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How one tiny hyphen destroyed our SEO efforts (2011)

blog.silktide.com

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Re: How one tiny hyphen destroyed our SEO efforts (2011)

#11

Post by niggler »

I suspect (not tested in this study) that the hyphenated version is seen as a possible fake if the unhyphenated version also exists. That is to say, face-book could be seen as fake because facebook exists, but a novel hyphenated phrase like vexing-sesquipedalian would not suffer the penalty because vexingsesquipedalian hasn't been used.

It would be tricky to test this, because you need to use a domain with hyphens where the original doesn't exist (and then you introduce new variables into the mix)

Re: How one tiny hyphen destroyed our SEO efforts (2011)

#16

Post by AznHisoka »

jeremysmyth wrote: post #9
jgmmo wrote: post #5

This is from 2011, the frictionless owls case study is well known to those who invest in domain names. Hyphens are a bad idea.

Tell that to experts-exchange.com

It might have been a GOOD (or indifferent) idea a decade ago. But it's a bad idea if you're registering a new domain. There's different rules for old sites and new sites, and if you're making a new one, play it safe: don't have a hyphen.

Re: How one tiny hyphen destroyed our SEO efforts (2011)

#17

Post by danso »

funtober wrote: post #13

We recently had an internal debate about whether the anti-hyphen bias extends to the rest of the url. We haven't tested it though. I'd be curious if anyone has ...

The suspected reasons to why there's an anti-hyphen bias (primarily, fakers trying to capitalized on well-known non-hyphenated names) don't seem to apply for the rest of the url. i.e. a legit brand has no control over what a spammer does with an impostor domain, but the legit brand has complete control over what their own url structure looks like

Re: How one tiny hyphen destroyed our SEO efforts (2011)

#18

Post by grecy »

funtober wrote: post #13

We recently had an internal debate about whether the anti-hyphen bias extends to the rest of the url. We haven't tested it though. I'd be curious if anyone has ...

You mean like

http://example.com/something-about-something ?

Matt Cutts actually recommends using hyphens in this case:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/

Re: How one tiny hyphen destroyed our SEO efforts (2011)

#20

Post by sp332 »

austenallred wrote: post #6

I don't know, there are so many factors that go into SEO that assuming, "Oh, it's the hyphen in the domain name" seems a little anecdotal to me.

I think they did a pretty good job of controlling for all variables other than the hyphen. What else could it be?
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