Why is abcdef.com better than abc-def.com?

Sorry I haven't seen this topic

[webmasterworld.com...]

It looks a good point of disscusion about the same.

Carlos.

Carlos,

The reasons for the "-" in the name is that the "-" acts as a space in search engines. Many cover their domain inventories by also registering the same names with dashes in them for search engine submissions and optimization. The individual words become searchable instead of them as one word.

This is mostly done as coverage, it terms of value, the domain is more valuable without the "-" as most would never type in a dash naturally into the URL line.

Hope this helps,

Monte

[edited by: DaveAtIFG at 11:30 pm (utc) on May 10, 2004]
[edit reason] Abbreviated signature [/edit]

The "more valuable" assumes that the '-' won't result in more favorable SE positioning, a debate that has yet to be resolved against the favorable inference. Therefore, if higher positioning in SERPs throws off more money than the lost type-ins of the '-'less domain, the hyphenated version is arguably more valuable.

Webwork,

That would already have been accounted for in the traffic vs. revenue section of an appraisal for the domain. In almost every known appraisal and public sale based on the domain alone, "-" domains do not receive nearly the purchase frequency nor the pricing than multi term words put together in a domain.

See post for evaluation criteria:

[webmasterworld.com...]

M_M - I don't think the question is really about the FMV of the domain but rather the impact of the '-' on SE marketing.

Strictly from the POV of "where do you show up in the SERPs, all other things being equal" there's some evidence that the SEs parse or possibly weigh the hyphenated domains a bit more favorably. Ergo, from a 'value in use' perspective, if the domain is an industry phrase, SE parsing and the natural language of the backlinks may make the hyphenated domain more valuable, not in a FMV sense but in a ongoing revenue generating sense.

At least that's consistent with how I interpret his question.

I beleive this type of a discussion has been discussed over 20 or 30 times at WebmasterWorld.

A look at older threads wouldn't hurt:
[google.com...]

Sid

Yes sidyadav,

I think I opened the topic too fast .. that is why I also pointed in a second answer about other topic with the same stuff.

Anyway thanks everybody for the advice it has helped me a lot and reading other topics too. I think I'll go with the dashed domain because my interest is to position better in the SERPs, anyway as I said before, I have registered both with and without dash, so if a customer doesn't type the dash it will be ok, I'm parking the one without dash to point to the dashed one ;-) ... or is not a very good idea? :-( could it be seen spamy?

Carlos.

That is a good idea. Probably what I would have done.

You should cover yourself in a couple variations if this is going to be a going concern for you. It can't hurt and provides insurance for you. In addition, the whole block or group becomes more valuable in a resale or investment opportunity.