18 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
18 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Using the '@' symbol in site name - How would it affect SEO?

by Aaron Moser
15 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi Warriors,

Got an SEO question I'd like some feedback on before I go making a mistake I might regret.

I have an affiliate site in the work at home niche. My domain name starts with "AtHome...com" I have created a logo to read "@Home...." using the "@" symbol instead of using "At".

My SEO question is will the search engine get confused by this? I'm debating whether or not I should make the name of my workpress blog "AtHome..." or "@Home..."

I'd hate to make it @Home... only to find out 6 months from now that it's hurting my SEO in some way.

The domain name is already optimized for my main keyword, but using the @ symbol in my site name through out the content of my site and in anchor links. Not sure how this would affect my SEO. I just think it would be a little silly to have the @Home... in my logo and then use AtHome... in all my content and links.

Any opinions would be great, thanks!
#affect #seo #site #symbol
  • Profile picture of the author RhondaG
    Hi, just wanted to let you know that only letter, numbers, and hyphens can be used in urls. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure about the logo. Maybe someone else on here can help you with that.
    Signature
    Content Management with Subscription Bundles!

    Pay Bills by Getting Paid To Write - Free download!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3318298].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tony Dean
    Any logo does not get read by Googlebot. If you TYPE the @ symbol in, it will read it.
    The only way Googlebot can read what your logo is about is by putting "alt tag" in the source of the page with a typed in @ symbol off the keyboard.

    If that confuses - let me know.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3318447].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RBozemanAM
    If you are talking about the image, then no it wont have much of an effect as long as all of the normal alt texts and whatnot are in place.

    I would not use it on the title though.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3318498].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author hitecballer
    Personally I would not do this as I dont think it will have a major effect on SEO but it just strikes me as a rare and therefore unfamiliar to visitors tactic. I know some people might be creative and use it in their Meta for the purpose of drawing attention to their indexed site in Big G but it is just not for me.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3318810].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
    Thanks for the replies.

    I want to use the @ symbol in my page title and throughout the rest of my site. Some of you were confused and thought I wanted it in my domain name which of course is not possible. I'm also aware that the Googlebot doesn't read images. The only reason I mentioned my logo is because it has the @ sign and I wanted to brand the site as @Home...com instead of AtHome...com

    When referencing my site in my about us, page title, and text links would using AtHome...com be better SEO wise than using @Home...com

    My domain name is AtHome...com
    Signature



    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3322977].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      You want to make things easy for SEO, so, the word "at" is better unless
      you are trying to advertise an email.

      Urls, BTW, can have a whole host of characters in them, from # to ? to % to +
      to = to ~ to & and almost anything in between that is ASCII, if not everything.

      Just off the top of my head I know # can mean a target section on a page,
      going to a section on loading the page.

      But I doubt many people search for anything with these characters, except @ in
      emails as stated above.

      Funny, as soon as I read your post, I thought of the ezinearticles logo.
      They use ezine @rticles, not even want it to be read as at, just a play on
      the @ symbol and the letter a.

      Paul
      Signature

      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3323361].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
        Hi Paul,

        I tend to agree with you. I think for SEO purposes I should probably just use AtHome...com in my page title, text links, and about us page.

        Just like EzineArticles my domain is optimized for my keywords and I'd hate to confuse the search engines by calling my site @Home... instead of AtHome...
        Signature



        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3323597].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Jordan Kovats
    I'd think it would return the twitter user with that name first.
    Signature
    Travel Insurance
    Term Insurance Quote
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3324131].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
      Originally Posted by theseoguys View Post

      I'd think it would return the twitter user with that name first.

      True, that might be a problem. I already have the twitter name @AtHome... and I'd hate for my Twitter page to show up before my website in Google.
      Signature



      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3324203].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author auradev
    Isn't at a stopword, so it gets ignored anyway?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3324146].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Aaron Moser
      Originally Posted by auradev View Post

      Isn't at a stopword, so it gets ignored anyway?
      Good point! Hmm decisions, decisions...

      I just thought it'd be cool to brand the whole site as @Home_____.com
      Signature



      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3324205].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author alcymart
      Originally Posted by auradev View Post

      Isn't at a stopword, so it gets ignored anyway?

      That is correct, "At" is a Stop word.
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[3324214].message }}

Trending Topics