word1word2.net
word1-word2.net
Both words are very common words and ideal for any optimization I will be doing for the site. What are the advantages of one over the other? (word1word2.net is already owned but can be bought for $280.00).
Do search engines pick out the keywords easily in example 1?
But that looks like a simple character string match to me. On one search for a short proper name (non-English), I see partial words bolded in the domain names that are semantically NOT a real break between two words, but only an accidental inclusion of the same letters within a word.
So I'd say there's no guarantee that the algorithm itself will separate out the separate keywords in a domain name if they are not separated by a hyphen.
I'd also say the boost from keywords in the domain is not all that much, in any case.
$280 is not a major investment - how many extra sales would it take to recover that cost?
$280.00 is not a lot of money either. It's going to be a long term content site (not an affiliate site), which is why I really don't want the hyphen. When I see a hyphen I tend to think affiliate or on-line store.
The keywords are good and can be easily spun into 2,3,4 word combinations to catch a variety of search phrases.
It's going to be a long term content site (not an affiliate site), which is why I really don't want the hyphen.
Then I'd say don't sweat the hyphenated domain name. Your page content and your links should soon dwarf any influence from the domain name itself.
Even on e-commerce sites where my clients own both versions, we soon went to the un-hyphenated version for production and branding, just owning the hyphenated version for protection purposes only.
If you ever can imagine people SAYING the domain name to each other, you don't want that "dash" or "hyphen" in there. It only makes for complications.
