punctuation for keywords - necessary ?

[charley]

Does using a dash inbetween phrases have an impact on ranking in SE's?


For example is there a difference in:

"foreign exchange trading" vs "foreign-exchange-trading"

[nielsencl]

I assume you mean in domains,since dashes are not normally used in keywords for optimizing a site.

There is a big differentce between "foreignexchangetrading" vs "foreign-exchange-trading".

In the first example, most search engines will match a search for "foreign exchange trading" foreignexchangetrading.xxx, but they will not match one for "exchange trading" because the search engine will not be able so determine where the other words are in the domain.

But if you use dashes, the search engines treat those like spaces and so you can match to a word or words that are in the domain.

[tedsudol]

Hi,
I've seen stats for huge type in numbers for names with dashes. And it would seem from your explaination names with dashes are valuable from a search engine point of view because they can match on the individual words or the entire phrase, whereas in a name with no dashes the search engine can only match the entire phrase, not the embedded words. Is that correct?

So it would seem that names with dashes would be valuable from a traffic point of view. Yet some domain experts discount the value of any domains with dashes, the auto domain valuation services will discount a value if there are any dashes, and I haven't seen names with dashes bringing high prices in the auction.

What am I missing? Thanks in advance for your help.

All the best,
Ted Sudol

[nielsencl]

Where have you seen those stats? I would be interested to see them.

Yes, I have only seen an exact match in the same beginning order find the embedded words in a domain.

If what you say is true about the stats, then I think most people under-estimate the value of domains with hyphens. I also thought it was less, and it is less, if only from what most people "think". If this is true, and hyphenated domains get good type-in traffic, then I think that makes them a real bargain in domaining if you care more about parking them than selling them. Remember, if you have proof of income from a domain or web site, you can justify a higher selling price.

Quintet of Six-Figure Sales Headline a Fabulous Fortnight for the Domain Market

18-Wheeler.com $82,390 Moniker
V-Chip.org $10,750
x-team.com $2,600
Download-of-Lyrics.com $3,150
Free-Webster.com ($2,070)
CMP-CRXIX.org ($1,326)
Name-Meanings.net ($1,010)
Great-Britain.de $3,364
Internet-Poker.es ($2,000)

So I don't think they sell for nearly as much, but they do sell and the lower prices mean they are not reported very much. I mean, a domain that sells for under $1,000 is not exactly news, but wouldn't it be nice to have a few hundred domains and sell a few each month for that kind of money...??? :-)