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DOMAIN NAME TIPS

Domain Name Dilemma: Do Dashes or Underscores Goose Google Rankings More?
By: Developer Shed
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    2003-11-11

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    Domain Name Dilemma: Do Dashes or Underscores Goose Google Rankings More?
    by John Gergye

    It's a fact. When it comes to Google ranking you don't have to
    be a lot better to beat out the competition.

    So let's take another dip into the "every little bit helps"
    pool.

    Now believe it or not there are those who like to debate the
    merits of using dashes or underscores in domain names.

    Some assert dashes are better.

    Some have an ongoing love affair with underscores.

    Others are certain there is no difference.

    I agree you do get a bit of a bounce in Google if you do this
    right. But it's only marginal.

    Still let's end this debate once and for all and PROVE which is
    better.

    To sort this out we need to conduct a study. Using the Google
    search results to test if Google treats dashes or underscores
    the same or differently.

    The guinea pig search term I picked is "affordable search
    engine placement".

    There's nothing special about it. It's more or less your
    run-of-the-mill multi-word search term.

    So let's get searching.

    First, to set a benchmark I cast the broadest net possible by
    doing a simple search using

    affordable search engine placement

    Google returned these results:

    Searched the web for affordable search engine placement.
    Results 1 - 10 of about 78,600

    That simply says there were 78,600 pages indexed by Google for
    ANY of those keywords.

    Next I searched on the same phrase only this time I separated
    the words by dashes like this:

    affordable-search-engine-placement

    Google turned up these results:

    Searched the web for affordable-search-engine-placement.
    Results 1 - 10 of about 1,160.

    As you can see our term with dashes gave considerably fewer
    results than the one without.

    Then I searched on the same words separated by underscores:

    affordable_search_engine_placement

    For this one Google didn't find much:

    Searched the web for affordable_search_engine_placement.
    Results 1 - 4 of about 6.

    Whoa! Next to no pages with underscores, right?

    Finally I searched for

    "affordable search engine placement"

    Note the quotes. Using quotes limits the search results to one
    specific phrase. Just like you were doing an advanced search
    for that exact phrase.

    In this case Google returned these results:

    Searched the web for "affordable search engine placement".
    Results 1 - 10 of about 1,160.

    Huh, exactly the same number of pages as with the keyword
    phrase with dashes.

    Okay so what do we got?

    Let's see. The first search returns what you could say is a
    free for all of listings with any of the words in the keyword
    phrase. That's why there are so many search results.

    SIDEBAR: Reality check time. This is how most search. In
    fact I saw a stat the said only 3% use the advanced search
    feature provided by Google. Yet the dramatically bigger number
    of resulting SERPS explains why it is harder to rank high
    sometimes. Reason being you are going up against a whole bunch
    more pages - some unrelated to what is being searched for. So
    it's takes more juice, ie on-page optimization, internal links
    and maybe even in bound links to come out on top.

    Now our study also showed the phrase with underscores (which
    Google treats as any other CHARACTER) produced negligible
    results. As in next to none.

    While the keyword phrase with dashes and the exact phrase
    search turned up the same number of listings.

    At this point you should be wondering "Why is that?"

    Glad you asked. Even if you didn't let me explain. Oh and
    since this is important engage your brain NOW.

    The reason for this apparent match of search results is Google
    uses the dash to separate the words in the phrase. Programmers
    call this a "delimiter". In essence Google sees it as a space
    or separator between the words. Or in other words Google
    treats the dash as a spacer.

    Yet Google does NOT treat the underscore as a delimiter. Again
    to Google it's just another character.

    Which is proven by the search results. Had Google treated the
    dash and underscore alike the number of SERPs returned for

    affordable_search_engine_placement

    or

    affordable-search-engine-placement

    would be identical. But as you saw they are not. Not even
    close.

    So to answer the original question of which is better dashes or
    underscores is obvious isn't it? You want to go with dashes in
    your domain names, folder names, files names etc.

    That's because using dashes to separate the words will give you
    the biggest Google impact -whatever that impact may be. Since
    Google can parse the different words. While using underscores
    won't help one iota.

    Look. This isn't theory or speculation. It's fact. And you
    can repeat the same searches with any keyword phrase you want
    and you'll get the same results.

    In any case let's be real. Don't expect some kind of massive
    boost from this dash trick. Sure it can help at tad as part of
    an over all optimization scheme. But whether or not you use
    dashes in a domain, folder or file name is not going to be what
    gets you top Google listings. Content and links are.

    Still this study settles the debate about dashes and
    underscores. Giving you yet another little thing you can do to
    rank well.



    Resource Box:
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    How much is more traffic worth to your business? Take John
    Gergye's Search Engine Quiz and get a special report "Coming
    Out On Top" with 49 tools that make it easy to get more traffic.
    http://www.traffic-test-tube.com/search-engine-quiz.shtml

    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware.

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