Which is better?

[Kyle]

Is there an easy fix to change all urls from "_" to "-"? because I'm trying to mod a script I bought the other day. I suppose we'll need a coder for this job.

The script is calling from a db.

edit: I did ask the script developers to do it for me and how to do it, but they got all cryptic on me when I told them what crap "_" was compared to "-". So now they want it to come in the next update but not give me an advanced version even though it was my idea.

[scrawnybob]

hi PPP

not doubting you but can you give us some pointers on why "-" is better than "_" ?

you seem pretty firmly saying "_" sucks, can you explain why

looks like yet again I've built in a SEO no no into my site from the off

but how the hell would you go about changing all pages from one to the other ?

especially as I seem to be ranking pretty high on certain pages for not entirely undesirable keyword strings using _

Surely making the change is now more of a risk than any advantage ?

any feedback would be great (also on my site a few months on but thats another thread that got lost)

cheers scrawnybob

[PPP]

Originally Posted by scrawnybob

not doubting you but can you give us some pointers on why "-" is better than "_" ?

red_elephants.html will only be found for the one search of red_elephants, which basically nobody will do.

red-elephants.html will be found for searches involving red, red elephants, elephants, potentially anything using either word.

Basically red_elephants.html is the same as hstsrs.html, except when a human see red_elephants.html they will have an idea what the page is about.

Once you use underscores its like anything else, like having named pages 1.html. You have to decide if the clean up is worth it, while the main thing is just going things better in the future.

[scrawnybob]

hi PPP

wow thats pretty brutal if thats how it works - its a wonder I get any traffic - and looking at what your saying I'm missing out on a bucket load of traffic

if thats how the SERPS see's it then it seems a no brainer to have to change it

will a 301 from exising page to new version be effective at keeping the existing rank / traffic ?

and then increase from there or is this a bit more debatable than it seems - to me this looks pretty clear cut if _ only picks up exact match

what p**ses me off is I'd have expected a web guy to know this as an elemental thing from the off and picked up on it when designing site for me

cheers though - rather know than be in the dark

cheers scrawnybob

[edmc]

301 will keep existing traffic

it should take roughly 6 weeks for the pr to transfer to the new pages.

Thats the theory, Im waiting for the update as well but the traffic wont falter

[PPP]

You should always 301 when you move a page.

The keyword in the URL isn't hugely-mega-monstrously important. It's just one of many things, so redoing a whole site may not be the best choice, but when you build new pages, don't use underscores.

[scrawnybob]

hi PPP

I've been having a look at some of my search results and also a cutts blog which discussed this starting back in 2004 but the more recent blog comments seem to suggest google now sees _ as spaces as well and can sees them the same as -'s

for a search of "review of xyz" (xyz being poker site name)

I rank 7th with page name 4kingpoker.com/xyz_poker_review

top is .com/xyzpokerreview (2-6 have niether _ or - in)

8th is .com/xyz-bonus

so it looks to me like google is working out _ / - & straight text and other factors like description / page content etc is more of an influence

cheers scrawnybob

[PPP]

You'll still rank if your page is about xyz review. The URL is only one thing, and not a huge one. It's easy to check though that they don't read underscores. Just do some searches.