It will be an interesting result today to see how much the hyphen is loved or despised.

Now, from an SEO perspective if there isn't much difference between hyphenated and non-hyphenated domains, then you would have to argue that the smart money is to invest mostly in top quality hyphenated domains. You get similar bang for buck traffic-wise but at a reduced cost of the cost of the non-hyphenated version.

So what does everyone else think?

Best Regards,
George

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I like hyphenated domains, purely from a development and SEO perspective. And considering they don't grab a lot of attention at the Drop auctions or on Netfleet, they can be very good value for money.

If there was a market I wanted to go after and the non-hyphenated version didn't appear available to buy at a reasonable price (and also wasn't already top of the rankings) then I'd definitely go for the hyphen.

I think Website-Design today will be lucky to get past $700. But I could be wrong!

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Personally I do not like them.

Whilst they may well do better than other names in search, you could never build a brand with the name. This will always limit any future resale value.

Personally I'd rather buy a prefix/suffix for reg fee than spend anymore than reg fee on a hyphenated name.

Obviously the buyer's perspective is influenced by their own primary business motivation and/or skill set.

* Investors and Developers have a low regard, for all the right reasons relating to brand.

* SEO specialists have a healthier regard, because to them it is all about building traffic to a domain that will appear high on a search engine's organic results. Once they 'own' that traffic then they can redirect it to a clients site that specializes on that subject matter.

Interesting is that Cfd-Trading.com.au is another hyphenated one on the list today.
We caught that for $2001

https://www.drop.com.au/auction/history/

George

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This is also very true.

Worth noting that hyphen or no hyphen, it's also 2 years older than WebsiteDesign.com.au

:P

Not sure I follow the age reference?

George

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I guess my main point was in agreement with your previous SEO statement - with a decent site and some link building, this domain can out-perform and out-rank websitedesigns.com.au. While 2 years age difference might be minimal, it could be a minor edge

Tim

What a great buy. I thought it would go for atleast 2 or 3k.

Ah, that is where I was getting confused.

websitedesign.com.au was a secondary market sale, so although the licence is reset at the registry when the transfer takes place, the domain's age and create date carries on from previous registration cycles. At the registry it shows the original create date when the registrar of record views the domain details.

However, website-design.com.au, expired and dropped today. So technically, it is less than 24 hours old now... At the registry, the previous records for the domain are removed from the domain. That information is no longer accessible to the registrar.

Not that google, and other search engines will see it this way though... Most likely, the domain's life history will probably just continue on. Website traffic works differently I suppose.

PS: Domain Expiry life cycles aside, from my side of the game , I find it very interesting to see how our customers each independently of each other, value domains. It makes this game so much fun, seeing the different flavours of domainers come together at the Drop!

George

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