How does Google or other search engines treat Hyphen/dash (-) and Underscore (_) in URL.
URL Example: abc.com/search-in-google and abc.com/search_in_google
And what is difference between them as per search engine results.
tedster
5:19 pm on Feb 13, 2012 (gmt 0)
The issue is whether Google can separate the individual keywords that are separated by these characters.
In the old days, the underscore was ONLY treated as an individual character and not as a possible word separator. This is because of the challenge posed by technical names that use underscores - some even begin with underscores. In those cases it is essential that the underscore be treated as a character and not just a bit of punctuation or a word separator.
In most cases today, Google can sort out keywords separated by an underscore. It is still more of a sure thing to use a hyphen - there's less chance for potential confusion - but the small advantage is not enough to change any existing URLs.
Another reason why it's not really a big deal is that having a keyword in the URL is not as strong a factor today, now that there are so many other factors also in play. In my opinion, it tends to work more as a reinforcing signal rather than an independent signal in its own right.
g1smd
8:57 pm on Feb 13, 2012 (gmt 0)
I am still of the opinion to always avoid underscores and to especially to avoid spaces in all URLs.
