SEO Test: Domain Hyphenation [Update]
-
In May I announced test results for domain hyphenation but after a 3 month followup the results have changed and the hyphenated domain now wins on what seems to be the first link instance advantage. I was unable to discover any other factors which may have influenced this test but if anyone has any ideas I would like to hear about it.
Here are the details of the SEO test and revealed URLs.
-
Yes that's my thoughts too. What's interesting is that they made a switch after a while.
-
Very nice find - thanks!
-
Maybe one of the factors why the hyphenated one ranks better is that it was indexed 1st and then the non-hyphenated one was indexed after.
Having 1 line of text that only the domain name is different could be considered duplicate content by Google thus the rankings.
-
to make a test I guess you would have to make two pages, with different gibberish on them and then place the keyphrase 2 times on the same char positions (on in the beginning of the document and one at the end.) on each page, but otherwise exactly the same (title exc..). that way we can rule duplicate content out.
I mean something like this:
page 1:
<title>key-phrase bla bla</title>
asd fgh key-phrace jhjd hjd lkd skl ælkjh ghsd sdf fsd key-phrase asdpage 2:
<title>key-phrase poi ert</title>
dsa qwe key-phrace kjhg tyu poi ert mnbvc asdf qwe tyu key-phrase qwehope I made sence
-
Hmm anyone notices ? that when i search 'Dejan Seo love' , the one without hyphenation scored better... while 'Dejan seo love_s_' gives a different result ...
And when we searched 'dejan seo testing' although the hyphenation scored better but the result for the one without hyphenation has all words BOLDED out like this 'Did you know that dejanseolovestesting.com.'
Hmm google indeed works in mysterious way xD
PS : It is too bad that your title is "Dejan Love Testing" i wonder if you have a "Dejan Loves Testing" that the result would be different?
-
Thank you. That explains it!
-
When you view the SERPs, and then click on the cache link there is a second line of text which says "These search terms are highlighted: dejan seo loves testing". In the cache results with the hyphens, all the key words are highlighted on the page. That does not happen on the result without the hyphens.
I believe that is the difference James is referring to.
-
Hi James,
No link building was done for these two domains. If they have links they would be random and automated from various places such as whois services scrapers etc.
Not sure I understand this part:
"a funny thing is if you view the cache version of the website Google notes that the hyphen domain as splitting up the text with spaces."
Are you talking about these two:
-
I was looking at the URL mentions within SERP results,
The non hyphen seems to have 126 mentions compared with the hyphen domain at 76, don't know about the quality of these links what link building tactics were employed.
Both seem to only pick up one link via OSE been on your main website.
I would also question the hosting/who is data and any other common areas for the website, a funny thing is if you view the cache version of the website Google notes that the hyphen domain as splitting up the text with spaces.
When comparing IP data from the host, seems as though they are on a similar server yet not the same correct?
IP Address 174.121.38.186
IP Address 174.121.38.162But overall very interesting test, and thank you for sharing.
-
I enjoyed reviewing the test results and this follow up. My two curiosities are:
-
what would be the result with different C blocks
-
are the two results dead even in SERP to where any factor can tip one result above the other. It could be that neither is winning but are equal, and Google has to place one ahead of the other based on a random factor such as which was crawled first.
-
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
-
How .com and .me effect SEO?
Hi, We have a project https://www.shipwaves.me/ and https://www.shipwaves.com/ and however if we are doing SEO for .me domain - is this give early results like as .com domain. I'm not sure that .me is in the category of .me domains. Well, if we are following the same strategy as like following for .com domains - is that the results will be the same or not. Also, in terms of any additional strategy to be done to make the SEO little faster for the .me domain. Guys, please share your thought on this.
Algorithm Updates | | LayaPaul0 -
Rerouting and SEO
I have the urls urlA.com (est 2010) and urlB.com (est 2015). The newest (siteB.com) is currently redirected to urlA.com. For branding purposes, I think it is important to market and direct traffic to urlB.com (the newest). What effect will it have on SEO if I make a change to switch those...and have urlA.com (which older site - 2015) redirected to urlB.com?.
Algorithm Updates | | Michelle08210 -
What are top 3 directives to prepare for a Google algorithm update?
Company's site fluctuated in keyword rankings last Friday, due to Unnamed algorithm. Our directives are on-page optimization and continual content generation. What are other directives to take?
Algorithm Updates | | ejcruz0 -
Will Russia's New Data Protection Law Impact SEOs and SMBs Outside of Russia?
We've all seen the news recently that Google will be closing its engineering offices in Russia due to new data protection laws coming into place in January 2015. The same law has also led to Adobe pulling out of Russia earlier in the year. I was wondering how you think this will impact SEOers and small/medium businesses that market _to _Russia, but are based outside of the country? Personal data has been defined in the new legislation as: Personal data means any information directly or indirectly related to any identified or potentially identifiable person. It includes, among other things, first name and family name, date and place of birth, address, information about family status, education, profession, income Source For those businesses which don't process personal data (affiliates etc), will there be any foreseeable impact? On the flipside, are there any benefits here for affiliate businesses inside of Russia? I'm using affiliates as an example to get the ball rolling, but I'm sure there's numerous more. Personally, I'd be interested to hear if you think this may impact corporate websites which don't process personal data, but operate outside of Russia.
Algorithm Updates | | ecommercebc0 -
SEO For sub locations for specific services
Hey Guys, I am currently creating a website for my business that will be marketing through SEO very heavily. I Live in NYC, and i'd like to rank up for the individual locations such as Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island and eventually if my domain authority and other long hall metrics kick in NYC. What I find very tiring is targeting these locations all separately, it means I need to create the same site 4 times with completely different and unique content. Should this setup work for me, and is there a risk that Google will see 4 web design pages, and basically say even though the content is unique your ranking up for web design with a location too many times? from my understanding this is not a problem now, but is this a future risk? It also becomes extremely difficult for site navigation with about us pages, contact us pages, and other pages that either have to be duplicated or all pages shown on sidebar for navigation. Please share your thoughts with me, THANKS!!!
Algorithm Updates | | tonyr70 -
Has Bing rolled out an algorithm update?
Hi everyone, Does anyone know if Bing has rolled out an algorithm update recently? I have noticed a decent change in Bing/Yahoo results recently. Searching online only produces results for Google's updates. Thanks in advance for your help.
Algorithm Updates | | DirectiveSEO0 -
Do we need to worry about where our domain is hosted anymore?does it make a difference anymore?
I went to a really interesting conference last week and one of the speakers who has been working in the SEO industry for 15 years now said that it doesn't make a difference anymore ranking wise. I would like to see what the community thinks on this subject? Thanks Ari
Algorithm Updates | | dublinbet0 -
Can You Recommend An SEO Consultant To Support Our Panda Recovery Efforts?
Hi, I'm looking to find an SEO consultant to help me review my organic search strategy following the recent Panda update. Can you recommend somebody? Thanks, Adam
Algorithm Updates | | adampick0