Search Engine Optimization And Technique To Optimize

Search engine optimization

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

Search engine optimization or SEO, in short, is a set of rules that can be followed by website (or blog) owners to optimize their websites for search engines and thus improve their search engine rankings.

In addition, it is a great way to increase the quality of their websites by making them user- friendly, faster and easier to navigate.

Search Tech used by the Search Engines

Search techniques

Search techniques are ways of using search terms in finding required information from search tools. Search tools are many, e.g. Online Public Catalogues- OPAC, general search engines, search directories and portals as well as online databases or deep web. To achieve good search results, it is necessary to use search techniques.

The following are some of the most common search techniques that are applicable to various

searching tools.

1. Boolean Logic

2. Parenthesis

3. Phrase searching

4. Truncation

5. Field searching

1. Boolean Logic

Boolean logic is a logical relationship between search terms. It is named after the British mathematician George Boole (1815-64). Boolean logic is used to narrow or focus the search or to broaden the search depending on the information that the user wants to retrieve. Boolean logic helps the user to achieve relevancy in the search results and it also assists in quick retrieval of information. The logic uses the following operators AND, OR, NOT

• OR - Broadens the search

• AND – Narrows the search

• NOT – excludes unwanted words or concepts to focus the search

Boolean Searching on the Internet

When a user searches the Internet using a search engine, the use of Boolean logic may be presented in the following ways:

1. Full Boolean logic with the use of the logical operators

2. Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching

3. Use of symbols

4. Boolean logic using search form terminology

• Full Boolean Operators.

Most search engines use Boolean logic operators, AND, OR, NOT. However, it is important for the user to know how each search engine works so as to have effective searches.

• Implied logic

Most search engines use AND as a default. In PubMed, for example, the search term Malaria in Africa will be searched as malaria AND Africa automatically, and there is no need to type the word AND. Other search engines may default to OR. It is therefore important to know how each search tool presents its information.

• Use of symbols

Some search engines use symbols to describe the logical relationship of terms instead of words, for example, the use of: -

+ instead of AND

- implying NOT

It is advisable to check “help” pages in each search tool to understand the way information is searched.

• Boolean logic using search form terminology

Most search engines have an advanced search mode that helps the user to focus the search. In the advanced search mode, a template is presented that guides the user in selecting the relationship of the terms – NOT, OR, AND. The use of Boolean logic can be used in various search engines. The user should, however, check with “help” in each search engine to understand how the Boolean operators are presented. They can be presented either in word format or symbol format. It is also important to keep in mind that most Search Engines require that Boolean operators be typed in Capital letters.

An example of a Boolean search

Mosquitoes and malaria

Mosquito OR Malaria Documents that discuss either mosquitoes OR malaria. The OR operator searches the keywords simultaneously and independently of each other to broaden the search. The OR operator is most useful when a user wants to

include words that represent the same concept. The OR operator broadens the search as the operator provides a wider selection of the search by retrieving records that have either of the keywords. This operator can be helpful when the user wants to look at a subject area comprehensively.

2. Parenthesis

This search technique is used to force the order of how information is retrieved. For example, the retrieval of information related to diabetes prevention and control can be searched as –

Diabetes AND (Prevention OR control).

The keywords in the brackets will be searched first and then matched with the results of the keyword outside the bracket. In the absence of brackets, all the keywords will be searched together from left to right. The use of brackets controls how the search is executed. Results returned through the use of parenthesis are more relevant. Parenthesis uses more than one

Boolean operator and is used to perform complex searches.

A search in PubMed for Diabetes AND (Prevention OR control) returns104,519 records while as a search without the use of parenthesis - Diabetes AND Prevention OR control-returns 2,374,036 records. There is a huge difference in a number of records retrieved without the use of parenthesis.

3. Phrase searching

This technique surrounds the search keywords in quotes “….” It instructs the search engine to search only words that appear side by side inside the quotes. This method narrows search results significantly leading to more relevant results. An example of a phrase search “HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis” would only retrieve records focusing only on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis together.

In PubMed, the use of phrase searching is not recognized. This is due to the fact that PubMed performs automatic term matching, but when the search words are under quotation marks, the automatic term matching is not done. A search example from Google on “HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis” as a phrase retrieves about 2,580,000 results while as a search statement on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis retrieves about 6,600,000 results. There is a huge difference in a number of records retrieved without the use of the quotation marks.

In PubMed, the search “HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis” retrieves 1057 records and the search HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis retrieves 1057 records.

4.Truncation

Truncation is the process of using an asterisk mark (*) while searching. The purpose of truncation is to broaden the search results. Through the use of truncation at the root of the word, the search tool searches all word variations after the asterisk e.g. the use of * with Child* will retrieve the child, children, and childhood. In the example below,

• Child* retrieves 1,694,851records

• Children retrieves 1,649,662 records

• childhood retrieves 150,545 records

Depending on the root word and the place where the asterisk is placed, use of truncation can sometimes retrieve some irrelevant results. Each search tool treats the use of search techniques differently. The user is advised to check if the search tool in use allows the use of truncation.

5.Field Searching

An electronic record is presented as a field. Within a bibliographic database, there are data fields for the title, author, affiliation, journal or book title, and language, among others. The user can use any of these fields to retrieve the required information. As an example, a user can search for an article by a certain author on a specific topic such as teenage pregnancy in Africa by David Mukamba. This is a focused search through the author field. The user can also focus a search through the use of the title, subject or publication type such as journal article.