Hyphen or no hyphen SEO.

**Lee_K_00** · 08-02-12

Well, what's better as far as SEO is concerned, is it better to have both i'm guessing? Or would it make no significant difference?

I though I had seen a post on this a few weeks back but can't find it.

**accelerator** · 08-02-12

Domain names - better to have non-hyphenated names.

File names - Use a hyphen to separate words, rather than an underscore.

Rgds

**Lee_K_00** · 08-02-12

So as for file name or paths which would be better for SEO?

w w w.domainname.co.uk/keyword/word1-word2-word3-word4

or

w w w.domainname.co.uk/keyword/word1word2word3word4

**accelerator** · 08-02-12

I like to use:

http://www.domainname.co.uk/word1-word2-word3-word4.php

Rgds

**Lee_K_00** · 09-02-12

Also meant to ask, would I benefit from having both of the domains, hyphen and without? Or would it make no difference?

**alexthekidd** · 09-02-12

My sites use a mixture of hypthen and no hyphens. Argument is that Google treats the word 'keywordA-KeywordB' as seperate. I am ranking 1st page for keywords with hypens....

**Steve2009** · 09-02-12

Originally Posted by accelerator

File names - Use a hyphen to separate words, rather than an underscore.

Rgds

Why do you say this?? I have always used underscore for file names for many many years and also hyphens the same. I really don't think it makes any difference now since operating systems and various modern platforms have developed. I was always told NEVER to put 'spaces' in between file names as it would get read ok most of the time but there was always a risk of the file becoming corrupt. BUT again I have used spaces in file names as well. (saying that though I wouldn't spaces on servers etc..just on my local machine!)

Just my opinion

Steve

**kamikaze** · 10-02-12

You're best going for domains without hyphens if possible. IMO having a hyphen is the same as adding an extra word to your domain like "cheap" or "shop" and you lose the EMD "bonus".

As for filenames, you're best going with hyphens rather than underscores. Apparently Google only classes hyphens as separators.
So if you had mydomain.com/yellow-submarine Google will pick out the keywords "yellow" and "submarine" but if you were using underscores it would class it as a single word and you'd end up ranking for "yellow_submarine".

How much this helps with SEO is anybodys guess

**jezza101** · 10-02-12

In terms of Google, they've stated themselves they don't care (well, Matt Cutts has here).

"To answer a common question, Google doesn’t algorithmically penalize for dashes in the url."

If anyone here doesn't read all the Google blogs and docs then go have a look as they share much more information than some people realise. If you are new to this then their starter guide is a must if you want to do things the Google way (and most of us do - goes to show how much power they have to shape the web!)

Some links:
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Google's SEO Starter Guide
URL structure - Webmaster Tools Help

Personally, I always say that if in doubt - think about it in the context of Google's well publicised goal. They want to present the best most relevant site to the user. It would be kinda a crappy algo if their ranking is based on whether there are hyphens in the URL or not!! Of course I'd understand it if there was a technical challenge to pick out keywords but I doubt this is beyond the wit of Google's billions!

As Google gets better at "reading" the web one would hope that basic signals such as this, along with TLD and even the domain name itself will become less relevant. For example I'm sure Google can recognise that YouTube is a leading video sharing site despite the domain name having little relevance

!

**accelerator** · 10-02-12

In general guys, I wouldn't get too hung up on algorithmic factors, I would just focus on building really good sites that offer something of interest.

Rgds

**Lee_K_00** · 11-02-12

Obviously that should be everyone's number 1 priority in making a website, but there's still other things to take into account.

Just read through those Jezza, really interesting reading! A lot of it I had picked up a long the way anyways but it did help to put things into another perspective! Thanks!

**ayrzee** · 11-02-12

No hyphen for me in the domain, primarily since these names have much more value in the secondary market so worth the effort to develop.

As for file names, try searching for "jigsaw-puzzles" and "jigsaw_puzzles" the number of results returned is hugely different, so surely that's evidence that they aren't treated the same way??

**dc000000** · 11-02-12

Originally Posted by jezza101

In terms of Google, they've stated themselves they don't care (well, Matt Cutts has here).

Matt has a habit of correcting himself at a later date:
Underscores vs. dashes in URLs - YouTube

All in one word domains always had an advantage (much less so nowadays) and you won't get anyone at google confirming this directly. Saying you won't be penalised for using a hyphen is like saying you won't be penalised for doing 65mph on the motorway.