Keyword in URL

[nadirh]

Hi, I am new to this forum, and I had a question on Google's search algorithm.

I know that if the keyword phrase is in the URL it helps with SEO. I also understand that dashes (-) are recognized as word separators in URL. So for instance, if someone searched on "Internet Solutions", then the hyphenated URL would be recognized as having the keyword phrase searched on.

My question is what about the URL without the dash. It would be fairly easy for Google to recognize the 2 words, but does anyone know their approach here?

We're just trying to come up with a URL for a company and this information would be useful. Ideally, we don't want to put the dash in there, but if it will help with SEO, we will consider it.

Thanks in advance.

Nadir

[AussieWebmaster]

Google's algorith filters through the combinations for words in a domain... but you more importantly should grab a domain that is brandable and easy to remember.

[carlbrooker]

We have had alot of success with separating keywords with a "-" in the url. We found that this had a dramatic impact on our listing for certain keywords.

Has anyone else had any experience with this?

[JohnW]

I don't think the hyphen in domain name matters, by itself, but what it does help with is when you sometimes get natural links without a deliberate anchor, with hyphen the keywords are recognized as anchor text. Also it may give some immunity for over-doing links with that anchor.

[caminowebmaster]

I find that the - does not perform as well as the search term equaling the domain name - but only for exact matches

[carlbrooker]

I have miss read this article! I was thinking about the filename after the main domain /this-is-an-example rather than /thisisanexample.php . Apologies! I haven't had any experience with this.

[nadirh]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

One thought that came to my mind is that if Google really wanted to, they can always figure out the separate keywords in a URL with or without the hyphen. In fact, Google could also back into this by dropping the spaces in a user's search query so that the user search query just becomes one long word and then Google could see if the corresponding URL exists.

This still would not take care of the anchor text angle that JohnW mentioned above. Although I suppose, Google could drop spaces in the anchor text as well and then compare.

Thanks,
Nadir

[GAVIN]

So guys,

Does having keywords in your domain help nwith SEO or not....?

Cheers
Gavin

[JohnW]

>Does having keywords in your domain help nwith SEO or not

IMO, not per se, but as mentioned it can cause random natural links to have better anchor optimization so the net result is that it can help.

[GAVIN]

Hi John,

Cheers for the reply.

This has been on going for many years - does it work or does it not work!

If I buy a specif domain names that then p[pints to a specfici landing page does Google look at this keyword domain and rank it?

Also what if the domain name is just pointing to the landing page, but we do not promot the domain name - does this still help with SEO???

[JohnW]

>what if the domain name is just pointing to the landing page, but we do not promot the domain name - does this still help with SEO

Nope. If the domain name is a keyword you might get some type-in traffic but this will not help with rankings.

[Marcosll]

Keywords in the domain name will directly impact rankings.

Repeat the same keywords in your url though and it will have a negative effect.

www. keywords.com <- Better than www. yrntit.com (for ranking for thos keywords).

www. keywords.com/keywords.html <- Bad, will lower your rankings.

www. yrntit.com/keywords.html <- Also good but slightly less than the first.