PUNCTUATION IN LISTING TITLES
There are misunderstandings about punctuation such as commas, dashes, slashes, pipes, etc in titles that seem to be creating anxiety for sellers on Etsy.
The article about about pipes, "|", (
http://blogs.iit.edu/iit_web/2013/04/01/seo-title-tags-pipes-hyphens-commas-or-underscore/) refers to the TITLE TAG, not the heading title, such as the listing titles on Etsy. The TITLE TAG is a snippet of information in the source code that is not visible on the Web page. The TITLE TAG is for Google and Yahoo and other search engines.
ON ETSY, the TITLE TAG is created by Etsy by copying the first 40+ characters of the listing title into the TITLE TAG. Etsy sellers add punctuation to make the listing title readable to the shoppers. Etsy usually drops all the punctuation we add and uses the space left behind by moving the two adjoining words closer together. ON ETSY, it does not matter which punctuation is used since Etsy usually drops it before copying the words into the TITLE TAG.
A listing title that looks like this:
"Blue Topaz Dangle Earrings / Sterling Silver Earrings / Gemstone Jewelry / Gift for Her"
becomes this TITLE TAG (66 character limit, whole words only, includes shop name):
<title>Blue Topaz Dangle Earrings Sterling Silver Earrings by MyShopName</title>
ON ETSY, always, always, include one space before OR after all punctuation. Since Etsy removes the punctuation and then moves the two adjoining words together, you could wind up with joined words that mean nothing to Google. Search engines use spaces to know where one word ends and another begins.
A listing title that looks like this:
"Blue Topaz Dangle Earrings/Sterling Silver Earrings/Gemstone Jewelry/Gift for Her"
becomes this TITLE TAG (66 character limit, whole words only, includes shop name):
<title>Blue Topaz Dangle EarringsSterling Silver EarringsGemstone by MyShopName</title>
ON YOUR OWN WEBSITE, The item (listing) title is usually created separate from the TITLE TAG and again, it does not matter which punctuation you use. In fact, on your own website it is better to use only one or two keywords in the listing title. The TITLE TAG is created separately with or without punctuation and can include more keywords than the item (listing) title. Using no punctuation in the TITLE TAG gives equal weight to all the words.
