphens -- you could potentially looks hits by that. Plus, Google will "parse" your domain name's words to fit the search results.

If you search for "web design", you will notice that if pages included in the search results have website and design in the domain, Google will highlight the matching partials. (E.g., websitedesign.com)

Secondly, adding a 301 redirect is exactly the correct method for you to use.
The 301 header response tells Googlebot, and other search engine bots, that the content of www.xyz-company.com is now permanently located at www.xyzcompany.com. At that point, all indexing of content will resume using the second address, and eventually the old address will be phased out of the SERPs.

Lastly, "Google doesn't like redirected domain names"
This is only true if it is not done within the proper context, and in this case you have handled the situation appropriately. So no worries.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask!
 
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globalseo

New Member
abwebdesign said:
Firstly, it is a common misconception that hyphenating your domain name will positively affect your SEO and SERPs results. You should probably go with the domain without the hyphens, as that is usually easier for people to remember. Adding hyphens can be problematic if there is a competing website using the same words without hyphens -- you could potentially looks hits by that. Plus, Google will "parse" your domain name's words to fit the search results.
Click to expand...

excellent point...agree with this, hyphenated URLs are not user friendly..
 
ian

ian

Administrator
Staff member
I do use hyphenated domains on occasion if the keywords are good and highly searched for and the non hyphenated version is obviously not available.
But if I owned both, I would definitely use the one without the hyphen, search engines these days are a lot more intelligent and can parse the words in the URL without the need for a hyphen.
 
W

walkingbird

New Member
for some domains it is best to get the hyphenated one the

for example seomen.com Google might see it as se omen or seo men so you would want to hyphenate for a domain like that
 
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walkingbird

New Member
like i said only use hyphens when you need to separate the keywords if your keywords could be seen as two different things. You don't want people reading your url wrong and you don't want search engine. Only use hyphens when you need to make a space for users and search engines - when the search engine could parse your url for different keywords.
 
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