webmaster talk

The four points:

1. Related to Your Core Business or Business Name
2. Memorable
3. Hard to Misspell
4. Short

Hyphens or not?

Technically hyphens are recognized as a separator (or space), so they should be used in instances where search engines may not correctly discriminate your keywords. For example, expertsexchange.com – is that experts-exchange or expert-sex-change? In all other instances hyphens are uneccessary, as search engines will correctly parse out the keywords. Not that that matters though, as Google largely ignores the content of your domain name.

If you are in a situation where you must use hyphens to differentiate keywords correctly (as in the above example), then it is important that you use hyphens, and not underscores. While Yahoo and MSN may correctly interpret underscores as hyphens, the predominant search engine, Google, does not.

Placing Keywords in your Domain Name May Help to Increase Site Traffic

When you work to develop a keyword rich domain name, be creative. Make sure the name is not only relevant, but is one that will be remembered. Start off with a list of the most obvious and valid keywords for your site. Then, focus on the not-so obvious. Also consider the amount of competition each word garners. Last but certainly not least, apply common sense to the equation. Using valid keywords within the domain name will likely garner more clicks to your site. And remember, more clicks often means more sales!