Using colons in the Title Tag

[tomatkmt]

Hi, newbie here - first time posting.

Would it be better for me to do this:
Microsoft Office Templates - HTML Templates

or this:
Microsoft Office Templates :: HTML Templates

I appreciate the insight!
-Tom

[Hope]

I don't know that there would be a difference as far as search engines go. I would have to say that it is a matter of personal preference. Which looks better to you and fits with the look and feel of your site better.

[french dread]

Concerning rankings in SEs, no influence. But from an user point of view and speaking for myself the "::" looks nice anc could lead me to click

[Zinger]

I also like the look of '::'.

This might be something to consider though, if you have a longer title, you might be counting the number of characters you use so that you can fit your keywords in there. There for the '-' is one character, but the '::' is two.

Not so sure if this makes a difference because when you type '-' and '::', they look like they are almost the same pixel length. But if it is the number of characters that is important, maybe '-' is the way to go.

This is just a thought. Anyone else care to add?

[Webmaster T]

I have been using a single : for years. What is especially nice and an advantage over - or :: it is natural language. That is its proper use. So if engines start sniffin for spam using sentence structure then you have no worry whereas a - or :: is not usually used in that manner. But I agree that is a nice way to set up a title for display in the results, however, not sure if it is enough of an incentive to change my ways;)

[Cavemptr]

For what it's worth, you cannot bookmark a title with a colon in it using IE.

Don

[mncsc]

Originally posted by Cavemptr
For what it's worth, you cannot bookmark a title with a colon in it using IE.

I made a temp page with 2 colons and was able to bookmark it in IE6. It just ignored the colons and ran the words together. Interesting though, what OS and version of IE are you running?

[Cavemptr]

Originally posted by mncsc
Interesting though, what OS and version of IE are you running?

Win98 & IE 5.5. I'm bad about upgrading.

Don

[mncsc]

Originally posted by Cavemptr
Win98 & IE 5.5. I'm bad about upgrading.

Good to know. Since there's likely millions more with the same setup, that's a good reason IMO not to use any colons in titles.

:cheers:

[Webmaster T]

Originally posted by Cavemptr
For what it's worth, you cannot bookmark a title with a colon in it using IE.

Don Just did it and have been doing for years exactly what is this based on. The facts not conjecture!I just bookmarked a site with not 1 but 2 separated colons in IE 5.5
test and see (http://www.tsworldofdesign.com)

Woops, I'm on win 2000! Just called to have someone test in 98!
I just noticed that when it did enter the title in the bookmark it removed the colon.

Test completed it worked in 98! More feedback please!

Cavemptr, Are you running Norton Utilities?

[Cavemptr]

[i]
Test completed it worked in 98! More feedback please!

Cavemptr, Are you running Norton Utilities? [/B]

Yes I am.

Don