Google and Special Symbols in Title

Music Symbols sometimes works, can't find others

[lgn1]

I remember last year when everybody started using symbols codes in the headers. I can find no example of the star code working anymore. However the music symbol "&#9835'" works for some sites and not for others.

What is the trick to get symbols to work in google titles? Our sites manually reviewed by google for the inclusion of the music symbol in the header.

Right now I will be happy with any special symbol to make my listing standout.

[prairie]

This might be a risky practice -- they could easily filter our pages with certain unusual characters in the title.

[skipfactor]

>>Right now I will be happy with any special symbol to make my listing standout.

Time-waster. They'll eventually filter them all.

If you feel the need to stand out use all UPPERCASE. If those around you are using UPPERCASE, use Title Case. If those around you use Title Case, use Sentence case.

Usually to stand out, I use sentences that begin with a capitalized word to several lower case words then ending in a few capitalized words like the product name--stands out in a world of UPPERCASE and Title Case meaningless phrases.

[markdidj]

I use the music symbol, and it's been in Google since day 1. I have a loop on my site that goes through them all. I suppose you just have to use ones that work on all browsers. It doesn't seem to do anything bad to my rankings.

I think if they are chosen wisely, and not over-used they can be helpful in giving the type of website Google is pointing to.....

Here's a few more. ( and uses? )

☺ white smilie (fun)
☻ black smilie (fun)
☼ sunshine (fun)
♀ ♂ male+female (personals)
♥ heart (personals, health)
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦ Card symbols (betting)

[edited by: markdidj at 7:09 pm (utc) on Sep. 28, 2004]

[lgn1]

I have looked at several Titles on sites that rank in Google. Given two sites on the same page in Google, Google will list one with the symbol, and the other with the symbol code instead. Is google manually allowing and disallowing this symbol, based on if the content of the site is musically or otherwise symbol orientated.

[edited by: lgn1 at 7:20 pm (utc) on Sep. 28, 2004]

[markdidj]

I've just searched for the numbers and some are listed in the title, with the &#. Don't know why some are allowed and some not?

Maybe it is a manual check, but if those at google do know that some music site's like to use it, it would be really easy to add to their algo. Maybe they check the contents of the page and see if it relates to music....

I don't know, but I like my entry in G.....
It also appears in some other SE as well

[drbrain]

Probably depends on the encoding of the page.

[lgn1]

Nope, check the encoding, thats not it. Could they be allowed only on authority sites, or could they be grandfathered for sites that used these symbols before everybody else got on the bandwagon.

[crobb305]

Are symbols such as '#' acceptable? Has anyone seen titles like ' #1 Widgets Source' ranking well?

[sem4u]

Using a quick search I can't find any '#' pages.

[adfree]

There was a time once when 20% of all SERPs showed symbols. Looked rather confusing for the user back then. I would ask myself if it contributes to usability and if not, how will SE's restore it?

[4string]

I read in a type design book somewhere a very useful rule. You should never use all upper case if you are trying to grab someone's attention. Part of reading is seeing the peaks and valleys of the letters. The shape of the word helps you read it more quickly.

APPLE PIE requires more perception than
apple pie

PECAN PIE has the same shape as APPLE PIE where
pecan pie and apple pie have different shapes.

I use lower case on anything I need read in a hurry.