Hyphenated keyword rich domains - is a hyphenated .co.uk better than a non-hyphenatedlesser TLD such as .org?

[Wallander]

Hey there, Would anyone be kind enough to share their experience of using keyword rich hyphenated domains. Are they as effective at tanking as non hyphenated domains?

i.e would it be better to get a lesser non-hyphenated TLD such as .org for example rather than a hyphenated co.uk?

[CarlosFernandes]

Based on our experience I would I would stay away from keyword stuff over hyphenated domains.  We have had better results going with brandable types names and just concentrating on content and other elements of SEO. If you are talking about a website with a UK audience I would stick to   .co.uk   unless of course it is some kind of org or charity etc.

If you do want to get keywords in the domain - then go for it - just don't go over the top to make it so spammy that you get penalized for it and you also don't need the hyphens. The keywords can get parsed in the domain without the separators.

Keywords in domains might have weight this year....  (again) - but next year after the herds have milked it to death (again) - they may not be given much weight...  and on and on.  I am sure I saw some study on SEOMoz some years back on this though (in terms of keyword rich domains versus no-keyword rich domains).

I think if it were me I would always lean on the side of creating a brand first - a business.... one that wasn't reliant on the swings and rollercoaster ride of the Search Engine algo's.

Do that, think about what the content is going to be - and your audience and your traffic will work itself out in spades no matter what your domain is.

Carlos

[CarlosFernandes]

Here's some old posts that might help you further...

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-domain-name http://www.seomoz.org/blog/rules-of-domain-name-selection http://www.seomoz.org/q/how-much-weight-does-google-give-to-exact-match-domains

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/exact-match-domains-are-far-too-powerful-is-their-time-limited You can see in the last post by Rand (2010) compared to the first link (2005) how things may have changed.

I am not sure what other views are on it now in 2012  - but again - I would always look at it as if I was creating a business first and not just a website. Go for the brandable non-hyphenated non spammy option.

[Wallander]

Carlos, thanks for taking the time, appreciated.