Home >> Site Launch: Domain Registration >> Hyphen in Web Address

Hyphen in Domain Names?

iPage Web Hosting only $1.99/mo!!

100% Eco Friendly Web Hosting Service -- iPage Web Hosting

Should we use hyphen in domain names?

It is a very debatable topic. Read about all the advantages and disadvantages of using hyphen in domain names and do your own analysis to find out which one has an edge over the other.

The need to use hyphens arises when your chosen domain name is longer than one or two words. Shorter domain names if are understood in one look, then there is absolutely no need to use the hyphen for further clarification. For example “webtools.com” is good enough and putting a hyphen in between like “web-tools.com” doesn’t help much, and so is redundant.

Use the hyphen or dash to extend clarity and legibility.

Our view is that if anything renders extra clarity in understanding a certain thing, then it must be a good idea to incorporate it.

There has been a lot of debate regarding hyphen (or dashes – it is the same thing) in domain names and there are as many different points of view as there are people discussing it.

For a deeper analysis let us weigh the advantages and disadvantages of hyphen in domain name. Click to jump directly to the section of the article you want to go to:

• Advantages of using hyphen (dash) in domain names.
• Disadvantages of using hyphen (dash) in domain names.
• Our Opinion for Usage of Hyphen in Domain Name.
• Who are the Best Domain Registrars?

Advantages of using hyphen in domain names.

• 1. Long domain names with hyphens are easier to understand.

• Using hyphen in domain names that are 2 or more worded, removes any scope of misunderstanding.

  Our favorite example is:

  What does this URL suggest about the website?

  www.therapistfinder.com

  Is it about their services with regard to “the rapist finder” or “therapist finder”?

  What if the same domain name is written with a hyphen, like this?

  www.therapist-finder.com

  It is devoid of any confusion and the reader gets the absolute clear picture of the website. Hence it is easy to parse the long worded domain name with hyphens and make it pleasing and logical to the human eye.

• 2. The search engines are not confused.

• Search engines don’t get confused on reading hyphenated domain names.

  They treat hyphens or dashes as blank spaces and thus are able to distinguish your keywords better, which helps them to return your website more prominently in the search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name.

  Which is easier to read?

  www.steps-to-make-your-own-website.com
  Or
  stepstomakeyourownwebsite.com

  Obviously the first one is as clear as crystal, even without reading, while the second one requires all your ingenuity to decipher it. Not just the search engine spiders but also the human beings see the whole string as separate words and the keyword is easily traceable without any error.

• 3. More choices for domain name availability.

• If the domain name of your choice or the unhyphenated domain name has already been taken up and is unavailable, then using hyphens can give you a number of choices. Care should be taken not to over ride any legality. Also you should be more careful about altering the look of the domain name while not diverting your traffic to someone else’s site.

  By using hyphen in your domain names you are able to retain your original choice and also keep the keyword in its exact order.

Go to Top

Disadvantages of using hyphen in domain names.

• 1. Visitors tend to forget typing the hyphen.

• Most people generally don’t expect hyphen in domain names and are liable to forget using them while typing the URL. Another view is that while using the keyboard people are so used to just typing the alphabets in a flow that they normally don’t have the patience to search and type the hyphen. By the way the lowercase symbol on the key right of the numeral 0 is the hyphen or dash on your keyboard.

• 2. Difficult to read and communicate to others.

• People feel that reading hyphenated domain name is difficult and even more so if you have to communicate audibly the same to others. If the domain name is “tips-to-choose-good-domain-names.com” then it will sound very awkward to say “tips dash to dash choose dash good dash domain dash names dot com”.

• 3. People usually get the wrong URL if there are hyphens in domain names.

• In the above example the occurrence of too many hyphens confuses the visitor and they end up missing a hyphen here or there and end up either getting to a different website or mostly to nowhere. This frustrates the web surfer.

Go to Top

Our Opinion for Usage of Hyphen in Domain Name

In our opinion using hyphens has more inclination in favor of advantages than disadvantages. Hyphens do add legibility to the domain names. Whenever you get the slightest hint that your domain name could look misguiding or confusing, then do use the hyphen and remove the ambiguity.

Our advice is that if both the hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of your domain name are available, register both in your name. For very little extra cost you can protect your traffic from getting stolen by your competitor. Use the hyphenated domain name for online purposes and the non-hyphenated one for offline marketing and promotional purposes. You can domain park the non-hyphenated one and point it towards the hyphenated domain name, so that even when your visitor uses the domain name without hyphens it will still lead her to your website.

Go to Top

Who are the Best Domain Registrars?

Want to go shopping to buy domains? How do you know where you will get a fair deal? Do you always go to the cheapest one?

The best domain registrar need not be the cheapest domain registrar. It’s not always the cost of a domain name that makes a registrar a good or an average one. Neither does a good sounding name make a registrar a good one.

There are numerous domain registrars and domain resellers that have flooded the domain registration industry. Obviously they all are there for business and sometimes your interest might not be their upmost priority. In such a scenario it is easy to get duped by certain unscrupulous ones.

Below we offer a list of the best domain registrars:

• 1 - GoDaddy - World’s Largest Domain Registrar
• For price and service features read our: GoDaddy - Review

• 2 - Dotster - Over 10 Years & 1 Million Customers
• For price and service features read our: Dotster - Review

• 3 - Register.com - Get 25% off your entire shopping cart use coupon code : REGISTERSPECIAL25.....applicable through this link only.
• For price and service features read our: Register.com - Review

• 4 - Network Solutions – Over 30 Years of Experience
• For price and service features read our: Network Solutions - Review

• 5 - Moniker - Over 2.44 Million Domain Names Under Their Management
• For price and service features read our: Moniker - Review

• 6 - Netfirms - LOWEST priced 1-year .com anywhere
• For price and service features read our: Netfirms - Review

Go to Top for Page on Hyphen in Domain