The topic of using hyphens in domain names is one of the oldest SEO topics in this field. Lo and behold, in 2004 he said that his SEO guy had a specific Google ranking algorithm that excluded domains that contained hyphens (Google didn't, by the way). The SEO guy called it a hyphen filter.
Google's John Mueller recently stated that he doesn't like domain names that are hyphenated with keywords. But he also recently said that Google doesn't incorporate hyphens into its ranking algorithm because hyphens in domain names are not a sign of poor quality.
Now, John Mueller said in a thread on Reddit that maybe that's not such a bad view these days, when there are fewer domain names available. He says, “It used to be that domain names with lots of hyphens were considered less serious (by users? Or by SEOs who assumed users would do it?) because they had lots of hyphens in them. If it is, it might mean you can't do it.'' Try getting your domain name with fewer hyphens. “There are so many top-level domains now that it doesn't really matter,'' he added.
He went on to say create something you're proud of. he wrote:
My main recommendations are to choose something long-term (assuming that's your goal) and not focus too much on keywords (life is too short to push yourself). (Be careful not to let your domain name limit your online behavior.) The web is full of clunky, keyword-focused, short-term, low-effort creations made for SEO. Build something really great that people will name and ask about. If the name contains a hyphen, leave it as is.
So instead of using a super long hyphenated domain name, it might be better to create a really cool brand name that hasn't been adopted yet and use that. Putting keywords in your domain name may not help you much in terms of rankings, but I'm sure this discussion doesn't end today…
Reddit forum discussion.