SEO: Domain name with dash or binded together

Question

As I have made some research on different "SEO" websites and blogs, everyone recommends NOT using dash/hyphen in their domain names for readability and not looking spammy. I did not found any real data on if only one hyphen/dash is SEO harmful or not.

Question: For a simple and easy to remember domain. Example: sports wear should use sports-wear.com or sportswear.com

In my opinion, the dash version is easier to read and possible harder to remember but what about SEO? One single dash helps the keyword "sports wear" or make it difficult to match the domain for the web crawlers?

Anyone had experienced / tested this fact?

Answer 1

Domain name is not a ranking factor. There is no direct advantage or disadvantage in using a domain with or without hyphens. But when it comes to SEO, you may have to think about how a user perceives a domain. For years now, we all have seen several spammy domains with hyphens in them. Hence, a user who takes a second or two to choose from top-ranked pages may skip visiting a domain with hyphens in the name. This may indirectly hurt SEO by reducing the number of eyeballs and backlinks in the long run. However, I would recommend surveying a handful of your potential audience on how they perceive a domain name with or without hyphens.