Google provides an update on the use of emojis in web page titles and meta descriptions, saying they won’t harm or help with SEO.
This was stated by John Mueller, a Google search attorney, during an office hours hangout at the Google Search Central SEO office recorded Jan. 28.
One of the questions submitted requests an update on Google’s stance on emojis, especially when it comes to their use in titles and descriptions.
Websites are allowed to use emojis when optimizing pages, as they do not go against any of Google’s guidelines.
But is it advisable to use it?
Optimizing web pages with emojis seems like a wasted effort, but you can decide for yourself after reading Mueller’s response below.
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Google’s position on the use of emoji in page titles and descriptions
Websites can use emojis anywhere they want – be it in titles, meta descriptions, or in main content.
However, there is no guarantee that Google will display it in the search results.
Google retypes the majority of addresses as is, but even if it chooses to display the address you typed, it may ignore the emoji.
Mueller says Google won’t display emojis if they’re annoying or make your search snippet look misleading.
Instead, Google will try to find the equivalent word and use it instead.
“You can definitely use emojis in titles and descriptions on your pages. We don’t show all of that stuff in search results, especially if we think it kind of crashes search results on the one hand, or maybe looks misleading, or those kinds of things.
But you can certainly keep it there, it’s not that it causes any problems. I don’t think you’d have any great advantage putting those in there, because at most what we’re trying to figure out is the equivalent of that emoji and we’d probably use that word as well, kind of page-related.”
While emojis won’t cause any issues with your site’s SEO, they won’t do anything to help it either.
Google doesn’t give more importance to titles and descriptions with emojis just because they’re more colorful than plain text, Mueller says:
“But it’s not that you get an edge for a kind of like, you have a colorful headline kind of thing. So from that point of view, if you want to include them in your titles and descriptions, go for it. If you don’t want them there, that’s okay too.” I don’t think it hurts or harms SEO or helps SEO in any way.”
With all of that in mind, you’d probably be better off writing titles and descriptions in plain text.
Emojis are allowed, but it’s very different from Google showing them.
There is no SEO feature to use either.
The only potential benefit of emojis is an improved click-through rate, so you have to weigh that when deciding whether or not they’re worth using.
Hear Mueller’s full response in the video below:
Featured image: DiA99/Shutterstock
