Hyphen vs. No Hyphen in GWT Reports

[StaceyJ]

I have a keyword that can be spelled with or without a hyphen (and actually can be run together as all one word) and is acceptable either way. In my GWT Search Queries reports the word is never shown with a hyphen, or without a hyphen outside of quotes. It is always shown inside quotes with a space like: fancy "red widgets". I know for a fact everyone who searches does not enclose red widgets in quotes with no hyphen, so G is doing that only in my reports.

Now, I understand that some, if not all, SE's treat a word with a hyphen as two words, which is no problem. But, I have 2 questions.

1) Is there anyway to see how many users are searching for red-widgets vs. red widgets in GWT?

2) Do I really need to use both versions (hyphen vs. no hyphen) on my pages to still capture searches? I'm pretty sure the answer to this is Yes.

[tedster]

SE's treat a word with a hyphen as two words

GWT gives you a clue here. It's more like they treat it as a two word phrase, in quotes, and not just as two words. In other words, a search on kw1-kw2 will not return pages that do not have those words in that order.

Is there anyway to see how many users are searching for red-widgets vs. red widgets in GWT?

Not as far as I know. Your server logs would be a help, however only for your own site's traffic, not for any global trends.

Do I really need to use both versions (hyphen vs. no hyphen) on my pages

I don't think so. Google does not index the hyphen as an actual character, only as a word separator. When I serch on "kw1-kw2" I get results that include "kw1 kw2", "kw1. Kw1", "kw1: kw2" and so on - all kinds of separators seem to be treated the same.

[StaceyJ]

GWT gives you a clue here. It's more like they treat it as a two word phrase, in quotes, and not just as two words. In other words, a search on kw1-kw2 will not return pages that do not have those words in that order.

Thanks, that's what I meant when I said two words, it just didn't come out that way.

Coincidently, I did notice today in Analytics they differentiate between Kw1-Kw2 and Kw1 Kw2, even saw a Kw1.Kw2, but no "Kw1 Kw2". Just thought it interesting, has no bearing on the above.

BTW, I never know whether a post just to say "thank you" is in order here or not. I hate having people reply and not thanking them, but I also hate just taking up bandwidth and server space, too. :)