[Web4lib] seriously mundane questions

[Araby Y Greene]

1. Yes, we're using Google CSE as our library's search engine. It sometimes takes up to 3 weeks to re-crawl the site, but I have not actually documented the intervals. If you take the trouble to create an XML file for Google Sitemaps, crawling might be more predictable. 
 
2. True. You can blame it on SEO weasels who have abused meta tags to manipulate search engine placement. Descriptions seem to show up in Google entries, although theoretically they are ignored. It's important to keep the description and keywords around 150 characters, and not over 250 characters. Once the wrath of the Googlebot is incurred, a site can be in indexing limbo for a long time. None of the big search engines care about D.C., but it has other uses.
 
-araby
 
__________________________________
Araby Greene
Web Development Librarian
Getchell Library/322
University of Nevada, Reno
http://www.library.unr.edu 
 

________________________________

From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Sharon Foster
Sent: Thu 8/2/2007 5:54 PM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] seriously mundane questions



1. Is anyone using the new Google CSE as their library website's
search engine? Do you have any control over when it indexes your site,
or do you just have to wait for Google to do its thing? Or any I
missing something? We have the "original" Google CSE, but our site
hasn't been re-indexed for quite a long time, and no one knows who
owns the account that set up the CSE. I looked at the new CSE, but it
doesn't look like I would have much control over what it does or when
it does it. I'm thinking of using FreeFind instead.

2. (this is a school question) I recently completed a course in
Digital Libraries, and it seems to me from my reading that most of the
standard (non-specialized) search engines do not look at any of the
fancy metadata--Dublin Core, DOAP, etc.--schemas they we used in our
projects. They only look at Description and Keywords (sometimes not
even those) and the actual page content. Is this your understanding as
well, or did I once again miss something?

Thanks for all your help. Listening in on this list is the real education.

Sharon
--
Sharon M. Foster, B.S., J.D., 0.5 * (MLS)
F/OSS Evangelist
Cheshire Public Library
104 Main Street
Cheshire, CT  06410
http://www.cheshirelibrary.org
My library school portfolio: http://home.southernct.edu/~fosters4/
My final project for ILS655, Digital Libraries:
http://www.vsa-software.com/ils655

Any opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
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