The appliance probably uses the same 100 factors that google.com uses to index and catalogue the whole of the world wide web. So it makes sense therefore to make sure your pages and sites follow the same optimisation rules as for google.com or google.co.uk. These are:

1. Follow the University Web Requirements

It is commonly known that search engines find it easier to access properly constructed, validated and accessible code. Therefore the first step is to make sure your pages and sites adhere to the University's Web Publishing Requirements and Web Publishing Guidelines.

2. Follow Common Search Engine Optimisation Rules

Secondly, you should make sure your sites and pages follow the generally accepted search engine optimisation rules. The following are the most common however, this is a constantly changing environment and therefore further research on search engine optimisation (SEO) is recommended.

2.1 Page Title

The content in the <title> tag is considered to be one of the most important elements of on-page optimisation.

2.2 Meta 'Description' tag

The content of this tag is often used by search engines (but rarely by Directories) for indexing.  The content may also appear in the search results, i.e. the visible links and descriptions that one sees as a result of a search.

Therefore the content of the description should both contain relevant keywords and be written in a way that entices the search engine user to click the link in the results.

2.3 Meta 'Keywords' tag

This tag is rarely indexed these days due to 'keyword stuffing'. However, it is recommended still to be used with just one or two keywords.

2.4 Web Page URLs

Generally speaking it is good to have a keyword in the page URL.

For example http://www.mmu.ac.uk/international/courses/index.php

could be improved as:

http://www.mmu.ac.uk/international/international-courses/index.php

2.5 Alt text in image tags

The 'alt' text in the <img /> tag has several jobs:

• It provides visually impaired site visitors with a description of the image
• It helps the search engine indexing engine understand what the image is about

2.6 Page Structure – How the search engine spider 'sees' the page

You can analyse the page structure to identify any areas that would hinder indexing by a search engine.  Two tools are available:

• The 'poodle predictor' - http://www.gritechnologies.com/tools/spider.go
• The spider simulator - http://www.searchengineworld.com/cgi-bin/sim_spider.cgi

It is recommended to include several paragraphs of descriptive text on each page.

2.7 The Header <h1> tag

The <h1> tag holds important clues about the meaning of the page for the search engine indexer. 

Ideally the <h1> would contain a keyword that is also found in that page's <title> tag, to provide a consistent keyword theme for the page.

3. If all else fails

The Google Search Appliance uses sophisticated algorithms from Google to make sure that results are returned in the most relevant order possible. However, if both of the above techniques fail and if you have important content that users will need to find via the search engine it is possible to request using the “Featured Site” feature.

With “Featured Site”, you can list a set of keywords to associate with a particular document. When users type in those keywords, the document will be the first result to appear on the results page (see example). This is much the same as the sponsored link feature on Google's website.

To request a featured site link, please contact your local Faculty Web Officer in the first instance or the New Media Team.

This feature is offered to University staff to make sure key income generating and other important University activities are easily accessible.