[Web4lib] Lists of web search terms?

[Richard Wiggins]

Hmmm... 
 I live in the search logs at a major midwestern university, and I attack 
this problem with frequent log analysis. An article I wrote on the subject 
is at:
 http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/wiggins.htm
 But if I understand your challenge, it's to discover the search terms that 
people are using to find a site like yours, that today aren't leading to 
your site. That's a tougher nut to crack. I suggest a small focus group. 
When you're on your recruiting trips, ask the folks you're interviewing if 
they found your Web site before setting up the interview, and what they 
searched for to find it.
 I would also analyze your Web logs and look at the search referral report 
carefully. If your site has a local search engine, I'd do analysis of what 
things people type into the search box after arriving at your site. This may 
give insights into variant spellings and such.
 From years of analyzing search logs, I can tell you that people may use 
search phrases that are not intuitive at times, but what they type has very 
few words -- literature says 1-2 word searches are most common.
 As for meta-tags, I still suggest you tune them, but some spiders pay 
little attention. Make sure your title and your text includes the terms you 
think will resonate (in text, not just in graphics) in addition to 
meta-tags. Make your <title> tags descriptive and meaningful for each page 
of content.
 /rich

 On 7/20/05, cruby at micron.com <cruby at micron.com> wrote: 
> 
> Please excuse the cross-posting.
> 
> I am stumped on where to look for answers to a question our library
> received. Our customer wants to know if there is a list of web search
> terms commonly used by their target audience, students currently
> enrolled as juniors and seniors at universities who are majoring in
> electrical engineering, computer engineering, chemical engineering, or
> materials science.
> 
> Basically, I think what my customer wants to do is add meta-tags to our
> website so that it will be one of the results when the students are
> searching the web for internships and jobs. This would supplement the
> on campus recruiting we already do. I know that articles have been
> written on how to get people to come to your website but I've not been
> able to locate anything that addresses what kinds of terms should be
> used when designing your web site, especially for such a specific
> audience. Is there anything, to your knowledge, that might help?
> 
> Thanks for any advice or suggestions you can provide!
> 
> Carolyn
> 
> Carolyn Ruby-Weilage
> Micron Research Library
> Micron Technology
> Boise, ID
> cruby at micron.com
> 208-368-4257
> 
> 
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