SEO Tycoon

**Haz** · 06-29-2008, 11:26 PM

is it a bad idea to purchase a new url that does not have dashes and 301 re-direct it to the other site whith dashes?

**tamar** · 06-30-2008, 01:53 AM

Dashes are annoying, imo. It depends how long the URL is. If it's something like mysupercoolsiteishere.com, keep it like that. I would just use no dashes. Dashes confuse people (and even webmaster-talk.com initially confused me as I've admitted before!)

**smoseley** · 06-30-2008, 03:25 AM

I concur. I hate hyphens in domain names. I often still type webmastertalk without a hyphen, and get redirected to another web design forum. :shrug:

**zeruel** · 06-30-2008, 04:23 AM

Depends on the domain name. If it is too long to type or memorize, well I think it's a bad idea. 301 redirects should be considered regardless of the backlinks.

**Haz** · 06-30-2008, 11:38 AM

so I have messed up big time. Do I purchase a new domain without the hyphon? and move everything onto it? Or if I use 301 re-direct (which Im not too sure on how to do that) ?

**Haz** · 06-30-2008, 01:11 PM

can I get a straight answer please? Is 301 re-direct bad for a month old website??? Keep in mind there isn't even a page rank yet on the website and google has only found 3 pages or even just 2 pages of the site, despite seo optimization and webmaster tools submission of sitemaps.

so....I purchased solarheatingcanada.com and i did a 301 re-direct on the solar-heating-canada.com to move to the solarheatingcanada.com domain.

Can someone please tell me if this is a good idea and if its bad, how bad is it. keep in mind its not even a few weeks old.

Thank you!

**Learning Newbie** · 06-30-2008, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haz

can I get a straight answer please?

Maybe, but you'll need to be hired by Google first. The most anybody on any web forum can give you is the best of their knowledge. Some of the people in this forum (ChirsHirst, VanGogh, etc) are brilliant, but even they aren't perfect. And, sometimes after one of these geniuses figures something out, Google goes and changes their algorithm. So, there really isn't such a thing as a straight answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haz

Is 301 re-direct bad for a month old website??? Keep in mind there isn't even a page rank yet on the website and google has only found 3 pages or even just 2 pages of the site, despite seo optimization and webmaster tools submission of sitemaps.

So, in the order you mentioned these things.

A 301 redirect isn't good or bad. It's a tool. It means a piece of content on the web has moved, forever, from one location to another. Use it when it makes sense to.
All known pages have PageRank. You might not have been in the game long enough to amass Toolbar PageRank. Since they only update this number 3 or 4 times a year, and you've only had your site 1 month, it would be a little unusual if you did have this already.
1. Did I mention how useless TBPR is? Here it seems to have convinced you to give up whatever you may have achieved. Chasing after the stuff is counter productive!
The submittions are wothless, as you seem to have noticed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haz

Can someone please tell me if this is a good idea and if its bad, how bad is it. keep in mind its not even a few weeks old.

It's really not a good idea or a bad idea, it just is. Sort of like if I'll get better gas mileage by painting my car red or blue? Since you bought both domains and you've already got a redirect in place, your best option is to go with what you have working already. Why would you want to tear everything up and start from scratch? What could you possibly gain? Even if you aren't seeing billions of search referrals, you've got your basic plumbing down and can focus on the important parts of your business - there's no reason to undo that and go back to do everything again.

**Haz** · 06-30-2008, 08:37 PM

Thank you Learning Newbie.

You made some solid points.

I just kept the same content and just changed all the submissions I made to the new url and new email. I will just leave it and update it every day.

Thanks!

**smoseley** · 07-01-2008, 12:59 AM

Get rid of the hyphens.

**Learning Newbie** · 07-01-2008, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haz

I just kept the same content and just changed all the submissions I made to the new url and new email. I will just leave it and update it every day.

Sadly, it's pretty rare for people to be smart enough to get it. So you deserve some congratulations just for that, but if you picked out that the search engines won't really care one way or the other, and that you'll do better for yourself to concentrate on real issues - that's all the info any of us needs, to know you'll do well.

**screenindia** · 07-02-2008, 03:23 AM

yes it can help you but not so much...think about long term..

**northbeach23** · 07-02-2008, 06:54 AM

What is the reason that you need to point without dash to domain with dash? Its better to use domain without dashes.

**blogdog** · 07-03-2008, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learning Newbie

Some of the people in this forum (ChirsHirst, VanGogh, etc) are brilliant, but even they aren't perfect.

What??!!!

**bill benson** · 07-06-2008, 12:11 PM

I've had good luck with a domain that uses dashes and has my main keyword separated by them in the domain name. A lot of people feel that G views the dashes as a space and can more easily identify your keywords.

I suspect, however, that a url Keyword1Keyword2.com and an H1 or title tag of Keyword1 Keyword2 will do the same thing. I have nothing to back that up.

From Google SERPS perspective, hyphens may help you and won't hurt you. From a user perspective, its cumbersome.

**Local SEO** · 07-06-2008, 07:41 PM

This thread is a good example of why I say Verify... verify... verify!