Punctuation in Title tag

[temi]

What do you SEO gurus think of punctuation in a page's title tag? I tend not to add punctuation, but I think adding commas can help a sentence make more sence thank just writing without any punctuation.

Does it affect site ranking positively or otherwise to use punctuation in meta tags and title tag in particular

[SkinnerW]

I don't think punctuation will affect rankings but I would avoid any kind of symbols like "&" and such.
It turns into html code and gives errors sometimes especially in RSS feeds...

[temi]

Thanks for that info Skinner.

[Dave White]

IMO, use of punctuations is no good for SEO in the title.

[Bagi Zoltán]

I usually separate the expressions placed into title tag with this character |. I think it looks more attractive at ranking page and haven't experienced any disadvantage.

[temi]

I tend to use the character - , I think I use it because of some SEO test I took a few year ago where it was suggested.

[temi]

I have heard that arguiment before and I have also heard opposite argument. What do you base you conclusion on Dave?

IMO, use of punctuations is no good for SEO in the title.

[LinkHunter]

I have heard that arguiment before and I have also heard opposite argument. What do you base you conclusion on Dave?

Commas have been used for many years but the engines really have done away with the need for them for the most part as their Algos gained more sophistication!

Del.isio.us for instance, works better if you DO NOT place commas in tags as their tag engines pick up the individual words or phrase!

I have done EXTENSIVE testing with Title tags and I have found that these two simple examples work the best for nailing the Term(s) you are looking for!:

1. <title>SEO Forum l Webmaster Community l Marketplace l UKWebmasterWorld.com</title>

2. <title>SEO Forum - Webmaster Community - Marketplace l UKWebmasterWorld.com</title>

The total amount of characters should not exceed 70 for maximum term performance!!

Of course the rest of it goes: Title relevant with Meta Decription relevant with Meta Tags relevant with the first text in your site; will win the terms over everytime as long as you have some link support!!!

I can prove any of this of course!!