To Pipe or Not to Pipe. | is the question.

[timmathews.com]

Hello everyone and thank you for stopping by my post.
We have all been doing this for years and have our own ways of doing things. This I completely understand.

When writing <title></title> tags, I have always used a "makes sense to read" mentality and created nice titles based on this methodology. I seldom use commas and never use any other punctuation. Periods would be an ultimate "no-no" in my eyes, but what about pipes?

For those of you that don't know, a "pipe" is that straight up and down dash that you get when you press "shift" and "\" or "shift" and "back slash". It looks just like this: |.

I am working with some sites that have existing tags and I am updating the tags and am battling myself over this. There is another developer working on the site with me and he is a pipe user. I am all for change if it is going to ultimately help, but I don't know if using pipes will help or hurt.

Many people make their titles in this fashion:

<title>New 2012 Manufacturer Product Purchase Specials | City State Products Dealers</title>

For those that use pipes, they swear by it. I have never been a pipe user in titles or any tags for that matter. I feel it is not necessary.
If I were to write the above title, I would do it ultimately the same way, less the pipe:

<title>New 2012 Manufacturer Product Purchase Specials City State Products Dealers</title>

Obviously I would like to know if using the "|" will help, hurt or just not matter. We have all got an opinion and I appreciate that. I am looking for validity. If you have proven one way or the other and can show proof, please let me know.
I have gone so far as to email Matt Cutts... I'm not refreshing the inbox every 5 seconds, but it would be nice if he replyd.

At the end of the day, I am looking for something definitive. If you can send links to where someone like Matt Cutts talks about it, that would be awesome. I am not able to find anything definitive and thus, I am here!

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and share your proof/evidence.

Have a fantastic day!
Tim

[weegillis]

Pipes can be very meaningful as they break up an otherwise gibberish title into meaningful phrases. SE's regard them as delimiters, not keyword characters, so they do no harm. Infact I would agree with those who believe they do some good.


<update>
I've just perused most of the Google guidelines and find nothing in regard to pipes, good or bad. There is no recommendation that they be avoided, so at least we can presume they cause no harm.
</update>

[SteveGerencser]

I prefer - over | It's more natural and less 'machiney'.

[Tubby]

I hate polls where none of the selections can be 'ticked'.

[timmathews.com]

I hate polls where none of the selections can be 'ticked'.

LMAO Tubby!
If it were a "tickable" poll, then folks would be able to select both options, thus providing inaccurate results.

It's been a while, Tubby. Glad to see you are still here.

===

Steve, I agree. I too would prefer the small dash over a pipe, but it isn't folk's preference I am looking for.
I need definitive information on whether pipes hurt, help, or don't matter, as "weeman" suggests, without corroborating evidence, that SEs see pipes only as delimiters and not characters.
Is it better to not use pipes from SE point of view, or is it best left out of one's title?

===

weegillis, send us over a link where each search engine say they regard pipes as delimiters and not keyword characters please. As I mentioned in my opening post, I know and respect that we all have an opinion on this. I do appreciate you taking the time to reply, but I am not asking for people's opinion or preferences. I need validity and verification if you say one way or the other.

===

The "Poll" was not my intention when I came here to start this discussion. It was only when I was submitting the post that I saw the poll and thought, what the heck. Frankly, I care not what the poll ends up showing, I do care, however, what the proof says.

Thank you all again for your time.
Have a fantastic day/night,
Tim

[weegillis]

I guess your question should also have included the word, 'today.'

Do Pipes "|" in Title Tag Hurt Rankings?

This question when posed in 2004 got similar response to what it is today receiving. Take for example your own signature; would it look better with commas? Would it become confusing? Would dashes make better delimiters? Or would they be just as confusing as commas? Pipes have a place in punctuation just as the other two do, and, as in your signature, if they are used to maintain the connection between phrases, they are semantic. Why would that hurt a site's rankings?

[SteveGerencser]

The difinitive answer is it doesn't matter, but that wasn't one of your poll options.

[Tubby]

LMAO Tubby!
If it were a "tickable" poll, then folks would be able to select both options, thus providing inaccurate results.

O.K. Fine. just as long as the pole "Counts" my non vote

I did not realise that the forum software had advanced so far that it included my abstention (for accuracy)

[timmathews.com]

The difinitive answer is it doesn't matter, but that wasn't one of your poll options.

Steve,
Thank you for you dEfinitive answer. Now, please show me where the search engines say it doesn't matter so we can close this up and move on to another subject. I understand what you mean about the 3rd option in the poll. Perhaps I will remove the poll altogether, as it is not the core of what this thread is about. It was a secondary thought just to attempt to gauge the people that do participate in the poll and see if it is 50/50, 75/25, 20/80, etc.
Again, you claim it doesn't matter, please show me where you gained this valuable information.

[Tubby]

please show me where the search engines say it doesn't matter so we can close this up and move on to another subject.

Tim. You are not asking Search engines. . you are asking members. .

My thought is, if members ticked the box that says "It does not matter"
this would be different from a box marked "I do not know"

If search engines stated "it does matter" Then you could simply defer to their authority.

'FAIR GO MATE' If you post a Poll At least offer us an option to post our opinion.