devvveo asked:
Hi there.
Hi there.
First off, I just want to confess that I'm relatively new to SEO and page ranking.
I'm planning to open up a website and want to get it into the first page of search engines (yahoo, google) and want to know if having a – (dash) as in example www.happy-dog.com will affect my page ranking?
I guess what I'm trying to ask is which domain is better?
or
Thank you in advance. 
For SEO purposes, a dash does not affect the page ranking. The dash-less domain is preferred because people will remember it more easily. If you are considering using a dash because a dash-less version already exists, I would use an entirely different domain name lest you send your hard-earned traffic to someone else's site (search engines will link properly, of course, but returning visitors might forget about the dash and be unable to find your site).
Good luck!
If you are intending to brand your domain name then a go with a neat sounding name like your example happydog.com
If branding is not an issue then choose a hyphenated keyword domain like your example happy-dog.com
This is because keywords in non-hyphenated (i.e. concatenated) urls are not indexed by Google or Yahoo and only occasionally by MSN.
I would highly recommend using dashes in your domain name, why? Because former google engineer Matt Cutts has recommended it on his blog which can be seen here
well, if you look at Wal*Mart……….years ago they dropped the "hyphen" and put in the single "star"………….and they became a 350 billion dollar Company. So, what ever you do with your domain name……don't sell your soul and put in the star …….unless you live in China!