Ryan of Dearborn, Michigan is on a roll with his questions. This time, his inquiry is about the use of trademark symbols. Webmasters are often forced to incorporate these symbols in titles and page contents by corporate legal departments. Would this cause any keyword problems? Does Google treat those with an attached symbol any differently from a plain keyword?

 

Matt Cutts thinks there should not be any problem as no distinction is made between the two in the eyes of Google. He explains that they typically isolate the keywords and ignore odd symbols such as dashes, pipes, trademarks, and so on. In effect, the processed content will be the same whether the attachment is made or not. It should also be noted that Google will recognize a brand name even without a symbol next to it.

 

As for the end-users, they will be able to get relevant results when they type the brand name. There is no need for them to append the registered symbol or trademark star just to ensure that product-related results turn up. Google will be able to discern what they are trying to find and respond accordingly.