Basic Search Engine Optimization Guide And Tips

Search engine optimization or SEO is very important to get your website listed in search engines. Even if this is the first website you have built there are a few basic and easy steps that will help you with optimizing your website without being a pro.

DevBay (2005). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Best Practices and Future Visions for Search User Interfaces: Position Paper

The author argues that progress in search requires vigorous inquiry into how search can be embedded into application environments such as those for decision-making, personal information collecting, and designing.

Hendry, David G. Earthlink (2003). Design>Web Design>Search

Better Readability for Improving the Number of Site Viewers

Web content readability is an often underestimated aspect for a web site. There are design rules for designers to follow, and there are SEO tips and tricks for SEO experts to use. But this is not all. Though beautiful designs and search engine optimization are extremely important, there are also other issues that a web marketer needs to consider in order to run the site successfully. Readability is one of them.

Stoyanova, Tsvetanka. SEOchat (2005). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Search

Better Search Engine Design: Beyond Algorithms

Search engine accuracy is important, but convenience may be more important than squeezing the last few ounces of performance out of your system. Peter Van Dijck demonstrates simple but effective query analysis, best bets, and controlled vocabularies -- tools to make your search engines more effective.

Van Dijck, Peter. O'Reilly and Associates (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Controlled Vocabulary

Beyond Google: How Do Students Conduct Academic Research?

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study about how students majoring in humanities and social sciences use the Internet and library resources for research. Using student discussion groups, content analysis, and a student survey, our results suggest students may not be as reliant on public Internet sites as previous research has reported. Instead, students in our study used a hybrid approach for conducting course-related research. A majority of students leveraged both online and offline sources to overcome challenges with finding, selecting, and evaluating resources and gauging professors' expectations for quality research.

Head, Alison J. First Monday (2007). Articles>Education>Research>Online

Beyond Google: How Do Students Conduct Academic Research?

This paper reports findings from an exploratory study about how students majoring in humanities and social sciences use the Internet and library resources for research. Using student discussion groups, content analysis, and a student survey, our results suggest students may not be as reliant on public Internet sites as previous research has reported. Instead, students in our study used a hybrid approach for conducting course-related research. A majority of students leveraged both online and offline sources to overcome challenges with finding, selecting, and evaluating resources and gauging professors' expectations for quality research.

Head, Alison J. First Monday (2007). Articles>Education>Research>Online

The Big Dig: Mining Nuggets of Value  

It is difficult to apply the lessons learned from e-commerce search interfaces to more complex ones, such as those for libraries or technical material. This article provides a guide to tailoring search interfaces to users with a persona-based approach.

McDaniel, Scott M. User Experience (2002). Design>Web Design>User Interface>Search

Big List of Blog Search Engines

My new theory on blogging is that whenever I can't find a particular piece of information on Google I should just create it myself. What's the point of all this easy-to-use publishing technology if you don't publish stuff, right?

Aripaparo.com (2002). Articles>Web Design>Search>Blogging

Bite-Sized UX Research

Regardless of the cause for your company’s resource crunch, focus on getting small wins as often as possible throughout your involvement in a project. This is a fairly common piece of advice that crops up time and time again, but it’s very much worth repeating. And it applies just as readily to both situations where time is short and those when there’s just not enough of you to go around.

Baty, Steve. UXmatters (2008). Articles>User Experience>Research>Methods

Bring the lnternet into Your Documents on Budget and on Time  

Technical communicators can mine the Internet for fresh approaches and information to prepare documents with efficiency and minimal expense.

Murphy, Avon J. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Information Design>Research

Budgeting for Communication Research

To determine what amount to budget, discuss with an outside consultant the ballpark ranges for the types of research you want to conduct. Use the high-end numbers, plus estimated expenses, as your first budget recommendation. After the budget is approved, ask the consultant for a written, detailed proposal that will match the final amount that was allocated.

Sinickas, Angela D. Sinickas Communications (1999). Articles>Management>Financial>Research

Build a Search Engine in PERL

Everything you wanted to know about using PERL to build a simple search engine for your site (but were afraid to ask).

Ryan, Joseph. List Apart, A (2002). Articles>Web Design>Search

Build Up Links to Your Website

Link building is an essential part of any online marketing strategy. Learn how to in this article.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Marketing>Search Engine Optimization

Building a Synonymous Search Index (Thesaurus)

The value of a thesaurus stems from the inherent problems of natural language indexing and searching. Different users define the same query using different terms. Document authors, indexers, and information architects describe the same concepts using different terms.

Morville, Peter. Semantic Studios (1999). Design>Web Design>Search

Building Web-Based Scholarly Communication Forums

Scholarly communication is the root of scientific progress. Research on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scholarly communication system is being carried out worldwide, particularly with respect to electronic journals which can and should be constructed as communication forums. Refereeing new contributions for these forums is a major means for their quality control and for the acceptance of the new media. We have implemented a web-based electronic refereeing system for an electronic journal (RIS - Review of Information Science) whose many value-added features are described in detail. Faster communication and enhanced interactivity between referees, editors and authors will be achieved by the use of this Web based electronic refereeing system. In order to ease access and browsing, articles already published will be integrated and managed in a database-based open hypertext system, in this case in KHS (Konstanz hypertext system). Finally, we describe the advantage of a real time communication system for authors, referees, editors and the domain-specific public. Further research will focus at improving the communicative features of this preliminary web-based communication forum and at evaluating it from a user point of view.

Kuhlen, Rainer and Zhongdong Zhang. ISRDP in Digital Libraries (1997). Articles>Research>Community Building>Social Networking

Buying Text Links

Discusses buying text links, and whether it's good or bad for your SEO campaigns.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2006). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Casing the Competition

Welcome to the murky world of search engine optimization (SEO). Before you throw your hands up in frustration, I have good news for you: You can learn how to reverse-engineer your archrivals' tactics and join them at the top of the search results heap.

Spencer, Stephan. GotoMedia (2005). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

The CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication: A Retrospective Analysis    

This article presents the history, purposes, outcomes, and significance of the CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication during its first five years. It analyzes the topical areas and research methods of the 34 dissertations nominated for the award from 1999 to 2003, as well as the evaluations of the judges. Methods of the nominated dissertations are interpretive (41%) and empirical (59%), but many dissertations combine methods. In the empirical category, qualitative methods (17) outnumber quantitative methods (3). The most frequent topical areas are workplace practice (8), rhetoric of the disciplines (7), and information design (6). Topics that are not widely investigated include issues of race and class and international communication.

Selber, Stuart A. Technical Communication Quarterly (2004). Articles>Research>TC>History

Clarifying Search: A User-Interface Framework for Text Searches

Current user interfaces for textual database searching leave much to be desired: individually, they are often confusing, and as a group, they are seriously inconsistent. We propose a four- phase framework for user-interface design: the framework provides common structure and terminology for searching while preserving the distinct features of individual collections and search mechanisms. Users will benefit from faster learning, increased comprehension, and better control, leading to more effective searches and higher satisfaction.

Byrd, Don, W. Bruce Croft and Ben Schneiderman. D-Lib Magazine (1997). Design>Information Design>User Interface>Search

Clean URLs for a Better Search Engine Ranking

Search engines are often key to the successful promotion and running of your website. Read more on how clean URLs can influence your ranking and how clean URLs can be achieved for dynamic applications.

Opitz, Pascal. Content with Style (2005). Articles>Computing>Content Management>Search Engine Optimization

Coming to the Aid of the Search Party

There is a definite logic to getting your company its critical share of search-engine visibility.

Miller, Nick. Sydney Morning Herald (2006). Articles>Usability>Search>Eye Tracking

Common Sense Search Engine Optimization

For years, when people thought about search engine optimization, in all likelihood, gateway pages, doorway pages or informational pages probably came to mind. If you're a search engine optimization specialist, you've probably had clients requesting that you create these types of pages for them.

Whalen, Jill. High Rankings Advisor (2004). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization

Communicating About Scientific Research Over the Internet: A Case Study  

University communicators specializing in science and technology are making increasing use of Internet resources to supplement traditional methods of producing and publishing their work. These resources include electronic mail; the text-only interface called Gopher; and, most recently, the World Wide Web. This paper describes some of the specific ways that communicators are using these Internet tools. It also includes a list of advantages and disadvantages that we have discovered in our work at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and seen at other technological institutions. These 'lessons learned' may benefit our counterparts who wish to begin or enhance their organizational 'presence' on the Information Superhighway.

Davis, Nancy E., Mark Hodges and Leigh F. McElvaney. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Scientific Communication>Research>Online