It’s a great question and valid concern. But we actually do have valid reasons for using underscores rather than dashes.

This video quickly explains.

But basically, for ADDRESSES, we don’t want Google or other search engines to look at each part of the address and index it separately. Right?

12345_livingston_rd_accokeek_md_20607

The UNDESCORE tells search engines that the ENTIRE ADDRESS ABOVE is really one entity. So, they will index the address as a whole.

Whereas if we used dashes / hyphens that would tell search engines to index each word separately:

12345
livingston
rd
accokeek
md
20607

You don’t want each word in the address indexed separately. You want it indexed as a unit.

As a REALTOR, you don’t need your site to appear in search engines for “Avenue” , “Ave” , “Road” , or “Rd” by itself. You need your site indexed with the complete address, “12345 Livingston Rd”.

So, why then, do the big sites like Zillow, RedFin, Trulia, etc. use hyphens?

These big name sites are not trying to get results in one micro area. They are macro sites seeking to gain traction within every market. They want results for 123 Main street in Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City, etc. Most real estate sites (for Realtors) are trying to gain traction in one major metropolitan area. The end-goals are very different. Thus, the method to gain traction is also different. A Realtor in New York City does not need nor want traffic from someone searching for 123 Main Street in Los Angeles.