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.
#29573
Trust, authority, and reputation are central to scholarly publishing, but the trust model of the Internet is almost antithetical to the trust model of academia. Publishers have been so preoccupied with the brute mechanics of moving content to the online world that they have virtually ignored the challenge that the Internet trust model poses to the scholarly publisher. Publishers can learn much about approaches to handling Internet trust from the actions of major online players outside the publishing industry. Publishers should also benefit from watching the trust models that are being experimented with in the nascent realm of social software applications. Publishers once led the way in establishing the apparatus of trust during the transition from manuscript to print culture in early modern Europe. Ultimately, publishers should again take the lead in helping to establish new mechanisms of trust in what could reasonably be described as 'the early modern Internet.'
Bilder, Geoffrey. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2006). Articles>Publishing>Online>Search
#30841
Incorporating Film Into the Research Paper 
Teachers face two serious difficulties when assigning research papers. The first appears to be an issue of motivation but is really one of mental disposition. Many students are so deeply influenced by contemporary visual culture--especially by film--that they lack familiarity with close reasoning. They are accustomed to absorbing entertaining, but loosely connected, streams of images in an impressionistic way and are uneasy and anxious when given a major assignment in an exclusively written medium. Inexperienced in the systematic compilation and analysis of information, they often perform poorly. These students may appear to be unenthusiastic about their topics; in fact, they do badly because they are methodologically disoriented. They run aground while sailing in the unfamiliar seas of organized, sequential, linear logic. This problem often shows itself in the frequent, and frequently gratuitous, use of illustrations in research papers. Instructors often comment that 'students love pictures.' It would be more accurate to say that students understand pictures and are comfortable with them. The second difficulty is a by-product of the Web. Plagiarism has become so widespread that it poses a real threat to the academic enterprise. Yet its detection is both difficult and time-consuming, and an instructor must be on absolutely solid ground before bringing a student up on such serious charges. Furthermore, even if available, an expensive counter-plagiarism program such as Turnitin cannot always deliver conclusive evidence. Plagiarism must be addressed, but today, articles that existed previously only in print can be optically scanned, free essays are available online, and papers can be purchased and downloaded from numerous commercial outlets. We have addressed both of these problems by strategically using appropriate motion pictures as entrees into the subject matter and as points of comparison to help organize research papers. We first provide our students with a list of films that bear on relevant topics.
Fontenot, Michael J. and Karen A. Fontenot. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Education>Research>Multimedia
#24158
Index Versus Full-text Search: A Usability Study of User Preference and Performance
This article reports on the results of testing two versions of an information product, Usability Testing and Research: one version, an Adobe Acrobat Reader e-book with an index with the locators hyperlinked to the page reference for each entry; the other version, the same e-book without an index, but with the full-text search capabilities provided by Acrobat Reader. We first summarize the current literature regarding human indexing and information retrieval by machine (search engines). We then describe the methodology for testing, the testing results, our conclusions, and implications for future research.
Barnum, Carol M., Earvin Henderson, Al Hood and Rodney Jordan. Technical Communication Online (2004). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search
#25867
Indexing America Online (Part One) 
Indexing America Online was the most absurdly daunting project I had ever faced. This article is the story of that contract.
Maislin, Seth A. STC Indexing SIG (1998). Articles>Indexing>Online>Search
#25869
Indexing America Online (Part Two)
To deal with AOL's size, I contracted others to help me with 'the dirty work' of typing search words in the database records. At the height of the project, four people worked in a large room at open desks. Although I was in charge of the project, most of the nitty gritty was accomplished by two other individuals. Following my lead, they reviewed each of the AOL pages, decided the important concepts of each area, and chose representative vocabulary. With their assistance and the involvement of several Songline employ- ees, the project took under one year, from the initial planning stages through testing, review, and summary. In theory, then, AOL's size could be conquered by allowing enough time to complete the project and contracting enough indexers to do the work.
Maislin, Seth A. STC Indexing SIG (1998). Articles>Indexing>Online>Search
#29566
The Influence of Academic Values on Scholarly Publication and Communication Practices
This study reports on five disciplinary case studies that explore academic value systems as they influence publishing behavior and attitudes of University of California, Berkeley faculty. The case studies are based on direct interviews with relevant stakeholders -- faculty, advancement reviewers, librarians, and editors -- in five fields: chemical engineering, anthropology, law and economics, English-language literature, and biostatistics. The results of the study strongly confirm the vital role of peer review in the choices faculty make regarding their publishing behavior. The perceptions and realities of the reward system keep faculty strongly adhered to conventional, high-stature print publications (and their electronic surrogates) as the means of reporting research and having it institutionally evaluated. Perceptions of electronic-only publications are frequently negative because those venues are considered to lack strong peer review and are, consequently, believed to be of relatively lower quality. There is much more experimentation, however, with regard to means of in-progress communication, where single means of publication and communication are not fixed so deeply in values and tradition as they are for final, archival publication. We conclude that approaches that try to 'move' faculty and deeply embedded value systems directly toward new forms of archival, 'final' publication are destined largely to failure in the short-term. From our perspective, a more promising route is to (1) examine the needs of scholarly researchers for both final and in-progress communications, and (2) determine how those needs are likely to influence future scenarios in a range of disciplinary areas.
Harley, Diane, Sarah Earl-Novell, Jennifer Arter, Shannon Lawrence and C. Judson King. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2007). Articles>Publishing>Research>Case Studies
#28260
Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster
The easier it is to find places with good information, the less time users will spend visiting any individual website. This is one of many conclusions that follow from analyzing how people optimize their behavior in online information systems.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Search
#19758
Information Foraging: Why Google Makes People Leave Your Site Faster
The easier it is to find places with good information, the less time users will spend visiting any individual website. This is one of many conclusions that follow from analyzing how people optimize their behavior in online information systems.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Search
#25664
An Information Retrieval Using Conceptual Index Term For Technical Paper on Digital Library
This paper presents a method for semantic Information Retrieval(IR) which is implemented on Digital Library. It is well known that Digital Library should have the IR system that user may automatically access every kind of media from anywhere. However, no improvement is made for the retrieval errors based on individual differences of user's request. This is one of the significant problem for the searching efficiency of IR. Our approach does not use the request itself but the concepts. This makes it possible to retrieve semantic information not merely to compare with the word strings of the request.
Horii, Chinatsu, Masakazu Imai and Kunihiro Chihara. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Information Design>Semantic>Search
#23356
Information Search Experience: Emotions in Information Seeking
Description of a model for representing user search experiences.
Kalbach, James. IAsummit (2004). Articles>User Centered Design>Search
#31521
Inspiring Change Through Research
Organizational communication is centered on inspiring and managing change, so it makes sense that communication professionals are seeing a more critical role for research in understanding and reaching their most important stakeholder relationships (employees, customers, suppliers, dealers, etc.). When a company is undergoing significant changes (i.e., a merger, acquisition, slumping sales, a product launch), research can pinpoint exactly where the issues and communication needs are. Oftentimes, such information is considered and then only used in limited ways. So how does a company proceed in bringing research results to life? It’s important to review how the research and tactical elements of communication vehicles are matched up.
Powell, Nancy. Communication World Bulletin (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Organizational Communication>Research
#26529
Interdisciplinary/Inter-Program Research
Two presentations about collaboration in research between diverse departments and units.
Brady, Ann, Robert R. Johnson, Michael J. Salvo and Tammy S. Conard-Salvo. CPTSC (2005). Presentations>Collaboration>Research
#31623
Internal Search: Seven Ways to Ensure Your Users Can Find Your Information
User Vision's top seven tips on how to ensure your internal search is capable of meeting the needs of your users.
Rourke, Chris. User Vision (2008). Articles>Web Design>User Centered Design>Search
#29017
Interpreting Textual Data in Writing Research
This article discusses a theoretical framework for situating interpretations of textual data collected during research. Based on the reader response theory of Louise Rosenblatt, this framework consists of a continuum representing the range of interpretative assumptions--stances--researchers can bring to their reading of textual data. The continuum is bounded by the two most extreme stances defined by Rosenblatt as efferent, roughly comparable to the stereotypical scientific interpretative tradition, and aesthetic, roughly comparable to the stereotypical humanities interpretative tradition.
Thompson, Isabelle. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1999). Articles>Research>Methods>Writing
#22078
A range of statistics are typically gathered on intranet usage, but of these, search engine reports are by far the most useful. This briefing explores two key search engine reports that should be implemented on all intranets, and looks at how they can be used to improve the effectiveness of the site.
Robertson, James. Step Two (2004). Design>Web Design>Intranets>Search
#28860
Introduction to Search Engine Optimization
This introduction to search engine optimization will outline some of the basic principles of SEO and explain how they can be used to improve your web pages' performance in search results.
Mercurytide (2007). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Search Engine Optimization
#28209
Introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of analyzing your site and modifying it to enable search engines to read it, understand it and catalog it correctly. This is not rewriting the site or changing the look and feel. It is subtle changes, adding or modifying inconspicuous visible and invisible text so that the search engines can read the site. SEO is not 'spamming' the search engines - it is simply helping the search engines help you - by specifying information using a variety of methods.
O'Gribin, Niall. Erigena (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#26988
Google's necessary focus on advertising can teach us a lot about playing the usability game. Specifically, this article will characterize a dilemma that is tied to Google's advice to publishers on how to place advertisements. The dilemma is resolved through usability, which in turn will teach us a lot about how to mix business and the user experience.
Rhodes, John S. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Web Design>Ethics>Search
#29242
Is Professional Writing Relevant? A Model for Action Research
This article argues that engaged 'action research' can help professional writing researchers both develop new and interesting collaborative models and help our profession develop a greater relevance to those not reading our journals and attending our conferences. I outline one particular, localized approach in the hope that our troubles, struggles, and failures at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee can help others to develop their own programs and can further our discussion of community engagement.
Clark, Dave. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>Research>Writing>Business Communication
#24846
Is There a Gremlin in Your Website?
GRUPA stands for 'Gratuitous Runtime Page Assembly.' It's what happens when you overapply the once (and still) popular idea that your system should always generate web pages 'on the fly,' i.e. a user clicks on a page that triggers some logic to extract snippets of content from a repository and assemble a complete page to stream back to the browser.
Byrne, Tony. CMSwatch (2003). Design>Web Design>Search
#30769
Is There a Way Out Beyond Google to Bring in Revenues?
No webmaster worth his salt can rule out the indispensability of Google for enhancing the prospects of one's business potential the online way. The ways and means to augment your business statistics are fine as long as they are paving the way in your business interest. The fact is that end results are always important and determine the continuation of a set of strategies or tactics in the future. Notwithstanding the enormous benefits accruing from top positions in Google's rankings, you will end up to lose sight of the long term survival if you drive your business on a Google-only focus.
Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>E Commerce>Search Engine Optimization
#24568
Issues of Validity in Intercultural Professional Communication Research
This article explores three ways to design US empirical methods to be more valid and ethical in cross-cultural studies. First, intercultural researchers need to distinguish broad rhetorical and cultural patterns from regional, organizational, and personal patterns, a process that requires balancing the fact of difference with the need for generalization. Second, US researchers need to distinguish not only the differences in rhetorical patterns in a form of communication but also in the ways that form is used rhetorically. Third, researchers need to construct researcher-participant relationships that are sensitive to the values of organizational relationships in both cultures.
Thatcher, Barry L. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Research>Methods>International
#31068
It Takes More than Money To Reach The Top
To get the first spot on Google, Yahoo, or MSN, all it used to take was the highest bid. Today, even the experts aren't sure exactly what it's going to take.
Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2007). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#26407
There is no more crucial step in a client's project than the initial creative discovery meeting. It's quite possible that a project's level of success can be fully decided by that one event.
Rutledge, Andy. Search-This (2005). Design>Web Design>Search
#25357
Judgment Day: Google Strikes Back
Google has never cared for search engine optimization and has always looked at it as an attempt to taint what they hold as precious. The question that must be asked is, 'Why?' Why does Google see search engine optimization as the enemy and are they justified in their thinking?
Angeletti, Mark. Search-This (2003). Articles>Information Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
