Help:Searching
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Page Names
The search function on WikiVet allows users to access pages in two ways. Firstly via a drop down menu in the search box (on left sidebar) that displays pages that match the search term that is been written, and secondly via the list of pages displayed in the search results. Page names should be created to maximise their visibility and ease of access with these two areas in mind.
Page names should give enough detail to illustrate their content, but not be overloaded with content. Name a page in a way that you would search for it. also the most important information should go first. This is because the search box only allows a few words to be shown, thus the page content should be evident in these first few words.
e.g.
| Page name | Problem |
|---|---|
| Special senses visual nervous system | Firstly a user is going to search 'eye' not 'special senses', secondly 'Special senses' will fill the search box but doesn't indicate the page content. |
| Pathology of the liver | 'Liver - Pathology' would be better as using this naming convention there are likely to be hundreds of pages called 'Pathology of' and again this fills the search box with out revealing page content. Also the '- Pathology' ending is the convention used for all pathology pages on WikiVet. |
Page Content
There is nothing to complicated when writing pages on WikiVet. However, remember that not everyone will reach the pages content via the static links through the main pages as many users will search for content. The only thing to bear in mind is that if you were to search for the answer to the topic that you have just written, what search terms would you use, and therefore would the content you have written return a result for your page?
External Pages
Most users need not worry about this as it only applies to pages that are being opened up to be visible to unregistered users, and thus search engines such as Google
Pages that are able to be viewed by unregistered users are also able to be indexed by search engines. Thus content on these pages needs to use appropriate keywords to improve indexing of the pages and WikiVets ranking on Google
Pages visible to search engines should use more words that are perhaps not so useful on other pages. For example the use of vet and veterinary and more common names such as dog (rather than/as well as canine). This is because users of WikiVet know it is a veterinary resource but search engines or naive users do not. Therefore include vet etc. on these pages so that the search engines pick up on this. This allows WikiVet to be better indexed but also provides more relevant hits for the site. Secondly think what users will search, i.e. dog is more likely than canine for most conditions etc. Obviously do not degrade the page content or simplify it but perhaps use both terms or reword sentences to contain more keywords that may be more relevant for non-registered users search for veterinary topics on search engines.