Optimising Your Abstract for Search Engines
Help Readers Find YOU:
Many students and researcher looking for information online will use search engines such as Google, Yahoo or similar. By optimizing your article for search engines, you will increase the chance of someone finding it. This in turn will make it more likely to be viewed and/or cited in another work. Citation indexes already figure in many discipline as a measure of an article's value; there is evidence that article views/downloads are also beginning to count in the same way The crucial area for optimization is the abstract/title, which is freely available to all online. We have compiled these guidelines to enable you to maximize the web-friendliness of the most public part of your article.
Understanding Search Engines:
Search engines have their own algorithms for ranking sites but many use the Google model and rank on relevancy of content and links to the site from other websites. Some search engines still use metadata tags (invisible to the user) to assess relevant content but most now scan a page for keyword phrases, giving extra weight to phrases in headings and to repeated phrases. The number of other sites that link to a web page is also an important factor as this indicates that the page is valued.
Make it Work for YOU:
You know the key phrases for your subject area, whether it is "post-colonial literature" or "reconstruction in Iraq". It is important that these phrases figure prominently in your abstract and article title. Although we can never know exactly how search engines rank sites, the number of times that your key words and phrases appear on the page can have an important effect. Use the same key phrases, if possible in the title and abstract. Note of caution: unnecessary repetition will result in the page being rejected by search engines so don't overdo it. The example below illustrates the difference between an abstract which is well-optimised and one which is not.
Example of Well-Optimised Title/Abstract
Genocide and Holocaust Consciousness in Australia
Ever since the British colonists in Australia became aware of the disappearance of the indigenous peoples in the 1830s, they have contrived to excuse themselves by pointing to the effects of disease and displacement. Yet although 'genocide' was not a term used in the nineteenth century, 'extermination' was, and many colonists called for the extermination of Aborigines when they impeded settlement by offering resistance. Consciousness of genocide was suppressed during the twentieth century - until the later 1960s, when a critical school of historians began serious investigations of frontier violence. Their efforts received official endorsement in the 1990s, but profound cultural barriers prevent the development of a general 'genocide consciousness'. One of these is 'Holocaust consciousness', which is used by conservative and right-wing figures to play down the gravity of what transpired in Australia. These two aspects of Australian public memory are central to the political humanisation of the country.
This article appears on the first page of results on Google for "holocaust consciousness" + Australia and for genocide+ Australia.
Poorly optimized title/abstract
Australia's Forgotten Victims
Ever since the British colonists in Australia became aware of the disappearance of the indigenous peoples in the 1830s, they have contrived to excuse themselves by pointing to the effects of disease and displacement. Many colonists called for the extermination of Aborigines when they impeded settlement by offering resistance, yet there was no widespread public acknowledgement of this as a policy until the later 1960s, when a critical school of historians began serious investigations of frontier violence. Their efforts received official endorsement in the 1990s, but profound cultural barriers prevent the development of a general awareness of this. Conservative and right-wing figures continue to play down the gravity of what transpired. These two aspects of Australian public memory are central to the political humanisation of the country.
Remember:
- People tend to search for specifics, not just one word - e.g. 'women's fiction not "fiction". So use key phrases rather than individual words in your article title and abstract.
- Key phrases need to make sense within the title and abstract and flow well.
- It is best to focus on a maximum of three or four different keyword phrases in an abstract rather than try to get across too many points.
- Finally, always check that the abstract reads well - remember the primary audience is still the researcher not a search engine, so write for readers not robots.