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Picking a URL - 1st choice is taken. Would you add a "-" (dash) or put "the" in front of it?

by dseisner
10 replies
I'm trying to pick a new URL and the simple one I wanted is taken.

I'm trying to decide if I should make it

www.theabcxyz.com or

www.abc-xyz.com


Anybody have any thoughts on this? I'm trying to take SEO, PPC, and "rememberability" into account.

Thanks everyone.
#1st #add #choice #dash #front #picking #put #url
  • Profile picture of the author Dr_Matt
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  • Profile picture of the author Glenn Leader
    If your looking for brandability, then you need something
    that trips off the tongue. It's easier to give somebody a
    domain name without having to say "Keyword hyphen
    Tools hyphen resources". KeywordToolsResources is
    much easier to say and remember. AFA SEO, Google is
    smart enough to pick out your keywords in your domain
    name, with content supporting it.

    HTH

    Glenn
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  • Profile picture of the author shermancox
    I would avoid adding "the" and adding a "-". The reason is when you are trying to tell someone your domain name. When you are telliing people your domain and it is thedomainname.com sometimes people will ignore the "the" part and wonder why they never get to your site. as far as the dash...it just makes it more difficult...

    Get a new name...
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  • Profile picture of the author LarryW
    It seems to me that Google can do some URL unscrambling to "match" your intended phrase.

    desired search phrase = How To Make Money

    If "howtomakemoney.com" is taken then use "makemoneyhowto.com" ?

    This is just from a few tests, and using keyword tool= so we need some experienced users to speak up to confirm or say otherwise.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paula Steen
    Here is another idea I use sometimes...

    If your main keyword phrase, "abc xzy", is not available, do some keyword research for a 3-4 word phrase that includes your main keyword AND gets a good number of searches on its own.

    For example, people may be searching for "what is abc xyz" or "best abc xyz".

    WhatIsAbcXyz.com or BestAbcXyz.xom

    If you buy these, you get the benefit of having both your main keyword and a secondary keyword in your domain.

    To me, this makes more sense than just adding a random character or word to the beginning/end of your domain.
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  • Profile picture of the author dugu56
    yes, i would add the "-" as it's simply not true that you wont rank and whatnot.
    My wife has a site with the dash and it's been strong since 2007 until now without SEOing it or working on linking and the rest.
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  • Profile picture of the author Clint Butler
    I would go with the - as described in your example. I am assuming your targeting a keyword not creating a brand with the site so adding the - will do nothing to hurt you when generating website traffic via SEO and backlinks. Now if your using it to create a brand using one - shouldn't hurt you as long as its catchy and memorable.

    Regards,
    Clint
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  • Profile picture of the author JennyBizz
    I would stick to the name without the dash. You want your keywords up front, so add something at the end. See if you can get abcxyzhq.com. Adding the HQ is good because it's short, memorable and it makes sense to be the headquarters of your niche.
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