Re: HTML and Search Engines

murray.altheim@nttc.edu
Thu, 24 Aug 1995 16:38:31 -0400

Jay Kammerzell <jkammerz@vth1.vth.colostate.edu> writes:
>Is there a way that standard document data could be included
>in a referenced document for WWW search engines to glean rather than
>taking the first few lines of that document?
>
>It would seem that having some set of attributes that didn't display
>but was available to a search engine could improve database searches and
>make the returned information more meaningful.

Jay,

A common way of expressing a set of keywords or other searchable info is
with the META element. Here's what I consider a good example from one of my
users:[1]

<META name="resource-type" content=document>
<META name="description" content="The ArtMetal Project is a volunteer
venture of a group of metalsmiths and organizations who strive to
discuss and disseminate information concerning various aspects of
working artistically with metal.

ArtMetal is bringing to the Net a main location for the world wide
archiving of metalworking information. We even store individual
artists work for display in the ArtMetal Gallery.">

<META name="keywords" content="art, metal, sculpture, furniture,
jewelry, casting, lighting, designer, gallery, blacksmith, artist,
architect, iron, forging">

<META name="distribution" content=global>

I've seen this type of implementation used on a number of search engines.
As META is extensible and HTML has no other *explicitly stated* method of
including document meta-information, this seems the most likely method,
although others are feasible. This is at least a true HTML 2.0 compatible
(as per the latest draft) method.

Murray

[1] ArtMetal Home Page: http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/edu/arts/metal/ArtMetal.html

__________________________________________________________________
Murray M. Altheim, Information Systems Analyst
National Technology Transfer Center, Wheeling, West Virginia
email: murray.altheim@nttc.edu
www: http://ogopogo.nttc.edu/people/maltheim/maltheim.html