To dash or not to dash

Should domain names contain dashes

[BoomerTC]

When setting up a new site, and given the option, should you register the domain name with dashes or not? ie. model-airplane-manufacturer.com or modelairplanemanufacturer.com

Also, can this strategy be used to outrank those sites that already have the good domain names but don't use the dashes?

[Mohamed_E]

I believe that "model-airplane-manufacturer" is parsed as the three words "model", "airplane" and "manufacturer", while "modelairplanemanufacturer" is parsed as the single (rather strange!) word "modelairplanemanufacturer".

[Fischerlaender]

My strategy is to use both versions: The domain with the dashes is good for search engines (if there is a keyword in it), the one without for humans that type the domain in, e.g from your business card. To avoid having identical content on two domains I just redirect from the domain without dashes to the one with dashes.

[BoomerTC]

Thanks guys,

I like the idea of registering both domains and redirecting one.