Search engine optimisation: application to an academic digital library

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to identify and evaluate techniques used to ensure high listing as well as build up a high rank of an academic digital library on Google. The first step was to identify techniques. They were implemented and their impact on listing and ranking measured.The techniques that were measured and evaluated included, metadata tags, number of pages, impact of in-links, length of time the domain has been available and use of directories. The effects of these techniques were measured using the scoring of the PageRank algorithm as used by Google. Certain limitations were encountered including the limited space of time to build up directory listing and the frequency of Google crawling websites, as this has a direct influence on the results. The research conducted provides evidence that using keywords in the right position as well as gaining links from websites that using keywords in the right position as well as gaining links from websites that contain relevant and quality content improves the listing on Google.