Metadata as a Catalyst: Experiments with Metadata and Search Engines in the Internet Journal, First Monday

Abstract

This study examines metadata as a means to enhance information retrieval in a suite of seven search engines, AltaVista, Excite, Google, HotBot, InfoSeek, Lycos, and Northern Light. Papers were selected from issues of the Internet-only journal First Monday, and examined by portions of author and title in seven search engines, without metadata. Metatags were then added to these papers and the searches were repeated five months later. Metadata alone did not play a significant role in increasing the likelihood of a given paper being indexed or highly ranked by any specific search engine.Brought to you by | HEC Bibliotheque Maryriam ET J. Authenticated Download Date | 6/19/15 5:48 PM <META NAME = "Description" CONTENT = "The primacy of Internet connectivity over content will likely mean that the dangers of balkanization are smaller than is often feared. The conclusion is that huge sums being invested by carriers in content are misdirected."> <META NAME = "Keywords" CONTENT = "Internet content, Internet connectivity, digital convergence, content is king, value of communications, communication industry, content industry, connectivity, point-to-point communication, business model, article"> <META NAME = "DC.Title" CONTENT = "Content is not king"> <META NAME = "DC.Creator" CONTENT = "Odlyzko, Andrew"> <META NAME = "DC.Subject" CONTENT = "Internet content, Internet connectivity, digital convergence, content is king, value of communications, communication industry, content industry, connectivity, point-to-point communication, business model, article"> <META NAME = "DC.Description" CONTENT = "The primacy of Internet connectivity over content will likely mean that the dangers of balkanization are smaller than is often feared. The conclusion is that huge sums being invested by carriers in content are misdirected.">

How are XML‐based Marc 21 and Dublin Core records indexed and ranked by general search engines in dynamic online environments?

“…Since the "subject" was not used properly and the "title" content was the same as the HTML title's tag content, these elements are not effective in the retrieval process. Henshaw and Valauskas (2001) conducted experimental research on some selected pages of First Monday's electronic magazine. Two groups of pages were included in this research including a control group with no metadata element and a test group with DC metadata elements as well as HTML keywords and description meta-tags.…”

Variations in Use of Meta Tag Keywords by Web Pages in Different Languages

“…There has also been a little other investigation into descriptions and keywords in meta tags: Turner and Brackbill [16] have reported results of a small experiment that showed that addition of a description did not improve retrievability of Web pages on Infoseek and Altavista; similar results have been reported for these two search engines and five others by Henshaw and Valauskas [17]; Drott [18] has noted the extent to which descriptions and keyword meta tags are used in the sites of 60 Fortune Global 500 companies.…”

Does discarding XML declarations and changing file extensions improve the indexability and visibility of metadata tag names in web search engines?

“…The motivation for conducting such studies was the ineffectiveness of the standard metadata elements towards the retrieveability of Web content objects, as stated in previous research. This third group of studies led to similar findings: efficiency of HTML metatag values, as well as inefficiency of the element values of metadata standards in improving access to content objects [19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…Limitations of this markup language are that it prevents implementation of tags of most standard metadata schemata, and Web search engines react positively only to some of its metatags, that is, merely to their values rather than the tag names, as well as ignoring the metadata standards while indexing. This reduces the interoperability of metadata systems and Web search engines, and thus, access to Web content objects [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”