A question was asked in a Reddit thread and answered by Google’s John Mueller: “Over the past few years, there seems to be a trend to avoid hyphens in domain names. Is this a wise decision and could there be potential missed considerations for our decision?”
SEO History with Hyphens
In olden times, when SEO was more keyword-centric, hyphenated domains were a favorite of affiliates looking to take advantage of Google’s focus on keywords in domains, URLs, and webpage copy. This was not an especially widespread tactic and tended to be limited primarily to some affiliate marketers.
One of the very reasons to include keywords in domain names in the first place was that the keywords would at least partially prequalify visitors, and thus translate into a better conversion rate.
On the other hand, hyphenated domain names have fallen out of favor because readers simply do not regard them as trustworthy, and thus negatively affect conversion rates. Conversions depend on so much trust, and hyphenated domains are generally not reassuring.
Besides that, hyphenated domains often look uncouth or tacky. An even more common strategy is to go for brandable domain names, since trust and conversion rates appear to improve much better.
Domain Name Question Asked On Reddit
This is the question asked on Reddit:
“Why don’t people use a lot of domains with hyphens? Is there something concerning about it? I understand when you tell it out loud people make miss hyphen in search.”
Mueller followed up, saying that conventionally, a domain name with a number of hyphens was less credible, in that it implied that a domain name without hyphens was not available. He mentioned that this concern has gone away with increasing top-level domains.
The most important suggestion he gave is the domain name chosen; it must be such that it can stand for a long time and not too keyword-heavy to hold back one’s future growth. Again, he emphasized the need to create something much bigger than what one short-term SEO strategy may encourage regarding authenticity.
We would also agree with Mueller’s insight, that choosing a domain name can allow expansion as it grows in popularity. Domains restricted to particular keywords restrict growth and may look unattractive. That is why a brandable and memorable domain that instills trust is always recommended.
Would you like to read more about “Insights from Google Regarding Hyphens in Domain Names” related articles? If so, we invite you to take a look at our other tech topics before you leave!
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