Characters to Use and Avoid in SEO: Complete Guide to URL Optimization
In SEO, choosing the right characters for your content is crucial for optimal performance. I'll guide you through which characters to use and avoid to ensure your content ranks well in search engines.
Safe Characters to Use:
• Letters (a-z, A-Z) • Numbers (0-9) • Hyphens (-) • Basic punctuation marks (., ?, !) • Standard spacebar spaces
Characters to Avoid:
• Special characters (@, #, $, %, &)
• Underscores (_)
• Plus signs (+)
• Asterisks (*)
• Brackets ([], {}, <>)
• Backslashes (\)
• Multiple consecutive hyphens (--)
For URLs specifically, stick to these best practices:
• Use hyphens instead of spaces between words • Keep URLs lowercase • Avoid special characters completely • Use Latin characters when possible
Meta Titles and Descriptions:
• Avoid quotation marks (") as they can break the display
• Don't use emoji or special symbols
• Stick to standard punctuation
• Use pipe symbols (|) sparingly
When writing content:
• Use standard apostrophes (') instead of fancy quotes
• Avoid copyright (©), trademark (TM), or registered (®) symbols
• Don't use emoji in important SEO elements
• Keep ampersands (&) to a minimum
Remember that different CMS platforms and search engines may handle special characters differently. It's best to stay conservative with character usage to ensure consistent display and indexing across all platforms.
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