Sitemaps

Questions

SEO

Will a dash in a domain have a negative SEO impact?

For example, the site www.example-example.com

Answer This Question

5

Answers

Matthew Capala

SEO Strategist, Visibility Optimizer at Alphametic

In theory it will not, if you build amazing website that users love and search engines can index you will do well in SERP... but , in general, a dashed domain is inferior. Users will gravitate towards non-dashed domains - they trust them more, click more, etc. Search engine algorithm is a machine learning trying to reflect human thinking, so I never encourage my clients to buy dashed domain. While exact keyword domain have positive impact on SEO (for that one keyword), I would also encourage you to think of your domain choice as a branding vehicle that is memorable and stands out on the crowded web.

Answered over 10 years ago

Salman Aslam

Managing Director - Omnicore Healthcare Marketing

Definitely not. I've personally seen a lot of websites on Page #1 ranking with a dash in the domain.

Type in SEO Outsourcing, the first result has a dash.
Type in Hard Reset Galaxy S4, again, the first result has a dash int he domain name.

All you need is to focus on your digital marketing strategy, not just on link building or SEO, but a complete digital marketing strategy for your business.

Answered over 10 years ago