Is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?

Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

- not _

mark
"Shiperton Henethe" <shiphen (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

Are you completely sure?
Have you tried both?


Ship

"mark | r" <markrush (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

- not _

mark
"Shiperton Henethe" <shiphen (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:crj6eo$jq3$1 (AT) sparta (DOT) btinternet.com...
Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

Have to agree with mark

I remember reading somewhere (?) that "-" is seen as a space

so "red-widget" = "red widget"
(while an underscore is like another letter "red_widget" does not = "red
widget" )

--
Michael Evangelista
Southern Utah Web Design
www.suwebs.com
--



"Shiperton Henethe" <shiphen (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Are you completely sure?
Have you tried both?


Ship

"mark | r" <markrush (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:41dd2866$0$11953$cc9e4d1f (AT) news (DOT) dial.pipex.com...
- not _

mark
"Shiperton Henethe" <shiphen (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:crj6eo$jq3$1 (AT) sparta (DOT) btinternet.com...
Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 11:12:24 +0000 (UTC), "Shiperton Henethe"
<shiphen (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

One-guess.

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]

Can't hurt. Might be best not to call your front page logo
Google-is-run-by-big-poop-poops-with-funny-names.gif though.

BB
--
www.kruse.co.uk SEO (AT) kruse (DOT) demon.co.uk
home of SEO that's shiny!
--

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 14:07:40 +0000 (UTC), "Shiperton Henethe"
<shiphen (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

Are you completely sure?
Have you tried both?


Ship

Of course we're sure!

BB
--
www.kruse.co.uk SEO (AT) kruse (DOT) demon.co.uk
home of SEO that's shiny!
--

Google-is-run-by-big-poop-poops-with-funny-names.gif

good one.

--
Michael Evangelista
Southern Utah Web Design
www.suwebs.com
--



"Big Bill" <kruse (AT) cityscape (DOT) co.uk> wrote

On Thu, 6 Jan 2005 11:12:24 +0000 (UTC), "Shiperton Henethe"
shiphen (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

One-guess.

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]

Can't hurt. Might be best not to call your front page logo
Google-is-run-by-big-poop-poops-with-funny-names.gif though.

BB
--
www.kruse.co.uk SEO (AT) kruse (DOT) demon.co.uk
home of SEO that's shiny!
--

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

I'd argue to use a dot. I've had massive success

Shiperton Henethe wrote:

Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers
in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]

Ship
Shiperton Henethe

I don't think it makes any difference for the search engines. I do use
dashes (-) on one of my sites and underscores (_) on another. The one with
dashes just happens to do better in Google, but I don't see any reasonable
connection here.

Where it does matter though is when people have to type the address in. A
lot of people cannot see due to small type or comprehend the fact that the
underscore is a character in its own right, and NOT a space
character(which cannot even be used in URLs, and has to be URL-encoded
into %20). Therefore they frequently type space instead of underscore,
which inevitably gets them to an error page and intro frustration.
Frustrated visitor is better avoided, so next time I'm setting up a site,
I will not use underscores, but, again, SEO has nothing to do with it.


Sincerely,
Dmitri
http://www.1-script.com/1_search/
Get search engine for your site
http://www.1-script.com/install/
Check out my CGI scripts installation offer
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On Thu, 06 Jan 2005 23:03:27 GMT, info_at_1-script_dot_com (AT) foo (DOT) com
(www.1-script.com) wrote:

Shiperton Henethe wrote:


Hi

For SEO is it better to use "-" or "_" as dividers
in filenames?
(e.g. .HTML file names)

- Any thoughts?

[ Also how important are image names for SEO, these days
to the big engines like Google? ]


Ship
Shiperton Henethe

I don't think it makes any difference for the search engines. I do use
dashes (-) on one of my sites and underscores (_) on another. The one with
dashes just happens to do better in Google, but I don't see any reasonable
connection here.

Where it does matter though is when people have to type the address in. A
lot of people cannot see due to small type or comprehend the fact that the
underscore is a character in its own right, and NOT a space
character(which cannot even be used in URLs, and has to be URL-encoded
into %20). Therefore they frequently type space instead of underscore,
which inevitably gets them to an error page and intro frustration.
Frustrated visitor is better avoided, so next time I'm setting up a site,
I will not use underscores, but, again, SEO has nothing to do with it.

Sigh. An engine will see "two words" as being "two words". It will see
"two-words" as being "two words". It will see "two_words" as being
"twowords" and won't in any way associate that with "two words".
So it has everything to do with seo as keywords in an url will give
you a small boost. Recognisable keywords, that is.

BB
--
www.kruse.co.uk SEO (AT) kruse (DOT) demon.co.uk
home of SEO that's shiny!
--