The Impact of Punctuation in Keywords on Google Results

Jul 7, 2008 - 9:04 am 0 — by

Receptional Andy at WebmasterWorld has shared a great guide with us about how punctuation impacts search results in Google. For example, key|word is like a boolean operator and tells Google that you're looking to search for either "key" or "word." On the other hand, a word like key~word triggers the Google related: search and gives you both "key" and "word" but also similar search results.

There are a plethora of different results that you can find by using a variety of punctuation in your searches, and it's very interesting to see how Google weighs them all. Andy goes into the different types of keywords, such as key-word, key"word, key*word, and others.

I won't detract from the brilliance of that thread, so head on over to the WebmasteWorld thread for the additional tidbits and the results of Andy's research.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 23, 2026

Oct 23, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Search Chatter, PHP Exploit, AI SEO Worthwhile, Google Local, Google Ads, ChatGPT Ads & More

Oct 23, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google

Google AI Overview Citation Cards With AI-Generated Summary Snippets

Oct 23, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

JPEG XL Image Format Not Supported By Google Images & Google Discover

Oct 23, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Tests New Advanced Performance Reports

Oct 23, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Universal Cart In Search Is Live, Yep

Oct 23, 2026 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: Should We Worry About a New Form of Typosquatting?