I suggest that the comma would be better for separating the keywords in title. Using comma can take less character spaces than other two. Google search engine may consider the first 66 chars in webpage title and yahoo search engine may consider the first 100 to 120 chars. Title length can vary according to the different search engines. Using proper phrase of title will yield you better results.
What gets displayed in the SERPs and what the search engines "consider" in their algorithm are two totally different things. Google and the other search engines almost without a doubt are looking at the entire <title> when ranking the page regardless of whether it's 10 characters in length or 150 characters in length. Google simply truncates any <title> longer than 65-67 characters in length when displaying it in the SERPs because displaying long <title> elements messes up the formatting of the SERPs especially when you consider that they have to allow for indented listings and Adwords down the right. EVERYTHING Google does down to fonts, font sizes, colors, etc. in their SERPs has been tested a gazillion times to determine what is the absolute best user experience. It's also possible that they have determined that <title> elements longer than 65 or so characters in length result in a significant drop-off in click throughs. But this doesn't mean that when ranking the page they ignore all text in the <title> after position 65-67. I would be willing to be a months salary that they are looking at the entire <title> regardless of length (unless of course, they determine it has been "stuffed" with 100 keywords in which case the entire <title> will likely be ignored and the page possibly placed under penalty).
Perhaps so, but I would argue that excessively long titles difuse focus, making it more difficult to rank, and most likely reduce click through from the SERP's as well. Users scan the SERP's (assuming they don't just click on #1). A short, focused title enhances their experience, and makes the SE's job easier as well. When in doubt, W3C offers guidance. The title element is a powerful tool for SEO. It is not a blunt instrument, and should be used with some artful precision. The adjustment of a single word can have significant impacts on both rankings and clickthroughs.
You know that wouldn't be too difficult to test. Write a title that exceeds to the 65 char limit and around char 75 throw in a couple of really obscure words but don't use them anywhere else. But do create several pages so that if this is in fact the case those keywords will show up and the bottom of the list in WMT. I think I might try this out and get some conclusive evidence to support it one way or another.
100 industry experts would disagree with you. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/ranking-factors-version-3-released
I agree with all that you've said. And please don't interpret what I've said as me advocating long <title> elements. If you check out my blog, you'll see that I use simple <titles>... typically a single keyword phrase... occasionally 2 keyword phrases if they are almost identical... and rarely 3 keyword phrases, again if they are almost identical. But I always keept them under the 65 limit. For example, on my blog my home page and recent post <title> elements include: <title>Learn SEO Free Online</title> (home page title) <title>www or no www</title> <title>Redirecting Web Pages</title> <title>Regex Basics</title> <title>How to Learn Search Engine Optimization - How to Learn SEO</title> <title>Yahoo! SSP - Yahoo! Search Submit Program - Yahoo! Drops SSP</title> <title>Prevent Indexing at Google</title> <title>Optimizing Meta Description Tags</title> etc. The reason is that on most of my posts I am targeting a very specific keyword phrase that I know to get low to moderate search volume and that has very little competition with the exception of the Yahoo! SSP post which was just a "on the fly" post reacting to news. I agree that <title> is the most important on-page factor. I would never use a 200 character <title>. Only stated that the 65-67 character limit is a display limit and NOT a limit from a ranking perspective.
i have used all the symbols as per the title requirement so that it looks clearly and makes sense ...and it it doing well ..no harm
As usual, Canonical is spot on. I am fairly certain there are not a ton of metrics involved in <title> related stuff getting truncated. I think his point was that the page attribute will obviously be diminished if its huge in terms of what you are targeting. My assertion of using a | instead of a - is not based on viable math, its an aesthetic thing. It will not effect the ranking. Its a visual thing. Essentially, it is safe to say that if your title attribute is getting truncated graphically by google you are missing the point of the attribute in the first place. Drill that shit down so you can focus on more important factors. hope that helps, Nigel