is xxx-xxx.com better than xxxxxx.net? Please advise

Hi all,

Im about to pick up a domain name, but suprise suprise someone has Sedo'd the one i want. Its not a MAJOR site, as in my livelyhood doesn't depend on it, but I do want it to be as SEO friendly as possible.

So, xxx-xxx.com or xxxxxx.net?

Thanks,
Alex

 

depends on the quality of the words.

for example

MyRealEstatesiteforagentsandowners.com is not good compared to

my-real-Estate.com (I vote for this)

So, it depends on the quality of words.

My dime.

Thanks

 

It also depends on how long you want the domain to be. Keep it short and to the point. Generally, I'd say that a .net is better than xxx-xxx.com

 

I'm not sure if there is even one major player site that has a - in their domain so I'm betting no.

 

I would say xxxxxx.net is better than xxx-xxx.net because once there is a
"-" in the name it will drop the price of the site name dramatically.

 

Wow, thinking the site will fail and have to be resold already.

A little unfair to say no major player has a - in their name. Depends how big you have to be to be a major player but there are certainly some multi million dollar international companies that have a hyphenated domain name. The other consideration is that they can of cause afford to buy out the non-hyphenated version from who ever owns it.

Generally speaking .com are better than .net as more people "guessing" addresses will try .com before .net, some will also consider a .net as not being a commercial venture when seeing the domain - going back to the original differences between .com, .net, .org etc

None hyphenated is however better simply because of the fact it is easier to remember "john lewis dot com" than it is "john hyphen lewis dot com"

Ultimately it does come down to the actual domain names themselves and also what the owners of the other versions are doing - have you checked the none hyphenated .com and made sure there wont be any intelectual property rights issues with using a domain name so similiar to theirs?

 

this isn't a planned "major player" website, but currently I hold top position for my chosen health niche - and would like a "competitor" site to try and catch the missed traffic.

The page is literally just parked doing nothing - and that's something i hate. I have no intention of letting them hold them two words at such a waste

Seems the majority think dropping the '-' is a good bet tho Thanks for the advice so far!

 

i know some big sites with - in it --- xxx-xxx might make the site remember easier than xxxxxx - but still depends on your purpose

 

there are not may - domains that are good. I would stay away from it. It looks stupid.

 

Having a hyphen (-) in a domain name isn't going to kill a site. I would recommend you avoid having more than one though.

If you are trying to match a domain name to a keyword phrase, such as "my keyword phrase", and mykeywordphrase.com is already taken, you could look at getting mykeywordphrasesite.com or mykeywordphraseshop.com. If mykeywordphraseshop.com was taken and you liked having "shop" on the end, you could stick your hyphen there, mykeywordphrase-shop.com. Just avoid putting an extra word in front of your keyword phrase. For instance, don't do shopmykeywordphrase.com. Again, this is for when you are trying to match a domain to a keyword phrase.

Ultimately, it all comes down to what you put on the site and the off page seo you do. Having a memorable name can help repeat traffic. Having a catchy name can help get more link clicks. Having a keyword optimized domain name can help get you a boost in SERPs, especially in the beginning of the site. All of those just help though, the work you do on and off the site is what really matters in the then.

 

I dont think it is a good idea to add a hyphen within the domain, it will give a little inconvenience to visitors, howevery, if you using hyphen in keywords, then it will be better than two words without hyhen or space

 

I agree with you.
xxxx. net is best than xxx-xxx. com