For ranking better in search engines, we have to optimize our websites according to the guidelines provided by search engines. You might have seen some websites using hyphens as word separators like (medium-black-shoes) and some times you might have come access with URL structures which are using underscores like (medium_black_shoes). You may ask which one to use for better SEO? What is the difference and impact of using hyphen or underscore for SEO? In this article you will know which URL structure you should go for.
Using Hyphen or Underscore for SEO?
This question is not that tricky and confusing because answer to this question was directly given by Google itself. So we have straight guidelines about what to use and what to avoid. In the Google’s webmasters answers article “Keep a simple URL structure“, it has been mentioned that Google recommends using hyphens instead of underscores.
So after this clarification we have clear understanding that using hyphen is always recommended by Google at least.
Why use hyphens for SEO?
The reason behind this answer is that, Google treats the hyphens as word separators while underscores are treated as word joiners. So if you use underscores then medium_black_shoes will be same as mediumblackshoes for Google. For better search engine optimization, you should only use hyphens to separate words in URL, do not use spaces, underscores or do not even join all words together.