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Sustainable Development Communications Network |
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Meta-data GuidelinesBy Ron Kim, World Bank Institute DescriptionMeta-data is a summary of information about the form and content of a resource. It may describe such things as the author of a work, the date of publication or similar details that help users with classification and retrieval. Examples of meta-data include: the catalogue records used by libraries, museums and galleries; the table of contents in a book; and an index database. Meta-tags are areas of text that are hidden from the viewer of a page but accessible to browsers and robots. They are located in the <head> section of the HTML code. Search engines use meta-tags to find out more about a Web page, i.e., the search ranking (though not all search engines use meta-tags). GuidelinesThe meta-tags of most interest for search rankings are the meta-tag description and meta-tag keywords. It is critical for the Web manager to include these tags on all pages in the site as a way for users to locate specific information. In particular, the following guidelines should be observed: I) Add a description tag to every page. This tag is used to provide a brief description of the Web page for the search result. The content of the description meta-tag should provide a concise and specific description of the page. The recommended length is 250 characters, including spaces. This is an example of the HTML syntax: <meta name="description" content="This is information on meta-data"> II) Add a keyword tag to every page. The keywords tag provides words for the search engines to link to your page. Think of various words that specifically reflect the page's content. For example, rather than use "sustainable development," think of more particular words such as "ICTs, technical assistance, Sub-Saharan Africa." The goal is to allow users to quickly identify the content and know exactly what is available. This is an example of the HTML syntax: <meta name="keywords" content="meta-data, meta-tags"> III) Though it is not an actual meta-tag, add a title to each page. This is important since, if the page is bookmarked, the user can easily identify it later. The following is an example (borrowed from Search Engine Watch) of the HTML syntax that includes all the 3 of the above: <HEAD> IV) If the Web manager's organization is using a customized search engine, using more meta-tags, or a different set might be helpful in producing better and more accurate search results. For example, the Dublin Core is being used increasingly as a set of meta-tags that reflect more accurately the contents of individual pages. |
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