what is the best way to choose domain name?

[palinma]

I just wonder for domain using hyphen, underscore, neither hyphen and underscore. Which is the best for SEO purpose? thanks in advance.

[SeanStuart]

I think it will not make any different,the main focus is people can remember it easy and you have time to make your site SEO friendly.routine update and what also important you have time to build your site with new link everyday

[~CReed]

When choosing a domain name, keep in mind that you can't use an underscore.

[HTMLBasicTutor]

palinma,
You kind of asked 2 questions, in the title you said "what is the best way to choose domain name?" and then in the body of your initial post you asked about hyphenating and underscores.

In answer to your question about hyhens and underscores:

What are the valid characters for a domain name and how long can it be ?
When choosing the name for your domain, always remember that: - you *can't* use stressed vowels (such as à, é, ò, etc.); - you *can't* use symbols (such as ' + . , | ! " £ $ % & / ( ) = ? ^ * ç ° § ; : _ > ] [ @ ); - the name's length must range between 3 and 63 characters (excluding the extension); - the name can neither start nor end with the character "-", although the character "-" is allowed inside the name. So, to name your domain you can use any letter, numbers between 0 and 9, and the symbol "-". .

Length may vary, from 3 to 63 types.

For domain names registered under the geographical structure, the limit is between 1 and 63 types.

Reference: What are the valid characters for a domain name and how long can it be ?

To address the title of the thread, You do need to sit down and decide on what your target audience would be typing into the search box to find what you are selling/providing info on first before you do anything. This information can be used for your domain name selection and later when creating your content and including the right keywords.

Some points to keep in mind while selecting the domain portion of your business domain name:

•Your domain name and website name should be the same.
People may not notice the website address of your website when they find you through the search engine results. They are going to notice the website name, the website appearance and whether or not it was what they were looking for. They may even remember your website name when someone else is looking for something so that person is going to type the website name into the search engines.

•Avoid trademarked names.
At one time the fad was to snap up domain names that could end up in great profits if an up and coming business hadn’t already purchased their domain name. Now, companies with trademarked names and products will not pay the price to secure the domain names, they will just sue you for trademark infringement.

•Branding.
If you want to use an unusual name like some of the famous websites around then be prepared to invest time and money into marketing and working extra hard on search engine friendly content. In the beginning it will be harder to show up in the search engine results but if you have the time and budget, go for it!

An older established business that already has a good reputation and is well known but late getting on the net could build on their established reputation.

•Incorporating keywords and/or phrases your target audience will search for.
If you have done your targeted audience research you will know the type of keywords and phrases they will type into the search engines when looking for products or information. Incorporating these words and phrases into your domain name and website name will help them remember your website and your search engine results.

•Hyphenated domain name.
A hyphenated domain name can help your search engines results but isn’t people friendly. It will be hard for visitors to remember where to include the hyphens.

But, the only the hyphenated version of the domain name I want is available! Well, think of another name. The reason, your website is going to get confused with the “other” website. Someone who found your website and remembered the name but not the address is going to type in the website name to try and find you again. Depending how well you have worked on your search engine optimization, the “other” website just might be in the results before you and you are going to loose the traffic and sale.

A better tactic would be to decide on a domain name where you can purchase the hyphenated and non hyphenated versions of the domain name.

•Name easy to spell.
Choose a domain name that is easy to spell. Some buy the miss spelt versions of domain names to get those visitors. This could get costly for you if you were to do the same thing.

•British English vs American English spellings of words.
Depending on how you learnt to spell when learning English, you could be use to spelling in British English or American English. This can be confusing for people who have learnt English as a second language.

Something to consider is if the word(s) you have chosen for your business domain name have two spellings, British or American. Picking one or the other could potentially reduce your chances of showing in the search engine results for that word.

Use words spelt the same in British and American English to increase your search engine results.

Reference: Choosing a Domain Name

[SiberForum]

People do believe in the domain name power for SEO. That is not correct. Domain name will never approve or hurt your SEO. Content and backlinks are much more important

[ChaibiAlaa]

May be this will help you :
coffeecupbreak.com/reviews/tips-adices/before-registering-a-domain-name/

[Dhaval]

IMO do not include hypens in a domain name.

[RobertM]

I agree with no hyphens in your domain name. You're going to lose a lot of visitors/customers this way. Try using a phrase that's easy to say.

[SiberForum]

Originally Posted by RobertM

I agree with no hyphens in your domain name. You're going to lose a lot of visitors/customers this way. Try using a phrase that's easy to say.

What makes you think so I wonder? I have seen a lot of good domain names with dash inside and I suppose they are having good amount of traffic even more then some domain names without dash.

[jacks smith]

I always preferred keyword and business targeted domain name

[SiberForum]

Originally Posted by jacks smith

I always preferred keyword and business targeted domain name

Do you believe that will improve your SEO, don't you?

[geilt]

Key word Rich domain names are very valuable, especially if you are trying to rank for the term that's the domain name!!

[damonjim]

best think to buy the domain it is the best way to do work with it

[CanSpace]

In terms of SEO, it doesn't matter if you have a hyphen or not in the domain name... google will still recognize the keywords with or without the hyphen. Content is king.

[geilt]

Gotta love hyphens. Old domains are awesome too if you can afford one held for your domain name.

Makes me wonder if one day Google will take the - keywords in domain name -out of the picture.

Would be terrible for some if it did.

Using domain names with keywords seems very spammy to me, not so much authentic.

Like...whats the difference between affordable-shoe-wear.com and nike.com? Content and Branding of course but why give any preference to the former just because of the name?

[rafderamas]

i like to use hyphens to separate words.

[joeldavis]

I have to disagree about the SEO significance of a keyword rich domain. My domains with keywords in them always rank faster and higher than ones that don't.

The strategy I use for buying domains is 1st) do 5 minutes worth of keyword research in my particular niche using Market Samurai or Google Keyword Tool, copy and paste all keywords that have decent traffic into Excel. 2nd) Rank all keywords from highest daily searches to lowest. 3rd) Go to GoDaddy.com, go to the Bulk Domain Name Registration option, and paste all the keywords, click .com and .net and maybe .org off to the right. And then click Search. This will tell me if any major keywords/search phrases are available. These will be golden if they are, even if .net or .org. 4th) After putting any of those keywords/phrases in my Cart to buy, go back to the Bulk Domain Name Registration option and brainstorm as many domains that contain the major traffic keyword(s) by adding words like my, center, s, best, or action words, etc.

I also have found great success going to the auction site at GoDaddy for particular keywords (some are years old and have quite a few backlinks already) and even eBay for domain names. I don't know whose coupon code it is, but I use the code oyh7 for a 30% discount at all GoDaddy orders. Also, Flippa.com has domains and entire websites for sale in a variety of niches.

While there are other ways of coming up with a domain name, I've found great success with this particular strategy. Hope this helps you.

[keveenjones]

You can not use any type special symbol means you will not use any digits and apostrophes and numerical characters also. You will not use your domain name with unnecessary words. You can use simple and plain easy English for your domain name and it can be easily pronounce and specially for seo purpose always use search engine keywords and always use a popular domain extension

[pliam]

It is important for several reasons. It is easy to fit into logos, makes a better brand, is more easily recognizable, and is harder to misspell. Some companies have 50-character domain names spelling out their whole company name.

[Domainer1111]

I usually find that google likes .com domains with full keyword in it and no numbers or dashes. Domain value is also measured by num words in it, 1 is great ( can't find these anymore ), 2 word .com domain is still good, 3 word should be the max.