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.
#13663
Three Ways to Improve External Search Engine Usability
In web log analysis, two things are often missed. First, how the link to your site is presented in the results is critical. Next, what are visitors experiencing once they select that link? Many sites spend significant resources ensuring high placement in search engines, but usually little effort is spent on designing how those results are displayed and whether the pages they point to will help the visitor achieve their goal. With on-site search engines, it is easy to control the way results are presented to visitors, provide similar search suggestions, and ensure that the results are relevant and helpful. This is more difficult with external search engines, but not impossible. Here are some thoughts as to how to evaluate the usability of results on search engines and improve their effectiveness and relevance.
Lash, Jeff. Digital Web Magazine (2002). Design>Web Design>Search>Usability
#23826
To Boost Advertising Results, Consider Improving Your Web Site
Web sites are an important resource for consumers using traditional advertising. A recent study from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh identifies the affects the Internet has on advertising media.
Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2004). Design>Web Design>Search
#29263
The new search engines that may stand the best chance to become the next Google all share one common element--the use of Web 2.0 technology that they hope will increase search result relevance.
OEDb (2007). Design>Web Design>Search
#26150
Top of the Top of the Top of Search Results
Virtually every search engine and directory is now associated with some kind of paid solution, and it is tempting to see them as an easy way to get top ranking for your web site.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#26647
Often a small change to a web page is a clue that something big has happened or will happen, and automated tracking tools alert you the moment something has changed.
Price, Gary. Search Engine Watch (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>History
#23255
#26872
The Truth About Google's So-Called "Simplicity"
Anybody can make a simple-looking interface if the system only does one thing. If you want to do one of the many other things Google is able to do, oops, first you have to figure out how to find it, then you have to figure out which of the many offerings to use, then you have to figure out how to use it.
Norman, Donald A. uiGarden (2006). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Search
#31055
The Ultimate Guide to Directory Submissions
Submitting your website to directories is a great way to increase your search engine rankings - get the full lowdown on how to do this.
Eaves, David. Webcredible (2008). Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#29071
Understanding Statistical Significance: A Conceptual History 
Few concepts in the social sciences have wielded more discriminatory power over the status of knowledge claims than that of statistical significance. Currently operationalized as a = 0.05, statistical significance frequently separates publishable from nonpublishable research, renewable from nonrenewable grants, and, in the eyes of many, experimental success from failure. If literacy is envisioned as a sort of competence in a set of social and intellectual practices, then scientific literacy must encompass the realization that this cardinal arbiter of social scientific knowledge was not born out of an immanent logic of mathematics but socially constructed and reconstructed in response to sociohistoric conditions.
Little, Joseph. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2001). Articles>Research>Statistics>History
#31066
Universal Search Impacts Google Results on Large Scale
The introduction of Google's 'Universal Search' has had a large-scale negative impact on the natural results of many online retailers and vertical market websites.
Janisch, Troy. Icon Interactive (2007). Articles>Web Design>Search
#31595
Unraveling the Mysteries of Sampling
The number of surveys to send out depends on how many employees you have and what rate of response you are likely to achieve. If you have a relatively small number of employees, you might need to send out surveys to everyone. If you have over several thousand employees, you would need only 500-600 completed surveys to have fairly reliable results for your population as a whole, assuming the respondents accurately reflect the demographics of the entire group. So, if you expect to have a 100% response rate, you would mail out surveys to a random sample of 600. More realistically, if you typically have a response rate of 50%, you'd need to survey 1,200 people (600 divided by 0.5).
Sinickas, Angela D. Sinickas Communications (2001). Articles>Research>Methods>Surveys
#20820
Usability Laboratories: A 1994 Survey
This article provides a table with summary statistics for the thirteen usability laboratories described in the papers in this special issue. It also gives an introduction to the main uses of usability laboratories in usability engineering and surveys some of the issues related to practical use of user testing and CAUSE tools for computer-aided usability engineering.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (1994). Articles>Usability>Research
#19007
Usability ved Søgemaskine Optimering
Normalt ses søgemaskine optimering eller position boosting som et marketing redskab, hvis formål er at skabe så megen trafik på websites som muligt, men der er andre overvejelser at gøre sig når der søgemaskine optimeres. Handlingsorienteret usability handler også om søgemaskine optimering, blot indirekte.
Quark, The (2002). (Danish) Design>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#25099
Usability: A Key Issue for Kids' Sites
The children starting primary school this year can be truly described as the first of the web generation, for all were born after 1992 when the World Wide Web as we know it today came into existence. The ability of web sites to stimulate and satisfy the needs of these kids, along with those of all other web users, will largely depend on web site usability.
Hudson, Roger. Usability.com.au (2000). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Search
#28048
Use Old Words When Writing for Findability
Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. If your writing favors made-up terms over legacy words, users won't find your site.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2006). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Search
#26881
Use PHP to Build a Search Engine Optimization Application
PHP, a dynamic Web-based programming language, takes a variety of input formats and uses a built-in SOAP client to obtain information from the Web. PHP, combined with applications using search engine optimization (SEO), is a powerful tool for obtaining information from major search engines, allowing this information to guide a webmaster's online marketing and SEO strategies.
Anderson, Tyler. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Search>Search Engine Optimization
#28656
User Research Doesn't Prove Anything
Quantitative studies, while providing us with a method for estimating user population statistics, cannot provide us with proof. Used carefully, however, they can tell us a great deal--and if not with certainty, at least with a known amount of uncertainty.
Baty, Steve. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Research>Methods
#28676
User Research: Subjectivity and Objectivity in Practice
A discussion of concerns about the actual quality of the user research companies are undertaking and the validity of any conclusions they have drawn from the resulting data.
Baty, Steve. UXmatters (2006). Articles>Usability>Research
#30768
Users Can Bask in the Benefits of Google Analytics
Google has earned its giant position in search engine marketplace through real innovative solutions, and of course, strategic moves all aimed at users ultimate convenience. It has been almost customary for Google to bring in some exciting features initially for a price then slashing the rate drastically to making it FREE for all. This sort of repeated move could be seen as first serving the target market with its innovative solutions, and later making it free to give many a business in similar or remotely similar categories a run for their money. Critics claims have to stand the test of contemporary business realities.
Azam, Rahbre. Amateur Writerz (2008). Articles>Web Design>Server Side Includes>Search Engine Optimization
#14204
Users Don't Learn to Search Better
When we watched 30 users trying to search various sites for content they were interested in, we noticed a peculiar phenomenon: The more times the users searched, the less likely they were to find what they wanted.
User Interface Engineering (2002). Design>Web Design>Usability>Search
#23981
Using Categories to Improve Search
The authors explore ways in which categories can be leveraged to improve search. An interface named SWISH is presented, in which search results are automatically categorized, and pages in the same category are grouped together.
Cutrell, Edward and Susan Dumais. Earthlink (2003). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Search
#23257
Using Categories to Improve Search 
The authors explore ways in which categories can be leveraged to improve search. An interface named SWISH is presented, in which search results are automatically categorized, and pages in the same category are grouped together.
Cutrell, Edward and Susan Dumais. Earthlink (2003). Design>Web Design>Search>Usability
#29572
Using Formal Reference to Enhance Authority and Integrity in Online Mathematical Texts
This ability to provide evidence and evaluate arguments is critical to a liberal arts education or an engineering one. Hence, the interface between the document and the verified repository not only ensures correctness and eliminates error by construction, but also gives depth to the article, from the inserted math to its very foundations.
Lorigo, Lori, Stuart Allen and Robert Constable. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2006). Articles>Scientific Communication>Research>Mathematics
#25932
As an information source, the Internet is amazing. No matter what the topic, chances are you can find out all about it on the 'net. However, as the information haystack gets bigger, finding that crucial needle of data can become a frustrating challenge. Here are some simple tips for finding what you want.
Bennaco (2005). Articles>Information Design>Search
#10771
Statistics are often tossed around as if they could speak for themselves. For example, advertisers claim 'Ivory soap is 99% pure.' (Pure what?) Or a researcher may claim that 'the average American today watches 5.3 hours of TV per day.' (What does 'average' mean?) All facts must be interpreted and presented in your argument; this handout presents five guidelines designed to help you use statistics responsibly.
