Comments on: Use Hyphens, Not Underscores, in URLs

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:44:08 +0000

John, Announced, but not implemented, according to the research I did.

By: john keohane

john keohane — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:36:09 +0000

Didn’t google change that behaviour 2 years ago???
http://www.blog-tutorials.com/marketing-and-seo/linking/google-oks-underscores-as-word-separators-in-urls-and-more-seo-tips/

By: Unnecessary Bells And Whistels In Web Design SEO | Wyrdpress

Unnecessary Bells And Whistels In Web Design SEO | Wyrdpress — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 05:26:54 +0000

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By: Getting Indexed In Google Fast

Getting Indexed In Google Fast — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:09:29 +0000

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By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:54:16 +0000

Danielle, User experience is made up of a lot of little things. This one is easy to overlook.

Neil, Can’t go wrong with hyphens – easier to read, too.

By: Neil-Life Quote

Neil-Life Quote — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:10:22 +0000

Wow….I have spent 100s of hours reading up on SEO and “keywords” and internet marketing in general over the past 6 months and this is the first time I have heard of this. Thank You! If it is true about the engines not recognizing the underscore as a word seperator, then I think it will make a substantial difference to use hyphens. I now have some works to do on my URLs. (i’ve already put your advice into practice….notice my name?)

By: Danielle Ingram

Danielle Ingram — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:21:23 +0000

As someone who is new to SEO I have found this post really useful. It has allowed me to understand how it can work as part of the website and not simply by carrying out link building exercises.

The comments that you make about usability are also important, it seems simple but the fact is by taking them into account it can be of real benefit.

Great Post!

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:23:19 +0000

Andrew, The use of punctuation in content optimization can be tricky, and people have a tendency to underthink it or overthink it. While I tend to fall in the latter category, I really do think it’s better to be safe than sorry, since undoing things (such as URLs) is a hassle, or worse.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:36:51 +0000

Brad,

I was not aware of the point about Google and word separation with respect to the question about hyphens and underscores, and I am certain that many of your clients would be in the same boat in this regard.

Thanks for bringing this matter to attention – particularly important given the extent to which people search for individual key words more frequently than compound words, let alone words which do not make sense when joined together.

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:28:54 +0000

Hi Cath, If you do that be sure to set up a 301 redirect or any links will be broken. Might be worth doing for popular/potentially popular posts.