Use of '&' in meta title

[russellbrown]

Hi, I know that use of '&' would be helpful to save space and also add more keyword variation to the title tag. But just want to make sure if it matters if I use '&' in most of my title tags? And also is it common to use more than & in one title?

Would the following title be different in Google's perspective regardless of the title length? I am thinking they are all targeting the keywords 'fruit cake' and 'fruit bread', but the first one is the best.

buy fruit cake & bread

buy fruit cake & fruit bread

buy fruit cake and fruit bread

Thanks in advance.

[Linda-Vassily]

The first one is more ambiguous. Is it fruit cake and bread of some type, or is it fruit cake and fruit bread [the ampersand generally being a joiner]?

If you do the searches, you will see they are all somewhat similar, with the second two being obviously more related. [collinstreet.com is going to wonder about the strange impressions data in their Adwords campaign...]

An ampersand and the word "and" are mostly the same in Google & there are some who feel that a special character in a title can attract more attention & so is a good thing.

[Alick300]

Hi Russell,

I use '&' and 'and' both but in different scenario. e.g

If keyword is 'artificial plants & trees' (having significant search volume) then I will use 'artificial plants & trees' not 'artificial plants and trees' and If keyword is 'artificial plants and trees' then I will use 'artificial plants and trees' not 'artificial plants & trees'.

So first you should check keyword is with 'and' or '&' and use in title according to that. If you are using 'and' or '&' like separator then it would be better to use pipe(|) or dash (-).

Hope this helps.

Thanks

[ClaytonJ]

Google uses titles as an important step in determining whether a website answers "searchers intent" - should google display that page on the SERP.

The composition of a title is far more complex than the obvious. The title has a strong SEO focus but also it has to be optimised for clickability. So there are trade-offs. An example is we have changed titles - a few words around and seen a 6 times uplift in CTR.  So optimising for the customer is integral.

So the first thing to do is determine keywords - then trade off with click ability. I am not sure I would start with the word buy. A standard method is

Most Important keyword | Second most important Keyword | Brand.

Should be a nexus between the two keywords. Also the title can only be 512 pixels long before it truncates. Hence the title has limited space and two competing components clickability & SEO.  Big decisions.

To answer your question, from the information at hand on the and v &. It is semantics but i agree with Linda the latter is more attractive and secondly it uses less pixels.

Let me know if need any more information.

[russellbrown]

Hi Linda,

Thanks for your answer Just wish to confirm if the first option "buy fruit cake & bread" will capture the keywords "fruit cake" and "fruit bread" as I wish to save the space for more other information in title tag.

I guess it is a balance we have to make, to be more clear or to be more concise.

Thanks for all the other answers.