Heeding the Signals: Applying Web best Practices when Google recommends |
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| Authors: | Dale Askey |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Associate University Librarian, Library and Learning Technologies and Administrative Director, Lewis &2. Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Google is the single largest driver of traffic to library Web sites and digital repositories, and librarians would do well to listen when the search giant reveals information about its practices or makes recommendations. Recently, Google announced that it would begin to favor Web sites that use the secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) in its search results rankings. HTTPS encrypts data transmission and one of Google's stated reasons for this change is to help make the Web safer and minimize data theft. Similar announcements by Google have sometimes been ignored by librarians, to the peril of the visibility and use of library products and services on the Web. |
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| Keywords: | HTTPS Google search engine results rankings search engine optimization privacy data security IT skills |
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