Navigation Links
Overview
MSU Keywords is a hand-constructed database of starting points of interest to the Michigan State University community. When a user searches from MSU's home page, any matches from MSU Keywords appear first in the hit list.
There are two reasons to add a site to MSU Keywords:
- Customer Demand: The site is popular with customers. For instance, we know that many customers search for "Desire 2 Learn" or "Wharton Center", so we put the best URL for those keywords at the top of the hit list. We look at aggregate search statistics to find out what people seek the most, and we try to match their search terms to specific Web addresses offering the content they seek.
- Content Provider Demand: The site represents a significant starting point (such as a college or department home page) or topic that the university wants to convey, so we want it always to appear at the top of the hit list when customers enter related searches.
Return to Top
How MSU Keywords works
MSU Keywords allows content providers to help people searching the Web find what they seek at MSU more efficiently. If your site appeals to a significant audience and is related to MSU, we can use MSU Keywords to put your site at the top of the hit list.
For example, go to www.msu.edu, type help into the box labeled Search MSU and click GO (or try this sample search for Help).
The sites that appear first on the hit list (under "Searched MSU Keywords for...") are from MSU Keywords. Other sites not in MSU Keywords can be found by clicking the Need more results? Use Google to search MSU link.
Return to Top
Guidelines for URLs
Customers want to type in a search and immediately find relevant content. For instance, suppose we are adding Summer Circle Theatre to the database. Our customers want to be able to type "summer circle" into the Search box and find information about this wonderful outdoor theater experience.
Summer Circle's Web address is http://www.summercircle.org, so we want to link to that. There also is a link to Summer Circle on the Theatre Department home page, but a customer who searching for "summer circle" doesn't want to wade through any other content to find out about the plays (however, the Theatre Department's site is listed separately in MSU Keywords under "theatre" and "theater").
Additional Guidelines for Site URLs:
- Avoid Frames: Each unique topic area needs its own unique URL for things to work well. Thus, if your site uses frames, and offers many different topics under one invariant URL, MSU Keywords can't help you.
- Use Timeless URLs: If your site's content changes periodically, publish it under a timeless URL. For instance, Ag Expo uses http://www.agexpo.msu.edu (as opposed to http://www.anr.msu.edu/agexpo2004). As each year's new event is announced, the one, invariant URL shows the new information. The same logic applies to newsletters, annual reports and the like. (Previous issues can appear in an Archives section.)
- Skip Animated Starting Points: Customers seek immediate access to relevant information. We avoid listing Flash intro pages in MSU Keywords.
Return to Top
Guidelines for Keywords
Once we've determined the URL for a site we want to add to MSU Keywords, we need to assign keywords. Some keywords are obvious; e.g. "summer circle" for Summer Circle Theatre.
In addition to obvious keywords related to your site's name, we also can include aliases. To be effective, your keywords should include the words and phrases customers are most likely to type when looking for your start page. Thus it's better to use:
gene testing
or
DNA testing
... instead of "Deoxyribonucleic Analysis Facility"
We use aliases liberally so that we match real customer behavior; the words customers type into a search box may be very different than the words that you, the content provider, would use to describe your own site.
Here are the key phrases for "Wharton Center":
- Wharton Center
- Clifton and Delores Wharton Center for the Performing Arts performing arts center
- Wharton - Warton - Worton - Center - Centre - for Performing Arts
- WhartonCenter
If a customer types part or all of any of these phrases into the search box, we'll show them Wharton Center's home page at or near the top of the hit list. No matter what keywords match, here is what the customer sees.
Common, generic terms make poor Keywords because they lead to too many false matches. Thus, common terms such as "research" or "teaching" or "project management" or "MSU" by themselves make poor choices.
Return to Top
How to submit your site to MSU Keywords
If you are an MSU content provider and wish to add your site to MSU Keywords, please use the Add or Modify Existing Keyword and Departmental Information Form (link).
Please send us the URL of the site you wish to add, a brief title or description of the content at that URL, and any suggested keywords. For instance, if you were submitting the Summer Circle Theatre site, you might tell us this:
URL: http://www.summercircle.org
Description: Summer Circle Theatre (free outdoor plays)
Keywords: summer circle theatre, summer circle theater,
free outdoor plays, summer circle free festival
Return to Top
Sites that belong in MSU Keywords
Think of MSU Keywords as a starting points service, similar to the departmental listing in the Faculty/Staff directory. Good candidates for MSU Keywords include:
- The home pages of MSU colleges, departments, and programs.
- Home pages for significant MSU initiatives (e.g. the Capital Campaign) or communications (e.g. the State of the University address).
- Pages that cover a specific topic area of widespread interest, such as immunizations, Study Abroad, Admissions, etc.
- Home pages for registered student organizations.
- Other topical areas that appeal broadly to members of the MSU community, as revealed by customer input.
Return to Top
Sites that don't belong in MSU Keywords
Generally speaking, the following do not belong in MSU Keywords:
- Personal pages.
- Deep "leaf" pages with highly-specific content.
- Businesses or organizations outside of msu.edu and the MSU community.
Exception: some "outside" sites have a special affiliation with MSU or are of special interest to the MSU community. For example, the official MSU Athletics site, http://msuspartans.collegesports.com, is listed in MSU Keywords.
- Events. MSU Keywords isn't an events calendar.
- Exceptions:
- Annual events, such as the Ag Expo or the Summer Circle Theatre.
- MSU events of national import, such as a visit by a head of state, or a speech by a Nobel laureate.
Return to Top
What do people search for at MSU?
You can choose your Keywords better if you understand how real users search. Examples of popular searches include:
- netid
- D2L
- stuinfo
- wharton center
- Study abroad
- housing
- employment
- jobs
- human resources
Click to see a report for the last week or month. Then click on any listed keyword to see how a search for it actually works.
Return to Top
If your MSU website doesn't have an msu.edu Domain
Some MSU content providers have chosen to move their Web sites outside of the msu.edu domain. This means that search engines for MSU won't index their content. For instance, Breslin Center's site is at www.breslincenter.com, and the Union Activities Board has an events site at www.uabevents.com. Customers searching within msu.edu, for instance using Google's MSU Index, won't find any content from those sites.
MSU Keywords can help. We can list your MSU-related home page even if it's not within msu.edu. For instance, Breslin Center and UAB Events are listed in MSU Keywords, so users can find the sites easily (however, information on specific events information within those sites will not be visible.)
Return to Top
Birth and Expiration Dates
We can define "birth" and "expiration" dates for entries in MSU Keywords. A site will show up in searches only after the birth date, and will no longer show up after the expiration date. If you are launching a new Web site, we can pre-stage its URLs using birth dates. If you want your site to disappear after a certain date, we can set the expiration accordingly.
Return to Top
Preparing for misspellings and variant spellings in MSU Keywords
We enter common misspellings into MSU Keywords as hidden aliases. Thus a customer can type "warton center" or "libary" and they will still find the content they seek.
Variant spellings also help more users find your content. Examples include:
- "theater" and "theatre"
- "Clinical Center" and "Clinical Centre"
- "adviser" and "advisor"
Return to Top
Link Checking
MSU Keywords incorporates a link checker. This allows the editor to remove or update entries as Web content is re-organized.
If you are re-organizing a Web site that is listed in MSU Keywords, please contact us prior to launching the re-organized site.
Return to Top