Search Optimization With Hyphenated URLs

Why Hyphenated URLs Matter for SEO

When you first learn about search engine optimization, a common recommendation pops up: include your primary keywords in the URL. That suggestion has evolved over time, but the underlying principle remains valid - if the address of a page tells search engines what the content is about, it can help the page appear in relevant searches. The twist comes in how you separate words: hyphens, underscores, or no separator at all. Hyphens have long been favored by Google as the standard way to split words, while underscores are treated as a single word. This small difference can have a noticeable impact on how the search engine reads and ranks your URLs.

Take the example of a site that sells butterfly nets. A URL like https://butterfly-nets.com clearly signals to both humans and bots that the site focuses on butterfly nets. The hyphen tells the crawler that two separate words - “butterfly” and “nets” - are present, which improves the signal strength of the keywords. Contrast that with https://butterflynets.com; search engines read it as a single token, and the keyword relevance is diluted. If your domain name contains multiple product categories, the hyphenated version helps each category get its own voice in search results.

Evidence of Google’s preference for hyphens can be seen in image search. Searching for