How does Title keyword order, number and puctuation factor into rankings?

[ColorfulConcepts]

Hi,

I am new at SEO and really trying to dive right in and do some thorough keyword research before I put my efforts into on-page optimization.  In my research I have found a bunch of keywords that have low competition and decent search volume for my niche.  I was thinking that I could be quite clever to combine a few of these phrases together in order to target them all.  I realize that the first few positions for title tag placement hold extra value so I do not want to overdo it with my word choices and therefore not rank for my keywords.

For example "pink girls room" has the highest (but not a ton) searches out of the keywords that I have found.  "pink room decor" is also a decent and relevant keyword.  So if my title is "Pink girls room decor" at the beginning of my title will I hurt myself instead of thinking that I am clever enough to get both keywords with one shot.

Also, if I add more keywords in a natural way after this important beginning phrase, will it  help me get more long tail search terms or will it just dilute my original keywords?

Finally, how do search engines view punctuation?  I have noticed that when I search for terms myself that Google appears to ignore punctuation.. Does that mean if I am strategic I can get more keyword terms in my title and still sound human by taking advantage of this?

Thanks so much!

[irvingw]

"Pink girls room decor" does not cover you for "pink room decor" because the words need to be all together and not separated by another keyword.

"Pink girls room decor" covers you for "Pink girls room" and "girls room decor"

Yes additional alternative keyword phrases will help not hurt as long as you don't keyword stuff, "bedroom" and "room" are different keywords so think of alternative words that are also searched

Punctuation is ignored but still should be used for proper grammar

Don't forget that all title tags should be unique across the site! good luck!

[Boodreaux]

Today I read something different.

My understanding is that Google will also rank for the words in the title themselves not necessarily in the order placed,  whereas Bing and Yahoo have a stronger emphasis on exact order keyword match.  So today I changed up my Title in hopes of getting in a few more key words too.  Hopefully I don't fall from my lofty perch for my main key word that is in my URL.

PS...I did have one word twice in my title ...I hope I don't get penalized for that.