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Using slash in the title tag

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by jenny.smith, Feb 2, 2012.

  1. #1
    Hey,

    can somebody suggest on the idea of using "/" in the title tag of a web page.

    How does google take this and its impact on keyword usability.

    Thanks
    Jennifer Smith
     
    jenny.smith, Feb 2, 2012 IP
  2. matty_wllson

    matty_wllson Peon

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    #2
    Never use slash in your web page title tag. You can use "|", "," instead of /
     
    matty_wllson, Feb 2, 2012 IP
  3. PHPGator

    PHPGator Banned

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    #3
    I frequently use a dash "-" without any problems as well.
     
    PHPGator, Feb 2, 2012 IP
  4. ramadanumrah

    ramadanumrah Peon

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    #4
    use only "|" or "-", it will be separated your keywords.
     
    ramadanumrah, Feb 2, 2012 IP
  5. jenny.smith

    jenny.smith Peon

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    #5
    thanks for replies
     
    jenny.smith, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  6. GoldSEO

    GoldSEO Member

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    #6
    "|" works. It's hilarious, it's pointless, it works an allows you to almost have two titles.

    I'm sure the weight this carries will drop very soon like meta tags did and bolding did, but...i dunno what to say...it works
     
    GoldSEO, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  7. anjalirai

    anjalirai Member

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    #7
    yes, never use / in title tag. u should use , | and .....
     
    anjalirai, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  8. ashokpatidar

    ashokpatidar Greenhorn

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    #8
    Although I have never seen anyone using slash in the title of web page, but it is one of many signs that Google has stated not to use in title tags. If you use slash in title tag, then probably Google and other major search engines will ignore it leaving your web page title without slashes and you can simply amazing how it would look alike.
     
    ashokpatidar, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  9. dzi

    dzi Well-Known Member

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    #9
    It makes no difference, just make sure you do not have two pages present: one with "/" and one without it. So just redirect one of them to the other.
     
    dzi, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  10. OSSEO

    OSSEO Active Member

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    #10
    Mostly People use hyphen , dashes, pipe etc . I never saw and heard about slashes.
     
    OSSEO, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  11. stella_j

    stella_j Peon

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    #11
    Agree I also never saw slash in the title tag. Webmasters uses Hyphen and Dash very frequent in to title tags.
     
    stella_j, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  12. Canonical

    Canonical Well-Known Member

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    #12
    Can you please explain the difference between hyphen ("-") and dash ("-")? ROFL Last time I checked, they were the same... at least in the English language.

    I would never use '/' as a keyword phrase separator in a title simply because it doesn't look good... but what proof do you have that Google and the other engines would somehow frown upon doing so? Have you actually run a test to see? Or are you all just pulling those answers out of your butts?

    It's very likely that Google and the other engines ignore pretty much all special characters in the title element including hypens/dashes, slashes, ampersands, commas, periods, asterisks, percent signs, etc. I'd be willing to bet that before they even evaluate the title element that they replace all special characters in the title with a space.

    Have you ever noticed the screen in Google's Webmaster Tools where they show how other sites link to your site (i.e. What link text other sites use to link to your site)? Have you noticed that the link text they display there is always void of special characters? This is likely because they normalize it (replace all special characters with a space) prior to processing it for keywords. When someone links to your site with your URL as the link text (e.g. http://www.example.com/page.htm) then the link text is shown as "http www example com page htm".

    Have you every used Google's Adwords keyword to to research terms like "Associate's Degree in English"? When they display the keywords and their search volumes, they show that phrase as "associate s degree in english" (again, they have removed all puntuation and special characters).

    Have you ever changed your search Settings at Google so that they return 100 results per page and then searched Google using the intitle: operator for an EXACT match phrase in quotes like intitle:"optimization SEO" which says show me all of the URLs in Google's index that has the EXACT phrase "optimization SEO" in the title? If you have then you would know that they consider all sorts of variations on that phrase an exact match. This is easily seen by looking at the title of the SERP listings returned to see what is bolded. For example, ALL of the following are considered exact match for "optimization SEO":

    Optimization SEO
    Optmization - SEO
    Optimization (SEO)
    Optimization | SEO
    Optimization, SEO

    AND YES...

    Optimization / SEO

    is even considered an exact match for "optimization seo" as can be seen in the listing for consultwebs.com (you can see this easier with the following search: intitle:"optimization SEO" site:www.consultwebs.com).

    If you searched Google for:

    intitle:"optimization seo"
    intitle:"optimization(seo"
    intitle:"optimization/seo"
    intitle:"optimization,seo"
    etc.

    then you would also notice they return the same set of results.

    The search engines likely normalize ALL text in an HTML document before evaluating it for keywords.

    You people should really use your head, test, do research, etc. before answering questions as if you actually know without having any logic or proof to back up what you say. Otherwise all you do is spread misinformation.
     
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2012
    Canonical, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  13. azharSEO

    azharSEO Active Member

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    #13
    | (pipe) is the best for SEO.
     
    azharSEO, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  14. blossom2347

    blossom2347 Peon

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    #14
    Slash (/) is never used. "|" this or sign is used. It is used to separate multiple keywords.
     
    blossom2347, Feb 6, 2012 IP
  15. Johnsmith11

    Johnsmith11 Peon

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    #15
    nice post thanks for sharing.
     
    Johnsmith11, Feb 9, 2012 IP
  16. Arbin a

    Arbin a Peon

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    #16
    Good post
     
    Arbin a, Dec 20, 2020 IP
  17. Jim4767

    Jim4767 Prominent Member

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    #17
    The hyphen and the dash are not the same. 1) They have different meanings, and 2) the dash is longer than the hyphen.
     
    Jim4767, Dec 20, 2020 IP
  18. deathshadow

    deathshadow Acclaimed Member

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    #18
    This "never use slash" malarkey is unfounded nonsense. My question would be WHAT ARE YOU USING IT FOR?

    A normal TITLE tag should follow the format:

    [site title - ]page title

    Where the [] indicates optional text. For example:

    <title>New Posts - Digital Point</title>

    (DP actually screws this up by omitting the site title)

    Generally a minus sign (which TECHNCIALLY is neither a hyphen or a slash, though 99% of the world uses it as such) is your divisor. Using other characters for such divisions is wrong. Twitter F***'s that up. Their "Notifications / Twitter" being incompetent trash.

    Just as the use of other characters for that division -- vertical break "|" being an example of such trash. BUT

    That doesn't mean you cannot use them in the title for a purpose, it just shouldn't be used for separations of title sections.

    It's not "can I" or "should I", it's WHY use it and WHERE. What is your usage case?
     
    deathshadow, Dec 21, 2020 IP
  19. Web Panel Solutions

    Web Panel Solutions Greenhorn

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    #19
    You can make keywords with couple words which are similar and in terms of length limit 50 character only so you can use / easily to use both like editing/retouch in Title tag
     
    Web Panel Solutions, Dec 23, 2020 IP