Multi-Word-Keyphrase in domain name wo/ or with dashes?

[tomypro]

SEO Gurus,

There seems to be a tendency that whenever you need to optimize a project for a multi-word key phrase, lets say for example "hostels in boston" SEOs see it as a best practice to refelct the key phrase in the domain without dashes yet when being used in a directory/page name context dashers are being used? Does anyone have any experience to share on this topic what works better? From my experience using dashes has been quite successful in the past but I am questioning this approach for a new project I am about to start.

To clarify the question, in your eyes what would work better for the keyphrase "hotels in boston"

www.hotelsinboston.com

www.hotels-in-boston.com

Thanks /Thomas

[RyanKent]

For the domain name, www.hotelsinboston.com would be the preferred choice.

For the URL, you are correct if you had mysite.com then the preferred page link would be mysite.com/hotels-in-boston

The reason is more to do with users then with rankings. If you say "go to hotelsinboston.com" then close to 100% of users will understand your request and land on the correct site. If you say "go to hotels hyphen in hyphen boston.com" you will lose a certain percentage of users who will forget or not understand the hyphens.

It's the exact same idea as why a .com address is preferred over a .net or any other TLD. If your site is hotelsinboston.net, a certain percentage of your clients will wind up on the .com site. It's just more natural for people to add .com to any business name.

[evolvingSEO]

Completely agree.  Plus I think I remember the latest ranking factors report stating that hyphens in the domain name had a negative ranking factor.

[AnthonyYoung]

There is evidence that Google sees hyphens in the root domain as spam. A lot of lead generation publishers, unable to afford domains like www.freecreditreport.com will resort to buying spammy domains like www.free-credit-report.com. A lot of porn sites utilize this tactic as well.

I would definitely steer clear of this as a tactic...most sites that I see using this almost always have manipulated link graphs, paid links, etc etc.

Hope this helps. Be well!