John Mueller answered whether it’s OK to use a hyphenated domain name in a Google SEO office hours hangout. He stated that choosing such a domain is entirely acceptable. However, he also believes that keywords in domain names are overrated.
There is a notion that including keywords in the domain name will improve a site’s ranking. In the early days of SEO, the usage of keywords in domains had some value. Parked domains (keyword-rich domains with no content and solely advertisements) were permitted to appear in search results until Google change that in 2011.
Key takeaways:
- A hyphenated domain name is an old-school strategy that fell out of popularity years ago due to the lack of ranking effect.
- Hyphens make a domain name look tacky and spammy.
- Google’s algorithm does not consider the presence or absence of a hyphen in a domain name.
Read more: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/are-hyphens-in-domain-names-okay-with-google/414691
