Should i not use hyphens in web page titles? Google Penalty for hyphens?
-
all the page titles in my site have hyphens between the words like this: http://texas.com/texas-plumbers.html
I have seen tests where hyphenated domain names ranked lower than non hyphenated domain names. Does this mean my pages are being penalized for hyphens or is this only in the domain that it is penalized?
If I create new pages should I not use hyphens in the page titles when there are two or more words in the title?
If I changed all my page titles to eliminate the hyphens, I would lose all my rankings correct? My site is 12 years old and if I changed all these titles I'm guessing that each page would be thrown in the google sandbox for several months, is this true?
Thanks mozzers!
-
John Mueller from Google has mentioned that there is no penalty or demotion for using a hyphen. However, be careful you're not keyword stuffing.
-
In that example, there is not a hyphen in the domain name, only in the page name. A hyphen in the domain name would look like:
-
You can use either. Google looks at hyphens like a space. I think it makes more sense to use piping (|) for your page titles, as that is more common, although I don't think there is a penalty for either. Below is a link to Matt Cutts blog for using different punctuation in URLs, I would imagine the same applys to page titles.
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/
and from the webmaster tools blog:
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/webmasters/cBikmAXlXXoHope this helps! I would worry more about the structure and keywords than the separator characters.
-
I would say use hyphens in the urls. I've never known there to be a ranking difference and in my opinion it's a best practice to use hyphens over underscores or plus symbols, and for readability for the user I think hyphens make sense. texas-plumbers reads easier than texasplumbers to a user, and for Google I would think it's easier to discern. Imagine some titles where words could make completely different sentences by separating them at different locations. http://www.boredpanda.com/worst-domain-names/ as some examples.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Using WebP Image Alongside Existing Images
Is it worthwhile to add in WebP images alongside existing images? WebP Images can be three times smaller than PNGs and 25% smaller than JPGs, according to a plugin option I am looking at. The alternative WebP images are provided via CDN. Does anyone have any experience with this, and is it worth doing?
Web Design | | GrouchyKids0 -
Address On Every page for e-Commerce site?
For a primarily e-commerce site, should you have your address on every page (in the footer, for example)? Or is it enough to just have it on the contact page? Thanks, Ruben
Web Design | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Fixing my sites problem with duplicate page content
My site has a problem with duplicate page content. SEO MOZ is telling me 725 pages worth. I have looked a lot into the 301 Re direct and the Rel=canonical Tag and I have a few questions: First of all, I'm not sure which on I should use in this case. I have read that the 301 Redirect is the most popular path to take. If I take this path do I need to go in and change the URL of each of these pages or does it automatically change with in the redirect when I plug in the old URL and the new one? Also, do I need to just go to each page that SEO MOZ is telling me is a duplicate and make a redirect of that page? One thing that I am very confused about is the fact that some of these duplicates listed out are actually different pages on my site. So does this just mean the URL's are too similar to each other, and there fore need the redirect to fix them? Then on the other hand I have a log in page that says it has 50 duplicates. Would this be a case in which I would use the Canonical Tag and would put it into each duplicate so that the SE knew to go to the original file? Sorry for all of the questions in this. Thank you for any responses.
Web Design | | JoshMaxAmps0 -
301 forwarding during site migration problem - several url versions of the same page....
Hello, I'm migrating from an old site to a new site, and 301 forwarding many of the pages... My key problem is this I'm seeing www.website.com/ indexed in SE and www.website.com/default.aspx in showing as URL when I'm on homepage - should I simply 301 forward both of these? Then for several internal pages there are 2/3 versions of each page indexed. Canonicalization issues. Again, I'm wondering whether I should 301 forward each URL even if there are several different indexed URLs for the same page? Your advice will be welcome! Thanks in advance - Luke
Web Design | | McTaggart0 -
SEO page length 4500+ words
I have read varying discussions on this... some say it is good or rather it does not really matter (as long as not stuffed with keywords) and some say more than 1000+ words is bad! I have a travel site and I want to add an historical page about the zone. It is very interesting (very organic, not written for SEO purposes as such). It adds flavor and details to a site that is really all about sales. Does anyone have an opinion whether this is detrimental to SEO or not?
Web Design | | Llanero0 -
How to do a non-spammy "doorway page"?
Hi there, ISSUE: I have a client who wishes to use a "doorway" page, but not in a spammy way. He would like to have a nice crisp URL for use in ads/brochures. The page is strictly a landing page (just with a separate URL). DOORWAY/LANDING PAGE WILL BE: Non-spammy -- There will be no attempt to optimize the landing page/no attempt to get the page to rank. Strictly a vanity URL -- he likes the way a separate website looks in ads as opposed to a landing page on the existing website (i.e., www.websitename.com/landing page) WHAT I'M TRYING TO DO: I'm basically trying to figure out what the best things to do to protect his other sites (which are very high quality valuable sites which rank well) from getting punished. STEPS I'M CONSIDERING: Robots no follow Separate hosting server Different person's name on a private domain registration Adding additional pages, so it's not a 1-page "doorway" Many thanks in advance to anyone who would share their experience and help me protect my client in the best way possible. I've told him there are risks, but he still wants to go ahead. MC
Web Design | | marketingcupcake1 -
Web Design Colors
Does anyone have any experience comparing the effectiveness of website colors? Does background color make any difference?
Web Design | | casper4340 -
Can i do this? Will Google penalize me?
I have a page for a Criminal Defense Attorney and i set up a list of the type of criminal charges he is certified to deal with. I wanted to use title tags and put the Keyword "Miami Criminal Defense Attorney" & "Miami Traffic Defense Lawyer"... My question is will Google penalize me for plugging the same Key words over and over on the title tag for each ?? CHECK THE IMAGE to see what I'm talking about... thanks guys. x97dl
Web Design | | marig0