this may get a bit confusing, because you may see unpredictable results when you make changes.
lets take a hypothetical example:
index page has following title tag
<title>my cool page | my very cool site</title>
a month ago your site would e listed in each search engine with title
my cool page | my very cool site
not so anymore. now this is where things get confusing.
change either element, and you get an unpredictable result
your listing will show only the page title, or the system name, but not both.
to make matters more confusing, these will switch back and forth several times, sometimes showing only system name or only page title. then eventually settle down to only show page title.
the | divide between the 2 title elements seem to now be interpreted as an "or" as in use this, or that. and search engines then have to figure out which to use.
it is unclear to me at this time what effect this has on seo. if part that is no longer listed is even taken into consideration or not.
It may be simply aesthetics now that many sites just use the domain as the system name portion? it did seem all 3 engines began adopting this practice around the same timeframe.. within weeks of eachother.
at the very least, it changes how the total title is displayed in listings. so this might be something to consider when choosing page titles and system names.
oddly, at least on the index page facebook seems to favor the system name longer. but that too only displays 1 not the other. and also switches between the 2 if 1 or the other is changed
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soaringeagle
head dreadhead at dreadlocks site
glider pilot student and member/volunteer coordinator with freedoms wings international soaring for people with disabilities
updated by @soaringeagle: 08/24/18 07:21:24AM
