Metadata on University webpages
The issue of metadata on web pages is currently under review. Until such time as this is complete please still add data into the metadata elements in the University templates.
Some points to bear in mind
HTML <title> tag
The html <title> tag is the most important tag to get right. Most search engines use this tag to rank your page. The text in this tag appears in the reverse bar at the top of your browser, and it will appear as the page title in search results. The title will also appear when added to someone's 'favourites' or 'bookmarks' list.
Robots Noindex
There may also be pages on your site that you do not wish search engines to index (i.e. lower-level pages that should only be read in sequence)
To stop pages being indexed, insert the following code into the <head> section:
<head>
<title>Page I Don't Want In Search Engines</title>
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
</head>
Meta tags - Keywords and Description
Two generic meta tags have been retained as these are used by some search engines that do not recognize the DC tags. They are keywords and description. The information is the same as in DC.Subject and DC.Description, so simply copy and paste from the DC. Tags into the meta tags.
Please note that in the CMS filling out the keyword and description elements will autopopulate the DC elements.
META name="keywords"
Copy and paste from the DC.Subject field
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Subject" content="University of Melbourne metadata, MWG, Metadata Working Group, metadata standard, Dublin Core, Metadata Pilot Project" />
<meta name="keywords" content="University of Melbourne metadata, MWG, Metadata Working Group, metadata standard, Dublin Core, Metadata Pilot Project" />
META name="description"
Copy and paste from the DC.Description field.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Description" content="Training material for The University of Melbourne web metadata standard based on Dublin Core and administrative metadata." />
<meta name="description" content="Training material for The University of Melbourne web metadata standard based on Dublin Core and administrative metadata." />
Web metadata elements
The following elements are listed in the order they appear in the University templates.
DC.Title
Definition: A name given to the resource
Status: Mandatory, Repeatable
CMS: Autopopulate with page title, allow for changes to be made
The title is the most important element in aiding resource discovery. The first title should repeat the content of the page's <title> tag.
Search engines look at this tag first and if a sought-for keyword is found here your page will be displayed above other pages that only have that keyword in the body of the text.
Title metadata makes it possible to distinguish each page as a separate resource.
Short, clear and distinctive titles allow more precise resource discovery.
Initial definite articles, such as "The", "A" and "An", should be dropped.
Each significant word should commence with an upper case character. For example,
Environment Health and Safety Manual -- University of Melbourne
Library Homepage - Information Services - University of Melbourne
If the resource's title includes its origins and affiliations, do not repeat them, for example Metadata at the University of Melbourne.
Note that the title and description are the elements that are displayed in search results lists. Therefore, these two elements should give enough distinctive information to allow resource discoverers to decide whether this is the resource they are seeking.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Title" content="Metadata at The University of Melbourne" />
DC.Creator
Definition: The name/s of the person/s or organization/s primarily responsible for the intellectual content of the resource, not its presentation.
Status: Mandatory, Repeatable
CMS: Manual entry, should appear in the page footer if present
Authors, compilers and photographers are often Creators, but Webmasters or designers who are responsible for its presentation are rarely Creators. A part of the University can be responsible for the intellectual content of the resource and for making it available, and thus is both Creator and Publisher.
If the creator is an individual, or more than one individual, give surname first, followed by a comma and space, then the given names or initials, for example Young, Eve
Separate multiple names with a semicolon and space, for example: Young, Eve; MacRae, Janet E; MacEwan, Ewan
Complying with this convention assists interoperability with other organisations.
If you are unsure about the order of the name or know that names from this area are cited in a different order, enter it in the form in which it appears, for example: Wang, Yewang; Abdullah, bin Nuh; Hung, Le
Reference works such as professional or telephone directories can assist when choosing the order of the name.
If the creator is a group or organisational unit, list the parts of the hierarchy from largest to smallest, separated by full stops and a space, for example
University of Melbourne. Arts Department
University of Melbourne. Information Services. Information and Education Services
If the creator is also the publisher, repeat the name in both elements.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Creator" content="Young, Eve" />
UM.Creator.Email
Definition: The creator's email address, if the creator is an individual, or a generic address for a group.
[Status: Required if applicable]
CMS: Deprecated
How it looks
<meta name="UM.Creator.Email" content="e.young@unimelb.edu.au" />
DC.Subject and Keywords
Definition: The topic of the content of the resource expressed as keywords or key phrases that would be used to find this page.
Status: Mandatory, Repeatable
CMS: Mandatory text field for 'keywords', manual entry into this field automatically populates 'DC.Subject'
The subject element should convey the subject, theme or content of the resource. Choose the most significant and unique terms, avoiding broad terms that provide little assistance for someone trying to find an item.
- Think about how people would seek the resource
- Always include the most relevant keywords first
- Separate each keyword or key-phrase by a comma followed by a space
- Use the plural form of nouns where possible as a search for the singular form will usually retrieve plurals as well. If a word has an unusual singular/plural form (for example cactus/cacti), include both forms
- Use upper case for names and initial letters in proper nouns, and for the rest use lower case. In the University's search engine, lowercase characters in search terms also match with uppercase characters, but uppercase in search terms will only match with uppercase
As an example of the previous two points: the University of Melbourne search engine will retrieve 884 results for each of the terms "football" and "footballs", whereas "Footballs" retrieves 1 resource and "Football" retrieves 418 resources)
- Do not try to include every keyword. The more keywords you have, the more you can dilute the perceived relevance and this may result in downgrading the resource's ranking in search results
- Consider using common synonyms as keywords
- Where names are used as key-phrases, enter them in direct order, for example, Eve Young, Hung Le, University of Melbourne Information Services
- Include words spelt in different ways, for example, catalog/catalogue, labor/labour
- Do not repeat keywords, as that may result in a "spam penalty" where the resources may be ranked lower or blocked
- Do not use the same keywords on several pages. Avoid using proprietary names, as this may result in litigation
Apply five to seven terms to each page (more can be accommodated if required).
Currently copy the DC. Subject terms into the "keywords" meta tag, as some search engines use these.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Subject" content="University of Melbourne metadata, MWG, Metadata Working Group, metadata standard, Dublin Core, Metadata Pilot Project" />
<meta name="keywords" content=" University of Melbourne metadata, MWG, Metadata Working Group, metadata standard, Dublin Core, Metadata Pilot Project" />
Or another way of looking at this:
Web page Keyword guidelines (adapted from the Getty guidelines):
Author: Murtha Baca, adapted by Ebe Kartus
This element is for words and phrases used to describe a resource. Judiciously selected keywords can provide important additional "access points" to a resource, even if those words and phrases do not actually appear on the object.
- Limited to a total of 1000 characters, including spaces
- Do not repeat keywords unnecessarily, which is considered "spamming" and may cause search engines to ignore pages.
example of what NOT to do: University of Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Uni of Melbourne, Melbourne University, university, Melbourne
- Do not repeat as a single keyword a word that is already included in a keyword phrase
example of what NOT to do: Grainger Museum, Grainger, OR Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne, University of Melbourne
- Don't include generic keywords that will cause pages that aren't particularly relevant to appear in search results displays. For example, don't put "Melbourne" or "University of Melbourne" as keywords for a particular resource unless there is really relevant content about Melbourne or the University of Melbourne contained in that resource
- By the same token, don't put references to specific resources on a higher-level page, thus causing users to either have to click several times to get what they are actually looking for, or to peruse overly long results lists. For example, don't include "Library" or "Faculty of Arts" as keywords on the main University of Melbourne page; don't include "Department of Pathology" in the keywords for the "School of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences" page, etc.
- Try to anticipate the words and/or phrases that searchers might use to find your resources. Use synonyms, alternate spellings, etc. - even "wrong" words or outdated titles, if you think that is what users might search on.
- Use initial caps for proper nouns
- If you want to reach an international audience, consider including one or two important keywords in one or more foreign languages
- Don't include diacritics (accent marks) in the keyword; they tend to get dropped or garbled, and they are stripped for searching anyway
- Unless you think they are necessary, try not to include more than 25 keywords or keyword phrases in this meta tag. A smaller number of carefully chosen keywords will be more effective than a long list that is too broad and inclusive. Also, too much "density" in Keyword META tags may lead to lowered search engine listings on some external search engines.
example for Metadata at the University of Melbourne main page:
<META NAME="keywords" content="University of Melbourne metadata, MWG, Metadata Working Group, metadata standard, Dublin Core, Metadata Pilot Project">
DC.Description and Description
Definition: Textual description of the content of the resource, i.e. abstract.
Status: Mandatory, Repeatable
CMS: Mandatory text field for 'description', manual entry into this field automatically populates 'DC.Description'.
The description is an objective free-text summary or abstract that describes the specific content of the resource. Although it is the least precise method for resource discovery, more search engines access this element than DC.Subject.
Note that the description is displayed in search results lists, and thus it should provide the resource discoverer with enough information to decide whether the resource is relevant. As most search engines display a limited number of characters (the University of Melbourne search engine displays approximately twenty words), the first words of the Description should contain as much useful and distinctive information as possible.
This element can also be used to include terms that are not in the Subject element.
Have a different description for each page of your site, as users will consider the description of each page to find the most relevant in the search results listing.
Don't copy the title into the description, as it will be shown under the title. Create a different description to complement your title.
The description should be as brief as possible, (up to 25 words).
Copy the DC. Description into the "description" meta tags as some search engines use these.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Description" content="Training material for The University of Melbourne web metadata standard based on Dublin Core and administrative metadata." />
<meta name="description" content="Training material for The University of Melbourne web metadata standard based on Dublin Core and administrative metadata." />
DC.Publisher
Definition: The publisher is the entity responsible for making the resource available.
Status: Mandatory
CMS: Autopopulate, non-editable
The full and correct name of the corporate unit responsible for providing access to the resource from smallest to largest unit should be added. All parts of the name are separated by commas.
If the creator & publisher are the same, repeat the name in both elements.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Publisher" content="Information Planning and Architecture, Information Management, Information Services, University of Melbourne" />
DC.Contributor (Optional)
Definition: Person/s or organisation/s not specified in the Creator element that has/have made significant intellectual contributions to the resource.
Status: Required if applicable, Repeatable
CMS: Optional single or multiple text field/s, manual entry
Illustrators, writers, photographers, designers, etc who contributed to the content of the resource, but who are not the creator are cited in this element. Webmasters and designers are rarely named as contributors.
The name/s should be formulated according to the instructions in DC.Creator.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Contributor" content="Booth, Martine" />
DC.Date
Definition: The date on which the resource/page first went live.
Status: Mandatory
Encoding scheme: ISO 8601
CMS: Autopopulate with date first created. Should appear in the page footer.
The date of metadata creation will be generated in the form: YYYY-MM-DD. This complies with the international standard ISO 8601 that can be read by humans and machines.
If the full date is not available, a date should be entered in one of the forms below
2001-02 (for a range of possible dates)
2001 (where the year is known)
1999 (where a year can be estimated)
Where there is no specific date of first creation, use the last day of the year the resource was created, e.g. 2000-12-31.
This element must not be repeated.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Date." scheme="ISO 8601" content="2003-07-15" />
UM.Date.ReviewDue
Definition: Date by which the page must be either reviewed with new content or removed from the web site.
[Status: Mandatory, Automatic]
CMS: Deprecated
This element was called Expiry date in the earlier version of the University of Melbourne metadata elements.
A date twelve months from the date in DC.Date.Modified will be the default.
How it looks
<meta name="UM.Date.ReviewDue" content="2004-12-09" />
UM.Authoriser.Name
Definition: The Name of the Head of Faculty, Department, administrative unit, etc. or delegate, responsible for ensuring that data on pages bearing her/his authorisation is current.
[Status: Mandatory]
CMS: Deprecated
This element should be created using the conventions outlined in DC.Creator.
How it looks
<meta name="UM.Authoriser.Name" content="McLaurin Smith, Nicki" />
UM.Authoriser.Title
Definition: Title of the Head of Faculty, Department, administrative unit, etc. or delegate responsible for ensuring that data on pages bearing her/his authorisation is current.
Status: Mandatory
CMS: Manual text field entry. Should appear in the page footer.
How it looks
<meta name="UM.Authoriser.Title" content="Director" />
UM.Maintainer.Name
Definition: Name of the person, group or generic entity responsible for maintaining and updating the page or resource
Status: Mandatory
CMS: Autopopulate ? Should appear in the page footer.
Again, this element should be constructed using the conventions outlined under DC.Creator.
How it looks
<meta name="UM.Maintainer.Name" content="Ford, Diane" />
UM.Maintainer.Department
Definition: Name of the Department of the person, group or generic entity responsible for maintaining and updating the page or resource.
[Status: Mandatory]
CMS: Deprecated
How it looks
<meta name="UM.Maintainer.Department" content="Information Division. Information Management. Information Planning and Architecture" />
UM.Maintainer.Email
Definition: Email or generic email address of the person, group or generic entity responsible for maintaining and updating the page or resource.
Status: Mandatory
CMS: Autopopulate if individual email, otherwise manual entry
How it looks
<meta name="UM.Maintainer.Email" content="is-im-ipa@unimelb.edu.au" />
DC.Language (automatically populated)
Definition: The primary language of the intellectual content of the resource
Status: Mandatory, Repeatable
Encoding scheme: RFC 3066 http://www.w3.org/International/articles/language-tags/
CMS: Autopopulate with 'en', however allow for changes to be made
Be aware that the default for this element is English (en). If the content of the resource is in a language other than English, please be sure to select the correct code from RFC 3066.
This element can be repeated to describe resources that are in more than one language.
How it looks
<meta name="DC.Language" scheme="RFC 3066" content="en" />
There are three further elements that are not editable. These are: DC.Rights, DC.Format, DC.Identifier.
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