Hi All, I have a site we are doing seo for and the question came up about symbols. Is Google smart enough to equate the % symbol with the word "percent". Or the & symbol with the word "and", etc, etc. The situation is the client sells 100% whey Protein. And we started thinking do people search with text or symbols, or maybe Google is smart enough and it doesn't matter. Any one have ideas on this?
Thx. I am thinking that writing it all out would always be safer. But is there anyone out there that knows for sure. Either from experience or a written text from Google. Can't find any. I can't imagine Google not knowing at least basic symbols. Been doing this for 4 years so I know the basic answer. I am just personally curious on the definitive answer.
you should think this way: most people will search "100 percent", few search "100%" most people will search "chicken and egg", few search "chiken & egg" You got my answers.
If you want to display symbols, try to show by writing code of these symbols. for example: & for & ½ for ½ © for © That I have done and in my opinion is not a problem.
From my experience google will ignore it. Eg. Your post is "Me and My Cat" will rank higher than "Me & My Cat" whenever people search for "Me and my cat". There is also a possibility that your post will be ignored. However as and is a very common work your post may still rank if that particular page contains the word and. Emm.. Did I made myself clear?
Very clear. Unfortunately some symbols are better picked up by the brain, look nicer, etc. BUT if they never got to the page to see the pretty symbol, because it didnt rank well. Then what's the point. Better to get the people to the page, and use symbols in places it doesnt matter for seo. Thanks all for your comments.