I am planning to put 8 words plus a hyphen(-) and (|) in the title.. is that more than allowed or google allows it?
The rule of thumb is do not use your url name in title, and just use only 2 to 3 keywords of your site. It is good and gives more power to your keywords and your site.
It's not so much a word limit, but a character limit. Try to keep your title to 65 characters or less. Beyond that, Google will cut off the excess characters and will only display ...... in the SERPs link.
Jim. Is right Google considers 65 Characters in Title as the best choice. But you can have upto 100 characters, it's not harmful, and Google won't punished your website for this reason. Google will not consider another 35 characters but other search engines do. In between 65 chars to 100 chars. i think it's the best choice.
The problem with going over 65 characters is that, at least in Google search results, the blue hyperlink will cut off your words after 65 characters and will simply add the dots (.....). That might cause you to lose a possible click if the surfer is frustrated about not being able to read the full title. Not a big deal, but something to consider.