Question about domains with 2 or 3 hyphens
-
I have a client who has 3 domains in the following format:
keywordkeywordkeywordkeyword.co.uk
keyword-keyword-keyword-london.co.uk
And needs advice on the best one to use.
The client is leaning towards the one with 3 hyphens because it has more keywords but I am a bit worried about using it at the risk of it looking too spammy because of the hyphens.
So my question is will 3 hyphens as in the above example cause anything negative in terms of SEO? We will not be doing any black-hat seo tactics but even so will 3 hyphens cause any problems or is it safer to go with just two hyphens?
And secondly the client asked if Google can understand different words or is it better to have hyphens so Google can understand that there are different words?
-
Totally agree with Moosa's suggestion, even for just one reason:
It looks spammy and is associated with spammers, this is one of those things that can make or break website conversion.
-
Google have the ability to read and separate words accordingly so hyphens are not really a need!
As far as choosing the domains is concern, if I would be at your place I would have turn down all the domains as I always keep certain things in mind when choosing a website URL
- Google either give no or very low weight to keywords within the domain, so if you have “pet store” in your domain name it alone will not really help you get better rankings for pet store! You still need to go for all other SEO practices to achieve that target.
- URL should be a name that people can easily remember so that they can mention easily if they want in their day to day conversations. It’s always easy to say “Moz” then “Search Engine and Digital Marketing agency Moz”
- Too many hyphens in the domain are normally of low quality or at least it’s an assumption because back in the time (to an extent still) these type of domains are normally used by spammers
My advice would be to use a domain name that is short, catchy and relevant to your niche (not necessary to have a keyword in it) and then invest on building a brand name so that you can get natural links which is not really possible with too many keywords I the domain name.
Hope this helps!
-
Hi
To answer your last question first, yes, Google can generally understand different words joined together, but hyphenated is better for human readability.
Regarding your domain name choice, it really depends what keywords you are using in the domain as to what will work the best and what may or may not appear spammy. The spammy feel, if there is one, will really be to do with how people read the domain - and also maybe how long-winded a long domain name can be to type in.
Re Google, I'm not sure you are going to get much advantage from an SEO perspective by using multiple keywords in your domain, especially in the move towards semantic search, but as I say, it really depends on what those keywords are.
I hope that helps,
Peter
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
-
I have a question regarding what package I should get
I work at an agency, we have a client that has 20 locations (all different websites and google business listings). We are trying to pick the best and easiest package for each location. We are trying to improve their SEO and ranking and their Google My Business pages. Can you explain the packages that you have to offer and which package you think would be the best fit.
Local Listings | | groovehive0 -
Please advise on GMB and citation building - 1 owner, 2 businesses, 1 address + 1 phone no.
Our client has an established driveways business, "A", that has been servicing higher end customers. This business has GMB and citations built. He has now started another driveways business, "B" that targets mid-class customers. This second business operates out of the same office with the same phone no. A Google rep has advised that the 2nd business will not be able to have a GMB of its own if it's operating out of the same address as the 1st business. How would you actually tackle citation building and creating a GMB for this second business?? Would appreciate any advice!!
Local Listings | | Gavo0 -
If I have 2 brick and mortar stores in the same city, do I need to pay BOTW twice?
I am building citations for 2 brick and mortar stores for the same company that are in the same city. Since they are in the same city, I have not create individual landing pages. Just one locations page with both store addresses. We already purchased BOTW for the first location.
Local Listings | | PrivateUser0 -
How to get Only 1 Keyword up for 5 domains
Hello Everyone, My Client Wants Just his Company name on Google first pages for his All 5 Domains. How should i do that ? He wants only one Keyword on Top,No Other. How should i Apply Title tag For All 5 Domains For only that Keyword?? Which Things I need take care While Applying on page Rules? Any Help would be Appropriated, Thanx in Advance Falguni.
Local Listings | | falgunipanchal0 -
2 phone numbers in our SERP snippet are incorrect. How do I fix it?
At the special rich snippet at the top of the SERP, we have 5 phone numbers, but 2 of them are for something specific and need to be removed. Do you know how to do this? I've looked up the 2 phone numbers and they appear to only be on PDF documents. Any ideas?
Local Listings | | FOTF_DigitalMarketing0 -
What to do if the domain name is very different from real business name for local listings
Hey guys, any advice is very welcome , I m´ ranking locally a website in the bay area for cabinets www.cabinetsbayarea.com we picked this domain name more for SEO purposes because it has the two most important keywords that we want to rank. My issue is that the real busniess name is HEMA DESIGN CENTER, so i dont know if we should change the name in the chamber of commerce to CABiNETS BAY AREA or list the business as HEMA DESIGN CENTER, with this website www.cabinetsbayarea.comr. We only mention the real name in the About Us. CABINETS BAY AREA it is more as a deparment of the real business name HEMA DESIGN CENTER What should i do? Thanks a lot, David
Local Listings | | conexion330 -
Show Address or Not, this is the question
Our physical address is not manned because we primarily go to the customer site either electronically or in person. So technically, we are not supposed to check the box in Google+ " I also serve customers at my business address." Having the box unchecked hides the address on the Google+ page leaving just City and State. Now that we have submitted our location in Moz Local, we see this causes an inconsistent listing issue. The address shows in other listings but not in Google+. On one hand, we do not want people showing up to our location expecting to find us there when we are not. On the other hand, we want our listings to be consistent so that customers can see that we are local and can deliver our services in person when necessary. So what should we do about this? p8A6ZW5 ReWtbOa
Local Listings | | BoundlessData0 -
How is a competitor franchise ranking all for all 3 Local results with unclaimed G+ pages in a search for the national corporation?
My company is an individual franchise of a national corporation - every franchise is operates as [National Corporate Brand Name] + a chosen descriptor such as "Premiere" or the names of the owners such as "Smith Jones". A logged-out Google search for just the national brand name returns the corporate website first, followed by the website of a competing local franchise and 3 Local listings for their offices. These listings are all unclaimed and unverified on Google+ and have no reviews or posts. The corporate Twitter is next, followed by my franchise's website. The corporate Facebook is the last result on the page. How can this competing franchise rank for all 3 Local listings with unclaimed pages? My company operates several more offices than the competitor in the same area and I regularly post to their G+ pages which I verified several months ago. Is it because the competitor's website just holds significantly more weight in Google than our own? A search for the brand name + the town where our offices are in does usually return our Local listing pages, but that limits our reach to those specific towns. Anyone have any insight on this?
Local Listings | | WGW0