Which one of them works better?

[PremioOscar]

Hello everybody,

As I need to improve the title tags of the site I manage, I was wondering which one between the hyphen (-) and the the vertical bar (|) when writing title tags?

[whis]

It seems to me that both can be effective.

For example, Moz and econsultancy make good use of the vertical bar: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Aeconsultancy.com&oq=site%3Aeconsultancy.com&aqs=chrome.0.57j58.6061j0&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Whereas BBC opt for the hyphens: http://tinyurl.com/lbp5kxe

Both work but from a personal perspective, I think the vertical bars split up the content in a nicer way.

[PremioOscar]

thanks for your answer.

If both work well then I will not change it.

Also do they have to be the same across the whole site or can be both used depending on the page?

[whis]

No problem. Although, I've just noticed that since the re-brand Moz actually uses hyphens now instead of v-bars. Perhaps you can read something into that? But probably not.

For general usability and brand consistency it is best to implement the same title system across all pages.

[PremioOscar]

I did check their titles but some of them have hyphens and some others have v-bars anyway, I will have to make a decision about that.

[Kurt_Steinbrueck]

I don't believe there's any difference from a search engine standpoint between hyphens ( - ) in vertical bars ( | ). It's pretty much your own preference. You may also want to consider how visitors to your site will respond seeing pipes versus hyphens, and which produces better click-through rates.

Personally, I like to use pipes to distinguish between two concepts and hyphens to connect two concepts. For example, if I have a company that produces auto parts, I might use a hyphen in their title tag, e.g. "auto parts-the company name" if I'm trying to connect these two. On the other hand, if I'm trying to distinguish two ideas like auto parts and auto repair, I might use the pipe in between them because I'm trying to distinguish the two ideas, but that's just a personal preference.

Here is a short video from Matt Cutts a few years ago where he says that hyphens and pipes don't make a difference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2_7PTio3Qc

[PremioOscar]

Thanks for your answer, this really helps. And also answer my question about using both of them within the same website for different pages.

[Kurt_Steinbrueck]

There isn't any issue using both within a single website.  I use both because I use them to signify different things, as mentioned above.  I've even used both in the same title.