Bring back the | removed separator

@rostamedastan As of the 17.1 release of the plugin, we’ve removed the | and ~ separator options from titles, because Google frequently replaces these in search results. You can read more about these changes in our release post here.

In order to have these options back it would require reverting to a version of the plugin prior to 17.1, which we do not recommend.

We’re in the same boat and would like the | separator back too.

Yoast is dedicated to keeping you and your site up to date with the latest SEO changes. Recently, Google has consistently replaced the pipe ( |?) and tilde ( ~ ) separators in search results. Therefore, Yoast SEO 17.1 removed these choices from our plugins and reverted the separator to the em dash ( —?). You can change the default separator with the steps here: How to change the title separator in Yoast SEO

While we strongly encourage you to select one from the list as they are trusted to work in search results, we can certainly understand that you may prefer to use these or other separators. Yoast SEO includes filters that allow you or your developer to customize many of the features in our plugin, including the separator choices. The filter?wpseo_separator_options can be used to customize your choices. Typically code snippets are added to your theme’s functions.php file. If you’re not familiar with using code snippets, we’d like to refer you to the WordPress documentation on how to use a filter. An example code snippet can be found here:

https://gist.github.com/amboutwe/6ed67899af7eb17fec4ece326d10c4af

Unfortunately, there’s a difference between the support we can offer and the level of programming needed to change (core) features of our plugin. Since we don’t want to take the risk that we break your website by suggesting incorrect or incomplete code,?we cannot advise you on how to make such changes. And even though we cannot be of any assistance, you’re completely free to change anything in the plugin to better suit your needs!

RIP “|”
You will be missed!
??

Hi @kramarz

We understand that you were also inclined to use the “|” title separator, but we’ve made this decision with the best intentions based on how Google has been rewriting the titles and modifying the output in the SERP.

However, we do wish you the best of luck in further optimizing your website and its content. Hopefully, you can try another title separator and have it work as well as the pipe did! ??

@kramarz – A lot of users would like it back, because in fact it is NOT dead at all…

Yoast’s assertion that “Google consistently replaces these separators in search results” is not true. Just google for yourself “yoast udemy” (without quotes) and you’ll get:

SEO for Beginners by Yoast | Udemy
How to Set up the Yoast SEO Plugin | Udemy
WordPress SEO and The Yoast SEO Plugin | Udemy
etc…

If that’s not enough, google “yoast facebook”:

Yoast – Home | Facebook

So this notion they had to take the heavy-handed step to remove the very common “|” pipe separator from all use is simply wrong.

Clearly, many site owners prefer to use the “|” for aesthetic reasons, and for how it looks on our own pages and on our own sites – regardless of what Google does anyway. There is no harm to keep the option!

“|” also clearly distinguishes the title from the site name, because titles rarely include that character. You simply cannot say the same for “-“. Using a dash just confounds the title!

So, seeing as Google does still show the pipe separator, and many sites obviously prefer it, Yoast removing it in version 17.1 is simply a poor decision.

Please bring it back! Thank you.

Great point by @roam92 above. I still see the pipe separator in search results often.

It would be different it the use of the | separator was found to consistently hurt rankings. Then I could get behind it being removed from the plugin.

However, just because Google replaces it sometimes doesn’t mean it’s a problem.

Did Yoast even do a study to see how often it’s replaced? This choice feels completely random and not based on any real evidence or reasoning.

Honestly, the over-reach to remove a symbol I prefer when it’s not a choice that negatively impacts SEO makes me want to consider a different SEO plugin for my site and for my clients.

@sd1111, +1

It’s remarkably heavy-handed. They’re telling you how your own site and pages should look, for no good reason.

It might be different in there were a consistent replacement happening by Google on their SERPs, but that is not the case. Even so, either way, there would be no actual harm in leaving the separator choice, as you point out.

As this poor decision has still not been reconsidered by Yoast, it is indeed time to consider another plugin – of which there are many good choices now.

Thank you, Yoast! It makes a difference that you listened, and your customers really appreciate it. ??

Yoast SEO Version 17.5 – Release Date: November 2nd, 2021

Say hello to Yoast SEO 17.5! Or maybe γεια would fit better, as this release introduces Greek readability support. Plus: you’ll also be able to find | and ~ title separators again. Happy updating! Read more about what’s new in Yoast SEO 17.5 in our release post in English:

https://yoast.com/yoast-seo-17-5/

“Bringing back the ~ and | title separators

Two months ago, Google started generating its own page titles a lot more frequently. One of the changes we saw, was Google dropping or replacing the | and ~ title separators from many of the search results. This led us to drop support for these characters in Yoast SEO 17.1. But, we’ve heard your feedback and want to reinstate these characters as an option. In Yoast SEO 17.5, you can find them again in the Titles Separators section of the Search Appearance settings. Keep in mind that Google might still replace those characters in the search results for your titles.”

Please don’t do hasty decisions like this in the future. I would claim you didn’t have enough data to make this decision. Google is constantly changing so before making changes that force your users a certain way I think a “truth” should be established for longer than just a few weeks.