Vertical bar is disappeared in title separator

I confirm, I’ve just noticed it too. I used “|” as a separator as well, and now it disappeared. Also, in Google search my website name disappeared too (after the name of article).

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.

What a ridiculous change.

Hi @ponderconsulting

We understand your feedback on this change isn’t favorable.

However, based on what we’ve researched and seen so far, Google has been removing the pipe (|) separator from the titles, so it wouldn’t be useful to use it (and have the expectation that that would be what would show up in the search results) and end up having Google replace it with another separator. We hope you understand, as we’re trying to make sure that the Google/snippet preview is as accurate as possible.

It’s discussed further in our release post here – https://yoast.com/yoast-seo-17-1/

@ponderconsulting – it is ridiculous.

In part, because Yoast’s assertion that “Google consistently replaces these separators in search results” is simply 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! Thanks.

I strongly encourage Yoast to give us back the option to use the vertical bar. All the major site SERPS use it, including Yoast, don’t you think it’s hypocritical to give yourself the option but take it away from us? Typical tech nonsense, what’s next selling us a plugin for 80 dollars a year to give us the vertical bar back…its about continuity, and if you don’t provide it, your competitor will for less money..

@kj4940harris @roam92 – you can get it back with this code:

/* Add custom separators to the Yoast SEO options
 * Credit: Yoast team
 * Last Tested: September 2, 2021 using Yoast SEO 17.0 on WordPress 5.8
 */

add_filter( 'wpseo_separator_options', 'yoast_seo_title_add_separators', 10 , 1 );

function yoast_seo_title_add_separators ( $currentSeparators ) {
  $addSeparators = []; // Do not remove this line

  array_push( $addSeparators, "★" ); // Repeat to add another separator
  array_push( $addSeparators, "|" ); // Repeat to add another separator
  array_push( $addSeparators, "~" ); // Repeat to add another separator

  //Do not remove the lines below
  $newSeparators = array_unique( array_merge( $currentSeparators, $addSeparators ));
  return $newSeparators;
}

Add it to your theme’s function.php. Then go to SEO >> Search Appearance and you will see the pipebar back under Title Separator.

For me, reinstalling it on 250 site is tedious and annoying because there is no harm in leaving it.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by ponderconsulting.

Hi,

We do understand your feedback and concern about wanting to have the “|” pipe separator back.

The Yoast SEO plugin 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

@mikes41720 What really is the harm in leaving it in? Like I said, I have 250 sites to install this function on. Doesn’t make sense to make to make potentially 5 million people jump through hoops. I can see when it’s no longer supported but it is still supported…

@ponderconsulting – Absolutely, couldn’t agree more!

It’s fortunate that we can manually add it back, but why should we have to? How much collective time does that unnecessarily waste?

Yoast is basically telling its users that they now need to do custom coding in order to restore functionality which should not have been removed in the first place.

It is surprisingly tone-deaf by Yoast. It makes no sense. There is zero harm in leaving it for all those who wish to use it and want these title separators on their own websites.

Thank you for the code snippet! But again, it shouldn’t be necessary and the majority of Yoast users will not realize or know how to restore this capability.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by roam92.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by roam92.

In the name of thousands users in the world please give back it immediately, you make us losing money by losing us time for nothing. That joke is not funny at all

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by cwp13.

That way to to do : over submission as puppy but dictate and blow by surprise to your users and customers is not very glorious for your company

• This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by cwp13.

Hi @cwp13

We understand your frustration regarding this change in the title separators. We want to let you know that this isn’t a joke nor are we trying to waste the time of our users. When we make decisions in mind for changes and updates to the plugin, we still keep our mission in mind, which is SEO for Everyone. We take into account the best possible outcome and what would help majority of our users, even if it might not be the most popular or well-received option to take. We hope you understand.

Based on the research and findings from our team, we did notice that those title separators were being changed in the SERP, which was the basis as to why they were removed in Yoast SEO v17.1. If you really want to use the (|) or (~) title separators, please do take a look at using the wpseo_separator_options filter.

@mikes41720 –

Again, that is not borne out by the evidence. 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 the assertion that “those title separators are changed in the SERP” is not accurate nor consistent.

This is ridiculous! It’s time to move to| Rank Math |…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by spade011.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by spade011.