Dashes in Domains

[Ollivander]

Would you ever own a domain with a dash (-) in it? What do you believe the pros and cons are of such domains? Do you think a dash affects the overall well being of a website? Why/why not?

 

[Hanaseru]

I own a domain with a dash in it ouo.

It makes it easier to get a certain domain name that I want, and I don't think it seems to affect the traffic of my website too much.

 

[Kevin]

I have a site with a dash and it and it is actually doing better than the site without the dash. Excessive amounts of dashes could be a problem though. Like Hanaseru said, it can also make it easier to obtain the domain you really want.

 

[Jessi]

The only time I recommend using a dash is when it is to distinguish between two words that may not be obvious in the version without a hyphen.

For example:

penisland vs pen-island
expertsexchange vs experts-exchange
therapistfinder vs therapist-finder

You get the idea.

Otherwise, though, it is much preferred to avoid having a hyphenated domain.

 

[RjMaan]

Yeah, i agree with you. some times you do not find your favorite domain name because it was taken by others thats why you use "-" in your domain name. It has no effect on the traffic.