How does Google handle fractions in titles?
-
Which is better practice, using 1/2" or ½"?
The keyword research suggests people search for "1 2" with the space being the "/".
How does Google handle fractions? Would ½ be the same as 1/2?
-
That is exactly correct. Searchers are not using symbols in their search, so it's much more practical to optimize for 3/4, 1/2, or half inch (as the keyword research suggests) rather than these fractional symbols because they are impossible (?) for users to generate using a standard keyboard. Especially if products are unusual sizes like 8/11 or 3/16.
-
This is actually very true. Google's keyword planner has seen many updates over the years, but still it can't process some very common symbols and characters. Whilst many of these characters are common in human language, many are not 'commonly typed' and as such I guess there would be little to no point in Google updating KWP. This in and of itself may be useful information though, as it points to the fact that - keywords which include such characters, are probably barely typed
-
Unfortunately, some keyword research tools may strip that special character out, so I'd be a little wary of the results. It may not reflect what Google does in all cases.
-
While this is interesting (especially to me and others who like to dig into the nuances of search), I'm not sure if it helps you much practically. I don't think a typical searcher is every going to enter "¾" (or, if some do, it's incredibly low volume).
-
Can you provide a context? Over the past couple of years, Google has started to treat symbols differently depending on the context. I've seen weird situations with the $ sign, for example.
In some cases, Google will try to actually do the math and pull up calculator functions, for example. However, the handle a search like [3/4" wrench] pretty well and seem to understand the context (and match it to '3/4' in title tags, etc.).
-
Ok, so I ran a quick test and have an answer for anyone interested.
¾ is not equal to 3/4.
If the user searches for 3/4, Google will not return results with ¾.
However, if the user searches for ¾, Google will return results with ¾.
Hope this helps!
-
We have many similar i.e. 3/4, 5/8, 11/16, etc.
-
I personally don't think that Google handles this data exceptionally well:
https://d.pr/i/2Y562I.png (Keyword Revealer screenshot)
https://d.pr/i/El2skX.png (Ahrefs screenshot)
https://d.pr/i/Y3bQ3p.png (Google keyword planner screenshot)
... however, I do sometimes see such keywords returned from Google Search Console and / or Google Analytics under GSC's "Search Queries" (search terms) report. So it makes me wonder, if Google really has such trouble, why does it highlight and record such keywords, passing them to me for further analysis?
Maybe it's actually not a big deal, it's just that Google's keyword planner (in terms of full unicode support) is way, WAY out of date (something they should have patched and fixed 5-6 years ago IMO)
Regardless of this though, more people do seem to search by 'half' or '50%', people 'almost' never type "½" as it's so hard to type in a web browser, you almost always have to copy and paste the symbol unless you have some kind of rich-text field entry add-in / extension
Google can process the symbol as search entry text:
https://www.google.com/search?q=%C2%BD
Google often states that actually, using unicode characters (even in URLs, in UTF-8) is ok in modern times. This is a compromise they have had to make, as many foreign characters are packaged in various unicode character sets
This is the full list of UTF-8 symbols:
http://www.fileformat.info/info/charset/UTF-8/list.htm
If you Ctrl+F for '½', it is technically in that list. As early as 2008 Google was recorded indexing UTF-8 URLs:
https://www.seroundtable.com/archives/018137.html
Much more recently, the debate has been raised again:
https://searchengineland.com/google-using-non-english-urls-non-english-websites-fine-294758
"For domain names and top-level domains non-Latin characters are represented with Unicode encoding. This can look a little bit weird at first. For example, if you take Mueller, my last name, with the dots on the U, that would be represented slightly differently as a domain name. For browsers and for Google search, both versions of the domain name are equivalent; we treat them as one and the same. The rest of the URL can use unicode utf-8 encoding for non-Latin characters. You can use either the escape version or the unicode version within your website; they’re also equivalent to Google."
Obviously Google is talking about URLs here, but usually Google becomes capable of reading characters in markup (content, Page Titles etc) first and then accepts them for valid URL usage later. I would surmise that it probably is 'ok' to use them, but it probably would not be 'optimal' or 'the best idea'
-
Also: "50%"
-
Hello, out of interest why not just use the word "half"? I have a feeling that most people would use the word, not the fraction especially on a mobile device; where you'd be required to swap between the alphabetical & numerical keyboards.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to rank my website in Google UK?
Hi guys, I own a London based rubbish removal company, but don't have enough jobs. I know for sure that some of my competitors get most of their jobs trough Google searches. I also have a website, but don't receive calls from it at all. Can you please tell me how to rank my website on keywords like: "rubbish removal london", "waste clearance london", "junk collection london" and other similar keywords? I know that for person like me (without much experience in online marketing) will be difficult task to optimize the website, but at least - I need some advices from where to start. I'm also thinking to hire an SEO but not sure where to find a trusted company. Most importantly I have no idea how much should pay to expect good results? What is too much and what is too low? I will appreciate all advices.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | gorubbishgo0 -
Google Penalty - Has It Been Lifted?
Hi, We have been trying to remove a ‘partial’ google penalty for a new client by the way of removing unnatural backlinks over a period of time and then submitting a reconsideration request, and uploading a disavow file etc. Previously Google listed the partial penalty in the ‘manual actions’ section of webmaster tools, making it possible for us to submit a reconsideration request. Having just logged in however we get the message ‘no manual webspam actions found’. So there isn’t any way we can submit a reconsideration request. Does this mean that the penalty has been lifted? Or could it still exist? If the latter is there any other way to submit a reconsideration request? Many thanks in advance, Lee.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Webpresence0 -
Could this work for Google Reconsideration Request?
One of my websites has received the following message: We've reviewed your site and we still see links to your site that violate our quality guidelines. Specifically, look for possibly artificial or unnatural links pointing to your site that could be intended to manipulate PageRank. Examples of unnatural linking could include buying links to pass PageRank or participating in link schemes. We encourage you to make changes to comply with our quality guidelines. Once you've made these changes, please submit your site for reconsideration in Google's search results. If you find unnatural links to your site that you are unable to control or remove, please provide the details in your reconsideration request. I have used LinkResearchTools DTOX to locate unnatural links and remove them. So far I've been able to remove or nofollow 50/350 and that's as far as I can ever go. The rest of the websites either don't respond or don't have any contact information. I added another 300 suspicious websites to my list and I'll try to get the links manually removed. Hopefully I can get 100/650 websites (and a bit more links) removed in total - at most. That is my estimate. I've been thinking to use Google Disavow Tool for the rest and make sure to submit a nicely written report with spreadsheets to Google - when I get to the reconsideration point. What are your thoughts on this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | zorsto0 -
Why will google not index my pages?
About 6 weeks ago we moved a subcategory out to becomne a main category using all the same content. We also removed 100's of old products and replaced these with new variation listings to remove duplicate content issues. The problem is google will not index 12 critcal pages and our ranking have slumped for the keywords in the categories. What can i do to entice google to index these pages?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Towelsrus0 -
Help choosing titles
Good evening guys, I changed my titles last month, in preparation for the over optimisation penalty and the result was an instant and quite dramatic loss in traffic. I believe the reason is, the change resulted in a lot of duplicate titles. My website is similar to deviant art, but for mobile phones. So the titles include the brand of mobile phone for example. The titles were: Upload name + Brand + Content type - 3 tags - FILEID So an example would be Black Nokia wallpaper - black, abstract, grey - 12345 I changed them to Black Nokia wallpaper by artist name on domain name. But this resulted in thousands of duplicate titles and a dramatic loss in traffic. For example a user could upload 20 black wallpapers. With this in mind, I need to change my titles and fast. But I don't want to make another mistake. The one I am quite keen to try is: Black Nokia Wallpaper - Tag1, tag2 wallpapers - on domain name. So the main variable would be the name of the upload and then the 2 tags, to mix things up a little. Another option would be to throw the file ID in there somewhere? As that will always be unique. Perhaps the file ID could be in the place of the "wallpapers" after the two tags? I'd like to keep the domain name, for branding reasons. Any other suggestions are warmly welcomed. Thanks a lot.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seo-wanna-bs0 -
Why does google not show my ecommerce category page when I have the same keywords for many products in the product title?
I have found that google removes the google serach listing of a category from my site (ecommerce) when products within the category have the same key words. I sell golf shirts and have a category called "Mens Golf Shirts" Within the category I have added many products but when the too many of the products say mens golf shirt my link on google gets removed. Before i had products named: FUNKTION Mens Short Sleeve Golf Shirt Red / Black but now I have had to change it to: FUNKTION Red / Black I can understand that they may see this a keyword stuffing but how do I get around this to ensure that each product can rank on google for mens golf shirt
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | funktiongolf0 -
Get Higher in Google Shopping
Hello, A few days ago i imported my product list into Google Shopping and everything got accepted, but when i look in Google Shopping for my product. It's on page 3, how can i get my product higher in Google shopping? I assume this thing is different from just normal SEO? Regards, Yannick
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | iwebdevnl0