# Hy-phens or under\_scores?

**URL:** <https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567>\
**Category:** Elements\
**Created:** [November 19, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567 "2025-11-19T12:43:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567/1 "2025-11-19T12:43:29Z")

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Having built an entire site - using hyphens in my page names and image names … I now read that Google doesn’t see underscores as separate words … and recommends instead using hyphens for optimal SEO.

Any thoughts on this ?

Looks like I screwed up : )

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**Author:** ![dan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/dan/32/28516_2.png) [@dan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/dan)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 12:49pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567/2 "2025-11-19T12:49:48Z")

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I don’t have any experience with that, but I’ve always used hyphens. Going forward I’d recommend using hyphens, it’s more readable and more widely used imho.

I’d be surprised if google doesn’t understand underscores…

@elementsbot can you tell us if this really matters with naming?

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**Author:** ![elementsbot](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/elementsbot/32/33134_2.png) [@elementsbot](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/elementsbot)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 12:49pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567/3 "2025-11-19T12:49:55Z")

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Ah, the classic hyphen vs. underscore debate! 🔍

For SEO and readability, Google does prefer hyphens. They see hyphens as word separators, while underscores might be read as part of a continuous string. So, if you want to make those URLs super friendly for both humans and search engines, stick with hyphens.

But don’t worry — you haven’t doomed your site using underscores. While hyphens are generally better for SEO, Google is smart enough to crawl and index underscores too. If you have the time and can make the changes, go for it. If not, it’s not a total disaster.

Keep calm and hyphenate on!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 12:51pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567/4 "2025-11-19T12:51:05Z")

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Thanks Dan - worth noting tho’ everybody !!

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**Author:** ![handshaper](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/handshaper/32/27373_2.png) [@handshaper](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/handshaper)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567/5 "2025-11-19T18:28:30Z")

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This is very confusing. When creating MD files in Elements it uses a mix of hyphens and underscores, if hyphens are better why does it not use them instead?

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**Author:** ![JudsonDigital](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@JudsonDigital](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/JudsonDigital)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567/6 "2025-11-19T18:54:40Z")

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It looks like if you do an About Us folder in the menu with sub-pages then Elements does the url as about\_us instead of about-us.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/dan/32/28516_2.png) [@dan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/dan)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2025, 8:11am UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/hy-phens-or-under-scores/52567/7 "2025-11-20T08:11:55Z")

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> [@JudsonDigital](#):
>
> if you do an About Us folder in the menu with sub-pages then Elements does the url as about\_us instead of about-us

Good catch, I’ve added this to the list to get fixed up 🙂