Hyphens have been used with interesting variations – and interesting results as far as SEO is concerned. The best domain name needs to have relevancy in it’s keywords but free of name trademark problems with other websites. It should also be shorter and easier to remeber if possible. Ideally seven characters or less is what you want.
Let’s say you just created a business that you want to name FrozenSeaFoods.com, but you see that name is taken. Should you use a hyphen, as such: Frozen-SeaFoods.com or should you make major name changes?
Well, your best choice is to take a name with no hyphen in it. But there are some exceptions to this situation. Here are some situations when a hyphen could be a good choice. Domain URLs with a hyphen can be a good idea if you need particular words in your domain but all domains without hyphens are bought.
The only ways I would use hyphens are:
1. Complimentary sites specifically for SEO purposes 2. In case my brand has two words or more, it can’t hurt to compliment it by owning the hyphen version as well, but not a must. 3. In cases where the local language dictates the use of hyphens for certain expressions (hyphens are used in German domain names quite often due to the semantics of their language).
4. In cases where the non hyphenated domain is taken and enough marketing dollars are available to make the hyphenated version of the domain a remembered household name.
In which other cases would you use hyphens in domain names?
Source: Reprinted and amended with permission from Sahar Sarid’s The Conceptualist Post – November 27th, 2007
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