Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.
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404 File Not Found: Citing Unstable Web Sources 
Researchers, including students, must accommodate to the mutating character of hyperlinks on the World Wide Web. A small study of citations in three volumes of BCQ demonstrates the phenomenon of 'URL rot,' the disappearance of sites cited in the sample articles. Digital technology itself is now being used to create pockets of permanence, but with the understanding that preservation of content is only one ingredient in the mix of media and format migration. Databases like JSTOR offer digitally preserved copies of many scholarly journals. Online journals and search engines may offer their own archives. In general, researchers should cite digital articles in databases where possible and consider avoiding references to online journals with print editions.
Griffin, Frank. Business Communication Quarterly (2003). Articles>Research>Style Guides>Online
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About the Open Directory (DMOZ)
Learn all about the Open Directory and how to get listed there.
Craven, Phil. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Search
#29152
The Added Value Features of Online Scholarly Journals
Online scholarly journals have become an important tool for the generation of knowledge and the distribution and access to research. The purpose of this article is to analyze the features of online scholarly journals and to determine whether they incorporate new Internet-enabled features and functions which help to meet the needs of the members of the scholarly community more effectively. Drawing on Taylor's concept of added value [1], the features of online scholarly journals were classified into the following types: features which enhance ease of use and facilitate access to data, features that provide selected information and thus reduce noise, features which improve quality, features which address specific user needs, and features which contribute to time or cost savings. The analysis revealed that, although some online journals operate in the same way as print journals, there are others which incorporate innovative features which are transforming the journal to make it a more effective tool for scholarly activity.
Luzón, María José. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Research>Publishing>Online
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As long as there's been a Web, there's been a need for search engines. Because of the volume of information that's available out there, people will always need help finding what they want. Nowadays, it's commonplace for individual sites, even personal homepages, to have their own search capabilities, and so a slew of new services have appeared to help you quickly and easily add search to your site.
Rappoport, Avi. Webmonkey (2000). Design>Web Design>Search
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Adding Value through Search Engine Optimization
The easiest way to increase your added value is to do small things that have a large positive return for the company. If you’re looking to find something easy to do that has a large positive impact on your value, look no further than thinking about search engines and how your portion of a Web site can be optimized for them.
K'necht, Alan. Digital Web Magazine (2003). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
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Advanced search is the ugly child of interface design--always included, but never loved. Websites have come to depend on their search engines as the volume of content has increased. Yet advanced search functionality has not significantly developed in years. Poor matches and overwhelming search results remain a problem for users. Perhaps the standard search pattern deserves a new look. A progressive disclosure approach can enable users to use precision advanced search techniques to refine their searches and pinpoint the desired results.
Turbek, Stephen. Boxes and Arrows (2008). Articles>Web Design>Search
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Adventures in Low Fidelity: Designing Search for Egreetings
One of the dirty little secrets about being an information architect is that most of us only bat .500 at best. We labor and agonize over making recommendations and designing information architectures that are supposed to change the world, but many of our designs never see the light of day. Rather than moan about why my designs were not implemented, I want to share my story.
Farnum, Chris. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Search
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Advice on Research and Writing
A collection of advice about how to do research and how to communicate effectively (primarily for computer scientists).
Leone, Mark. Carnegie Mellon University (1998). Academic>Writing>Research
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It doesn't replace information architecture. And it's really not a school or brand of information architecture. Findability is about recognizing that we live in a multi-dimensional world, and deciding to explore new facets that cut across traditional boundaries.
Morville, Peter. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Articles>Usability>Search
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Aggregated Article Databases: Research Beyond the Internet 
Introduces aggregated article databases—searchable collections of magazines, newspapers, and journals—and explains their relevance to the research work of technical communicators.
Sheffield Hulick, Jennifer L. Intercom (2003). Articles>Research>Online
#27523
The title tag is one of the most important factors in achieving high search engine rankings.
Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2004). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
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For an information architect with library roots, what's next is obvious: ambient findability. I want to be able to find anything, anywhere, anytime.
Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (2002). Articles>Information Design>Search
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Ambient Findability: Findability Hacks
Findability is one of the most thorny problems in web design. This is due in part to the inherent ambiguity of semantics and structure. We label and categorize things in so many ways that retrieval is difficult at best. But that’s only the half of it. The most formidable challenges stem from its cross-functional, interdisciplinary nature. Findability defies classification. It flows across the borders between design, engineering, and marketing. Everybody is responsible, and so we run the risk that nobody is accountable.
Morville, Peter. List Apart, A (2005). Design>Web Design>User Centered Design>Search
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Analysis of Tools Used in the UK by Technical Communicators
During March and April 2003, Cherryleaf carried out an online survey into the current trends in technical communication. One of the questions we asked was: Which software tools do you personally use to do your job? The respondents were able to select more than one tool from the list provided. We filtered our results to find the most popular software tools used by technical communicators in the UK.
Cherryleaf (2003). Articles>Research>Software>United Kingdom
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And Then There Were Adwords... An Introduction
If you have been looking into Internet marketing, you have probably seen Adwords mentioned now and again. Why don’t we cover the basics of the program. Adwords is the name of the pay-per-click system offered by Google on its search engine.
Pires, Halstatt. Ezine Articles (2006). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Search
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Annual Awards for Contributions to the Field of Technical Communications
The ACM SIGDOC Executive Board welcomes letters of nomination for the SIGDOC Rigo and Diana Awards. The Rigo Award celebrates an individual's lifetime contribution to the field of information design, technical communication, and online information design; the Diana Award celebrates the contribution of an organization, institution, or business.
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Articles researched by Answers.com's in-house editorial team, community-contributed articles from Wikipedia, and user-generated questions and answers from Answers.com's WikiAnswers.
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The Application of Rhetorical Theory in Managerial Research: A Literature Review
Recent management research imports rhetorical scholarship into the study of organizations. Although this cross-disciplinarity is heuristically promising, it presents significant challenges. This article interrogates management's use of rhetoric, contrasting it with communication studies. Five themes from management research identify how rhetoric is used as an organizational hermeneutic: The article demonstrates that management research conceptualizes rhetoric as a theory and as an action; as the substance that maintains and/or challenges organizational order; as being constitutive of individual and organizational identity; as a managerial strategy for persuading followers; and as a framework for narrative and rational organizational discourses. The authors argue that organizational researchers who study rhetoric characterize persuasive strategies as managers' most important actions.
Hartelius, E. Johanna and Larry D. Browning. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Management>Research>Rhetoric
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An Approach for Applying Cultural Study Theory to Technical Writing Research
When the idea of culture is expanded to include institutional relationships extending beyond the walls of one organization, technical writing researchers can address relationships between our power/knowledge system and multiculturalism, postmodernism, gender, conflict, and ethics within professional communication. This article contrasts ideas of culture in social constructionist and cultural study research designs, addressing how each type of design impacts issues that can be analyzed in research studies. Implications for objectivity and validity in speculative cultural study research are also explored. Finally, since articulation of a coherent theoretical foundation is crucial to limiting a cultural study, this article suggests how technical writing can be constituted as an object of study according to five (of many possible) poststructural concepts: the object of inquiry as discursive, the object as practice within a cultural context, the object as practice within a historical context, the object as ordered by language, and the object in relationship with the one who studies it.
Longo, Bernadette. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Academic>Research>Cultural Theory>Technical Writing
#14211
Are There Users Who Always Search?
Web designers often tell us that they spend a great deal of their limited time and resources working to improve their on-site search engines because, they believe, there are some people who always rely on the search engine to reach their target content. They find further support for this assumption from Jakob Nielsen who, in his book, 'Designing Web Usability,' asserts that more than half of all users demonstrate 'search-dominant' tendencies by going right to the search engine when they first visit a web site looking for content.
User Interface Engineering (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search
#25937
Are You Using the Right Search Engine?
What this all means is that when web users can't find what they want in Google, they should not automatically assume that they're at fault. At present, Google is heavily weighted.
Bennaco (2004). Articles>Information Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
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Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose.
Bush, Vannevar. Atlantic Monthly (1945). Articles>Collaboration>Research>History
#21135
Ask Jeeves and Urinating Canines
First, there were butlers. Then, there were search engines. Today, there is Jeeves, a hybrid less expensive than the former and more user-friendly than the latter. Others have followed in Jeeves's footsteps, but his loafers are hard to fill. While he is no longer an original, he continues to be invaluable for net-novices and net-addicts alike.
Berkowitz, David. WebWord (2000). Articles>Web Design>Search
#23244
Assessing the Credibility of Online Sources
Learn how to check a website's credibility.
Struthers, Kaaren. Webcredible (2004). Academic>Research>Online
