Domain strategy advice sought

[-Bill-]

I am getting ready to start on a new project and I need a little advice with domains.

What format of a full name would be most suitable for a domain?
Best for ranking in search engines typed in as "John Smith"

John-Smith.com
JohnSmith.com

 

[Dullspace]

The dash isn't as big of a negative for the engines but no dash is much superior for every other reason.

 

[Edwin]

It doesn't matter in terms of ranking...but too many dashes comes of spammy to the search engines though.
Also, a dash is also a recognized word separator by Google and depending on the keywords in your domain, it may even help out more.

How would you like your domain to be recognized?

WhoRepresents.com
WhorePresents.com

So a dash can help distinguish the actual words in your domain.

 

[-Matt-]

How would you like your domain to be recognized?

WhoRepresents.com
WhorePresents.com

Obviously the latter.

 

[Edwin]

Naturally!

 

[Dutch Harry]

It doesn't matter in terms of ranking...but too many dashes comes of spammy to the search engines though.

According to who? i have a lot of domains with one or two dashes in them and they are working just fine

I agree that it is better to have them without dashes but that has nothing to do with SE en SEO. more to do with type in traffic

 

[Lord B]

Why not get both and avoid any traffic leak? It's just 8 bucks.

 

[champrock]

Why not get both and avoid any traffic leak? It's just 8 bucks.

i also think that u should get both. But if u are on a budget contraint and ur ONLY source of traffic will be Search Engines, then i think the "-" will be better. This is because search engines do not have any trouble differentiating the two words.