Dash Domains

[Greg23]

Hey Guys,

Yet another question I do appologise if anyone is getting annoyed, but this is all new to me


Just wondering dash domain names ie. hot-chips.com.au do you guys see value in getting these domains? and in regards to SEO are they as easily ranked as your conventional names.


Thanks again!

 

[findtim]

i have very few, maybe 5 max in my folio, i don't like them, most people here will say " it doesn't survive the RADIO test " , i haven't tried to rank any of them yet but i am about to very soon.

i got water-cooler.com.au off drops the other day for a client as we know we will NEVER get watercooler.com.au ( $10 + COR - $10 = $50) [ i wouldn't have paid $1000 for it ] so in this instance i think its a good thing but we won't be investing a great deal of money into its development.

my opinion is it has to be a kick arse domain to warrent any money but if you look at past sales there has been some pretty hefty prices paid for them.

I think ranking a domain name is up to the SEO and because of the domain name, it definately helps but its not GOD.

tim

 

[helloworld]

In the past they could rank well. I've seen multiple-hyphen-domains sell in the five 0s mark. Tat said, I've been trying to rank one for 3 months and not having much luck, which is odd for me.

 

[Greg23]

Thanks guys, Unless i came across some gold im getting the impression that it's proably not worth it.

 

[DavidL]

If you are buying solely with the plan to develop & SEO, then I don't think you should overlook them.

Google does not directly discriminate against them and they seem to go for somewhere roughly around 1/10th of the non-hyphen names so can look like value in this instance.

Keep asking questions too - no need to apologise!

 

[Honan]

Hey Guys,

Yet another question I do appologise if anyone is getting annoyed, but this is all new to me


Just wondering dash domain names ie. hot-chips.com.au do you guys see value in getting these domains? and in regards to SEO are they as easily ranked as your conventional names.


Thanks again!

SEO is all just a matter of opinion.
Dashes in domains destroy their value

 

[Data Glasses]

Amazed no-one has mentioned the recent sale/drop/catch of domain-names.com.au for $2,678 on the 19th of july at netfleet

 

[johno69]

Amazed no-one has mentioned the recent sale/drop/catch of domain-names.com.au for $2,678 on the 19th of july at netfleet

I think they paid too much. Time will tell.

 

[helloworld]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85cL1HisrNc

 

[Data Glasses]

I got bored ...........Hyphen-Domain-Names

If you list a name please include the australian domain name requirements (abn etc)

 

[snoopy]

I'd compare using a hyphen domain like this to using a .net.au. It may not matter much for SEO but for everything else it is terrible, clumsy, not memorable, confusing, cheap looking.

 

[Data Glasses]

Sorry not accepting .net.au's

 

[findtim]

I'd compare using a hyphen domain like this to using a .net.au. It may not matter much for SEO but for everything else it is terrible, clumsy, not memorable, confusing, cheap looking.

i don't like net.au or hypens either but if you are selling a product online and the website has the product then i don't think most cosumers look at the URL for a buying decision.

if you are a business with business cards etc then i'd prefer they use the com.au no hypens.

tim

 

[shags38]

I'd compare using a hyphen domain like this to using a .net.au. It may not matter much for SEO but for everything else it is terrible, clumsy, not memorable, confusing, cheap looking.

i don't like net.au or hypens either but if you are selling a product online and the website has the product then i don't think most consumers look at the URL for a buying decision.

... Spot on Tim !!! - Bravo

ATTN Greg23 who started this thread - Some differing opinions in here - healthy stuff.

I too am a newbie, just a couple of years of stumbling, fumbling and some spirited discussion and opinionations in this forum - all healthy and all part of the learning curve. Sometimes you will find that comments or responses are too short and are wide open to mis-interpretation so take these with a grain of salt.

IMHO most domains have some worth to someone. I have a number of .net.au in my portfolio but only one as a live site and it ranks very well. The discrimination for want of a better term between .net.au and .com.au as far as SE's go is zero, as compared to .net vs .com where there is a significant difference. If it is a high profile name or a high CPC earner then the fact that it ends in .net.au and not .com.au will have no effect on its ranking. I agree with Tim " i don't think most consumers look at the URL for a buying decision" ... most look at the (Mega) title and the (Mega) description and only some will look at the url before clicking.

So for website development there is nothing wrong with .net.au - for selling the domain as a primary 'business name domain' because the .com.au isn't available well that is a different story.

HYPHENATED domains - without going back through the thread someone said that hyphenated domains 'used to rank well' .... post Panda they are again ranking well. Somewhere in Googles algorithms they have made a tweak to again make hyphens fully acceptable. Matt Cutts said so in a video interview but said more than two hyphens may not be good (last bit is scare tactic IMO). Not everything Matt says can be taken as Gospel but it is better than the reverse being said.

I have been looking at SERPs very regularly under a number of categories over recent months, particularly since about May/June following the major Panda updates and the release of Penguin during that period, and it is standing out like the proverbials that many hyphenated domains are ranking better than before, IF they are an exact match for a search. The search term being incorporated in the site URL is having a far greater influence on SERPs since May/June in my opinion. Sites with exact name that sit at #1 that have not had ANY web content alterations for years is some evidence. No doubt most of you guys will have noticed that.

Hyphenated names are EXACT matches to SE's as the '-' is just a space. So Red-Apple.com.au OR .net.au will rank just as well as RedApple.com.au or .net.au given that the content and general SEO factors are the same. I have one name Watch-Movies-Online-For-Free.com which is attracting a lot of inquiries sitting there doing nothing - it will earn someone a lot of Adsense income if they put the right content on it because it is a very high volume search term (over 4 million broad and over 300k exact per month @$1.40, so adsense publishers share would be about $0.50 per click - I'd like 5% of the exacts = 15,000 @ $0.50 = $7,500 per month income - in fact I will take even a measly 1% but running out of time to manage those that I have let alone develop more )

In the past 3 or 4 months I have hand regged a number of hyphenated names (and no Snoopy, it is not a repeat of the 3D thing) most with Insurance names. Why, as per above hyphenated names are more than OK and also Insurance names have high CPC. With only a few pages of content a couple of these ugly hyphenated (exact search term match) sites are earning up to $xx a day (variably) via Adsense and that is through the latest Penguin and Panda updates / refreshes periods. I wouldn't buy the names as an investment but for minor development for advertising revenue - why not?

So Greg23, you don't have to wait for something 'Gold' as you posted. Like Tim's Water-Cooler.com.au, which WILL rank extremely well with the right content and SEO, no doubt about it, there are many hyphenated names that are more than worthy.

So there is my opinion

 

[snoopy]

The discrimination for want of a better term between .net.au and .com.au as far as SE's go is zero, as compared to .net vs .com where there is a significant difference.

Sometimes you hear something and you just know it is a lot of crap. You think .net is discriminated against but .net.au isn't?

I agree with Tim " i don't think most consumers look at the URL for a buying decision" ... most look at the (Mega) title and the (Mega) description and only some will look at the url before clicking.

What is the mega title & mega description? I think we are making a whole lot of assumptions here. Customers are likely to notice most things about a search listing & the site itself.

Somewhere in Googles algorithms they have made a tweak to again make hyphens fully acceptable.

Is this based on anything factual?

Like Tim's Water-Cooler.com.au, which WILL rank extremely well with the right content and SEO, no doubt about it, there are many hyphenated names that are more than worthy.

The site doesn't rank anywhere, in fact it is just a park page. Basically anything could rank with the right SEO and content so that isn't saying much. Does the domain really add any value, that is the question.

 

[shags38]

Sometimes you hear something and you just know it is a lot of crap. You think .net is discriminated against but .net.au isn't? .net has very little authority by comparison to .com as far as what the search engines attribute as a non ccTLD and hence they are hard to rank - fact. .net.au is not treated that way by Google, it is NOT discriminated as far as authority is concerned against .com.au by Google or any other SE -fact (validated by an Australian Google Trained and Validated Registrar Engineer at MelbourneIT via detailed discussions with him about 18 months ago) ... that is the best I can do to validate my comment Snoops, no doubt you have sources and/or contacts that can validate or contradict this statement.

Actually auDA should be able to shed some light on this - maybe one of the auDA Board Members who frequent this forum could check it out for the benefit of all of us, albeit it is a Search Engine algorithm issue but maybe Google and others have confided in auDa ??



What is the mega title & mega description? I think we are making a whole lot of assumptions here. Customers are likely to notice most things about a search listing & the site itself. The main heading description of a site in Google search results, in blue, is called the Meta Title and the text, generally with keywords in bold, is the Meta Description. They make up the whole of the search result except for the url and domain name, so not much else for the searcher to notice - not assumptions Snoops, basic fact



Is this based on anything factual? Personal Observation Snoops - Daily for about 2 months and it is topical in some SEO forums / sites



The site doesn't rank anywhere, in fact it is just a park page. Basically anything could rank with the right SEO and content so that isn't saying much. Does the domain really add any value, that is the question.

First sentence - it was an example, I do not know of the site just of the reasons for it and the intentions Tim has for it.
Second sentence - you answered your own question - if it can rank it adds value ... but why do you ask "does the domain add any value?" .... add value to what? .. or should that be Whom? ... no domain has any worth other than the worth to someone who would develop it, or someone who knows, or assumes, hopes, gambles on, someone who wants to develop it (aka Domainers ?).

Motorbike-Games.net.au ..... to many in here, including you Snoopy, an ugly crappy name with nil value. It is one I got at a drop some time back ... I am not into games sites but I do like making money and this ugly crappy hyphenated .net.au domain has 246,000 broad and a whopping 165,000 exact searches PER MONTH, each and every month at an Adsense advertisers return of about $1.20 per click (CPC in Google Keyword tools is $1.83). I figure with some dedicated effort with good content and reasonable SEO that I could get a domain like that in about 6 months to about 10% of searches, i.e. get it on to page 1, and with a 10% conversion rate it would produce about $1650 per month Adsense income. Halve both my 10%'s and it is still $400 per month every month. What a crappy ugly hyphenated .net.au domain .... your question "does the domain add any value?" ... it certainly does to me or to anyone else who can see the numbers.

*** this thread was started by a new forum member looking for some opinion in respect to whether he should be getting into hyphenated domains - opinions are always what they are but let us try to think about why we are tapping the keys, are we doing it to blow our own trumpet or are we doing it to offer what we think is some valuable guidance to the person who took the trouble at as the question of people he thinks may have some valuable input to help him then make his decision .... within the space of three or four posts Greg23 is already in 'resignation' mode regarding hyphenated names because of the selfish ramblings of opinionated would be's. What a way to encourage newcomers, nice work guys. No doubt you have never 'taught' anyone anything useful Snoops and indeed I would guess neither have some others in here. No wonder I only drop in occasionally these days.

cheers,
Mike

 

[snoopy]

.net has very little authority by comparison to .com as far as what the search engines attribute as a non ccTLD and hence they are hard to rank - fact. .net.au is not treated that way by Google, it is NOT discriminated as far as authority is concerned against .com.au by Google or any other SE -fact (validated by an Australian Google Trained and Validated Registrar Engineer at MelbourneIT via detailed discussions with him about 18 months ago) ... that is the best I can do to validate my comment Snoops, no doubt you have sources and/or contacts that can validate or contradict this statement.

Shags, it makes no sense that google would "discriminate" against .net but not .net.au. They probably discriminate against everything (either positively or negatively) or nothing at all. Doesn't matter whether you have spoken to an engineer at MelbourneIt, their tea lady, or the CEO, they probably have no clue either. I have no clue as well, and I've never seen any study on it, but what you are saying is just obvious nonsense.

Actually auDA should be able to shed some light on this - maybe one of the auDA Board Members who frequent this forum could check it out for the benefit of all of us, albeit it is a Search Engine algorithm issue but maybe Google and others have confided in auDa ??

Do you expect them to say "yes .net.au is discriminated against". That would be like the tea lady telling you her cakes are no good. How would AUDA even know?

Second sentence - you answered your own question - if it can rank it adds value ... but why do you ask "does the domain add any value?" .... add value to what? .. or should that be Whom? ... no domain has any worth other than the worth to someone who would develop it, or someone who knows, or assumes, hopes, gambles on, someone who wants to develop it (aka Domainers ?).

Any domain can rank, hfgkjdfhjk.com.au can rank for any old term with enough work. Does it actually help? that is the question. If not then the domain isn't add value.

Motorbike-Games.net.au ..... to many in here, including you Snoopy, an ugly crappy name with nil value. It is one I got at a drop some time back ... I am not into games sites but I do like making money and this ugly crappy hyphenated .net.au domain has 246,000 broad and a whopping 165,000 exact searches PER MONTH, each and every month at an Adsense advertisers return of about $1.20 per click (CPC in Google Keyword tools is $1.83). I figure with some dedicated effort with good content and reasonable SEO that I could get a domain like that in about 6 months to about 10% of searches, i.e. get it on to page 1, and with a 10% conversion rate it would produce about $1650 per month Adsense income. Halve both my 10%'s and it is still $400 per month every month. What a crappy ugly hyphenated .net.au domain .... your question "does the domain add any value?" ... it certainly does to me or to anyone else who can see the numbers.

Can't see the domain ranking anywhere?

Important questions.

-How much money is it actually making today?
-How do you think it have made if the domain had been motorbike-games.ws?

No doubt you have never 'taught' anyone anything useful Snoops and indeed I would guess neither have some others in here. No wonder I only drop in occasionally these days.

cheers,
Mike

Shags I told you a couple of years ago you were wasting money registering 3d domains, in fact I think I told you dozens of times. Now probably nothing was "taught" because it seems you have only stopped recently but I think it was good advice. So I can't speak for everyone, but I think I can speak for what I have taught you.....and that is a grand total of nothing.

I can tell you why you only drop is occasionally as well, the answer is some here won't listen to a whole lot of crap all day.

 

[shags38]

I was bent over my desk in stitches Snoopy - your sense of humor is so dry

You were joking with all those responses right ....... weren't you

p.s. I just searched and Motorbike-Games.ws is taken ..... do you have it ?

 

[johno69]

Seems you are totally missing the point shags.

A domain is like a car, the more work you put into it the better it will perform.

When you choose to buy a 4 cylinder car (or domain) then you have to expect a lot more work needed to compete with the grunt of the good old V8's.

Of course, yes, you can strengthen the chassis, throw in a monster engine, rip out the back seats to reduce weight and then start to compete. But it's not the old 4 cylinder car that's really competing is it?

It's the effort put it that is actually competing.

Why not have a head start, buy a V8 and then work it to the max to give yourself the best opportunity to win this race.

Some cars (and domains) are always doomed to not finish top 10.

 

[smee]

PayPal think hyphens are ok because http://www.paypal.com.au/
redirects to https://www.paypal-australia.com.au/
With their budget and research they must have had reasons to do so.