Which one of them works better?
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Hello everybody,
As I need to improve the title tags of the site I manage, I was wondering which one between the hyphen (-) and the the vertical bar (|) when writing title tags?
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There isn't any issue using both within a single website. I use both because I use them to signify different things, as mentioned above. I've even used both in the same title.
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Thanks for your answer, this really helps. And also answer my question about using both of them within the same website for different pages.
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I don't believe there's any difference from a search engine standpoint between hyphens ( - ) in vertical bars ( | ). It's pretty much your own preference. You may also want to consider how visitors to your site will respond seeing pipes versus hyphens, and which produces better click-through rates.
Personally, I like to use pipes to distinguish between two concepts and hyphens to connect two concepts. For example, if I have a company that produces auto parts, I might use a hyphen in their title tag, e.g. "auto parts-the company name" if I'm trying to connect these two. On the other hand, if I'm trying to distinguish two ideas like auto parts and auto repair, I might use the pipe in between them because I'm trying to distinguish the two ideas, but that's just a personal preference.
Here is a short video from Matt Cutts a few years ago where he says that hyphens and pipes don't make a difference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2_7PTio3Qc
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I did check their titles but some of them have hyphens and some others have v-bars anyway, I will have to make a decision about that.
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No problem. Although, I've just noticed that since the re-brand Moz actually uses hyphens now instead of v-bars. Perhaps you can read something into that? But probably not.
For general usability and brand consistency it is best to implement the same title system across all pages.
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thanks for your answer.
If both work well then I will not change it.
Also do they have to be the same across the whole site or can be both used depending on the page?
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It seems to me that both can be effective.
For example, Moz and econsultancy make good use of the vertical bar: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Aeconsultancy.com&oq=site%3Aeconsultancy.com&aqs=chrome.0.57j58.6061j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Whereas BBC opt for the hyphens: http://tinyurl.com/lbp5kxe
Both work but from a personal perspective, I think the vertical bars split up the content in a nicer way.
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