Vertical bar is disappeared in title separator

Hi,

We understand that there are certain examples that still do show the | title separator in the search results.

We just wanted to let you know that based on what we’ve investigated is that the | and ~ title separators get replaced more often than not (and not completely replaced all the time_, which is what led to the change in Yoast SEO v17.1.

We hope you understand. We’ve also provided options to restore those title separators if that is the option that you would want to take as well.

We are going ahead and marking this issue as resolved due to inactivity. If you require any further assistance please create a new issue.

I logged in to comment here (which I rarely do) to say that this change is ridiculous and unwanted! It changed without my permission my websites. Let us at least choose… it’s not for you to decide…

I agree that the change is not necessary. The pipe | is still supported by Google and in the SERP.

This is a ridiculous change. I’ve read Google’s articles on this.

Your own article on the update to 17.1 says, and I quote, “…because Google seems to change these…” (emphasis mine).

Nowhere in ANY Google documentation that I can find do they state that they are removing or replacing these symbols. In fact, their articles repeatedly state that they may replace the entire title if their algorithm thinks that your title is not correct or “good enough”, basically.

Your decision to remove this without warning is causing me to have to manually add code to literally HUNDREDS of websites that I manage. I would urge you to reconsider this change as it is not founded in ANY factual statement from Google regarding their new title protocols.

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.”

Good call, @roam92! Thank you for the update.

I hope Yoast is more careful about future changes. This one cost me about 20 hours of time…

@ponderconsulting –

Whoa, holy smokes!

It cost me time too – unnecessarily in the end – so I wish the rollback had come sooner, as I waited for a couple of releases before giving up and putting in that time.

But very sorry to hear it cost you so much!

Thanks for your kind words, and hopefully lessons were learned about checking with your customer base before unilaterally removing something important to them.

@roam92

Yeah, I was just going to leave the topic be. Thank you for the validation and support. Unfortunately, I now have to go back through 250+ sites and reset it because the function no longer works.

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by ponderconsulting.