Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
What's better .NET or a hyphenated.COM domain
-
What's better .NET or a hyphenated .COM domain
I know this is simple but in selecting a domain for my current project and I only have two options.
firstname-lastname.COM or
firstnamelastname.NETI'm leaning to the .COM as after reading the how to choose a domain name post.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-domain-name
Thanks
-
Thanks for the responses, its sounds like the SEO programatic stuff is all about even.
It the human factor that is really up for grabs here, what's easier to read, remember, speak, and trust.
In my case its all about personal brand so a hyphenated .com maybe easier to remember and trust then a non-hyphenated .net which could get confused for a .com
Sounds like i'm still choicing between two good options but not the best option
And yes I'm looking at ronsparks.net vs ron-sparks.com and other future domains with a simliar issue.
ps @EGOL ronskickasssite.com is available tho its a bit hard to read with all those S's
-
I have really strong feelings about hyphen domains and domains other than .com. Most of this is from running retail sites on hyphen domains and trying to explain to people by phone about the hyphen and hearing from them how they went to the wrong domain when trying to visit. The last customers I want going to the wrong domain are the people who are typing it in!
So, after hearing this stuff for a long time I paid hideous sums to get the unhypenated domains and the guys who I bought them from told me that their typein traffic was rising every year.
But, I have those domains now and am happy... well... there is one more that I would like to get.
They say that converts are the worst type of fanatic.
-
EGOL,
While I do not think your response is without merit and I do sometimes consider the issue of which is easier to remember, I am not sure it is as relevant as it was when Rand made that post in 2007. As we see so many sites today with hyphens, I think more people are used to them. But, that does not mean it won't happen.
I think, once someone has seen it visually it is not an issue. If I am doing radio it is. With a non visual medium, you are forced to spell it out and say something like (remember to put in a hyphen between Rons and kickass and Site.net!) That is not a great option.
With most of our sites, people are clicking the link organically for our eCommerce where there are return customers, we are leaving cookies and bookmark options.
As to spending money to get the site you want, it is relative depending on the client. If a client is new (I have a small client who came from a relative that is two ladies who do baby sitting and pet sitting and we are building a 5 to 6 page site for) to business and has a low budget, getting the dream domain is sometimes not possible. Yes, for Fortune 500 they will likely blow a bunch for insuring a branding option.
But, again, it is two sides to a very interesting coin.
Always appreciate your opinions as you think before you write.
Best -
I agree they are equal in SEO, but I also agree you will get differing opinion about looking spammy. i think hythens look spammy, but are coming a bit more normalized as time goes on, but anouther reason is that they are hard to say, image a radio ad, the reader having to explained the hythens
at coca hythen cola dot com
-
I used to have sites with hyphens... and all of my hard work was enriching the guys who owned the domains without a hyphen. The harder I worked to make my site popular the more they enjoyed it. I finally gave in and paid big bucks to get those domains.
So when you are workin hard to make Rons-KickAss-Site.com AND RonsKickAssSite.net huge successes they guy who owns RonsKickAssSite.com will be smiling as lots of your customers land on his spammy site and click ads to sorry domains. Not a good customer experience and not good for your wallet - because the people who remember the name of your site well enough to type it in without a hyphen were probably going to buy something. Nice you just lost that $2000 sale to someone else - and he thinks you went out of business.
So, spend a little more time coming up with a kickass domain or be willing to spend some money to get the domain that you want. Because if you own RonsKickAssSite.com I doubt that anyone is going to look for you at Rons-KickAss-Site.com
Here's a couple of quotes from Rand's post..... at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-domain-name
and while directing traffic to a .net or .org (as SEOmoz does) is fine, owning and 301'ing the .com is critical.
Both hyphens and numbers make it hard to give your domain name verbally and falls down on being easy to remember or type.
-
I agree with Robert. The ranking difference between .com / .net and no-hyphen / one-hyphen is going to be minimal. So go for the domain that is easier to read. That will probably benefit you in the long run.
-
My personal opinion is that you can do either, but I would go with the hyphen.com. The reason for me is simple it is easier to read. That said, you will shortly have other opinions and they will revolve around being spammy. There is no increase or decrease in SEO value and I have yet to see any quantification of the spammy factor and any effect on CTR or conversions. But, I don't think the hyphen will out perform the non hyphen.net. I think all things being equal, they will be equal.
Best
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is it necessary to have unique H1's for pages in a pagination series (i.e. blog)?
A content issue that we're experiencing includes duplicate H1 issues within pages in a pagination series (i.e. blog). Does each separate page within the pagination need a unique H1 tag, or, since each page has unique content (different blog snippets on each page), is it safe to disregard this? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | BopDesign0 -
Do the sub domain backlinks count for main domain and increase authority?
Hi all, I just wonder if the back links for different sub domains will be counted and considered to rank the main domain better or they are just limit to sub domain pages? There are many websites which has got multiple sub domains which receive backlinks? So the backlinks to main domain and sub domain weigh same at Google? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Domain Authority Distribution Across the Web
**Does anyone have stats for domain authority distribution across the entire web? E.G., what percentage of websites fall in the DA range of 0-25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-100. **
Algorithm Updates | | Investis_Digital2 -
Having 2 domains with same name - Impact on SEO
Hi AllAs we still dwindle with the rankings not coming in line with the efforts.I have a question: We have 2 websites 1. http://www.example.com/ (which lost traffic and rank in Jan 2013). So we assumed that it was due to some penguin penalty. So we worked on disavow extra but nothing actually helped.Though there was no manual penalty mentioned in the GWT. Frustrated with this we thought of having another website 6 months back: 2. https://example.org/ - we did all the right things and by the book. But we are not seeing ranking here too. We did backlink analysis on all competitors and worked on only quality links they had. So all our links are highly highly relevant. But still the ranks are not moving beyond third page...in fact they moved to 6-7 page in last 2-3 days. Please suggest .. 1. is it due to same name of domain (our brand name) causing the issue. If yes should we go for 302 or 301 redirect to save ourselves from any penalty that our last website may have got. We can not leave that name unattended as our cataloges etc have that website mentioned. i will expect a scientific reply here not gut feeling please. 2. Is it to do with .org domain extension that it should not be with commercial organizations like us Kindly reply at the earliest Regards Aman
Algorithm Updates | | Aman_1230 -
Atom, RSS Feed or XML Sitemap which is better?
Hey Mozers! I'm reaching out to you today because I'm trying to find out more information about Atom & RSS Feed. I'm not sure which my Retail company should use for the sitemap. Atom? RSS? XML?. Why would you choose one more so than the other what are the benifits?
Algorithm Updates | | rpaiva0 -
Will Parked Domain hurt My SEO as Duplicate Content?
Hello, I have one website (Migration Lawyers) and I have an extra 8 domains Parked so they are basically cloning the content of the site. so if the main site is: migrationlawyers.co.za and I have an addon domain migration-lawyers.com is that good or bad? is there a proper way to redirect the sites, will redirecting (301) subdomains be more effective? Thanks for your Input 🙂 0i8VXqr.png
Algorithm Updates | | thealika0 -
Is it better to build a large site that covers many verticals or many sites dedicated to each vertical
Just wondering from an seo perspective is it better to build a large site that covers many verticals or build out many sites one for each vertical?
Algorithm Updates | | tlhseo0 -
.Co Domains - Any thoughts?
Hi Guys I'm not sure which section this one belongs in as I didn't see a section for domains/tlds. I wanted an opinion on the future of .co domains. We own a gift company (www.xperiencedays.com), as well as a gift recommendation site (www.uniquegifts.net), and invested in a few gift occasion .co domains (www.birthdaygifts.co, christmasgifts.co etc). This was partly because they were cheap and easy to come by, but also with a hope that they soon gain some public recognition. My question therefore is whether anyone within SEOMOZ has an opinion on whether .co will be widely accepted, whether they will (as google claims) be treated as a non-country specific url, and early success stories you know of, and finally whether the recent news from Overstock to rebrand as O.co (http://www.overstock.com/guides/faqs-about-o-co) is the kick start that .co need. I realize that is more than one question
Algorithm Updates | | bigtimeseo2