Have both hyphenated and non-hyphenated version of domain

Which is better: dashed or nondashed domain name?

[RedWine]

Have both - Which is better: www.#*$!x-yyyy-zzzz.com vs www.#*$!xyyyyzzzz.com

Take into account that in this case most people will not be typing the url into their browser... I expect 90% of the traffic to come via links.

This is a brand new site. The three keywords in the domain names are short and are a commonly searched on combination for exactly what my site is about. I am wondering which url would be best to use. I have both names and can use a 301 redirect for the other.

So if I were to use www.#*$!x-yyyy-zzzz.com, and this is what would be in any recipical links as well as listings in the search engines. An individual could still enter www.#*$!xyyyyzzzz.com or www.#*$!x-yyyy-zzzz.com and get to the site. I am wondering which one would be better to use as THE url for improved ranking and seo efforts?

[RedWine]

uhhh... looks like my post got auto edited... x x x x was replaced with #*$!x making really hard to read....

[dailypress]

Yes, I think using xyz.com and x-y-z.com would be more clear to illustrate your example.

Anyway, I personally like XYZ rather using hyphens. One hyphen looks ok, but more than that in my opinion looks like a spam website where the webmaster is only focusing on SEO rather than giving its visitors real content.

[g1smd]

Forum software does not allow multiple X in a row.

Use any letter other than X.

[TowerOfPower]

I would re-think your domain name if it's something that requires hyphens for better readability, or if the non-hyphened version is taken.

When I see hyphens in domain names I think 4 things:

1) spam
2) amateur
3) generic
4) out of touch or out of date

Brandability also sucks on hyphens...

[edited by: TowerOfPower at 4:53 pm (utc) on April 18, 2009]