1. SLA Cincinnati Taxonomy, Metadata & Search Optimization May 6th, 2010 Seth Earley President seth@earley.com 781-820-8080 Jeff Carr Senior Consultant jeff@earley.com 780-819-7275

2. Today’s Agenda Taxonomy and Enterprise Architecture Introduction & Overview of Taxonomy & SEO Importance of Aligning Different Perspectives Recommendations Q&A Session 2

4. 16 years experience building content and knowledge management systems, 25+ years experience in technology

5. Former Co-Chair, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Science and Technology Council Metadata Project Committee

6. Founder of the Boston Knowledge Management Forum

7. Former adjunct professor at Northeastern University

8. Currently working with enterprises to develop knowledge and digital asset management systems, taxonomy and metadata governance strategies

9. Founder of Taxonomy Community of Practice – host monthly conference calls of case studies on taxonomy derivation and application. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxoCoP

10. Co-founder Search Community of Practice: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SearchCoP 3

12. Multi-disciplinary foundation in the areas of:

13. search engine marketing

14. information architecture

15. web analytics

16. project management

17. business analysis

18. web development

19. Responsible for the strategy, development and implementation of numerous web-based initiatives

20. Expert in SharePoint Information Architecture

21. Expert in eCommerce taxonomies, faceted search and heuristic analysis

22. All around good guy4

24. Browsing

26. Taxonomy is a Foundation… It is a system for classification It allows for a means to organize documents, digital assets and web content Helps us fine tune search tools and mechanisms Creates a common language for sharing concepts Allows for a coherent approach to integrate information sources It is a common language for business processes

27. Goals of a Taxonomy Allow for knowledge discovery Improve usability of applications as well as learnability of applications Reduce the cost of delivering services, developing products and conducting operations Improve operational efficiencies by allowing for reuse of information and assets rather than recreation Improve search results and applicability (both precision and recall)

28. Taxonomy Definition Taxonomy is a system for organizing concepts and categorizing content Expresses hierarchical relationships (parent/child) Arranged in a tree-like structure, with top level categories that branch out to reveal sub-categories and terms in varying levels of depth Dictionary of preferred terminology Products Games Action figures Card games Board games Brands Milton Bradley Disney Scrabble Battleship

29. Taxonomy and Metadata It is the “is – ness” of a piece of content And the “about – ness” of a piece of content This is a Product Description It is about the Motorola Razr Taxonomies are the organizing principle behind metadata and the values that populate metadata fields

30. FAQ Product Press release Specification Promotion Taxonomy and Metadata “is – ness” Metadata for a product page in a content management system Title Doc_ID Doc_Type Date Author Product_Name “about – ness” Features Category Assets in a content management system need to be tagged with metadata for retrieval and management of information

32. Data fields

33. Data structure

34. File description

35. Database definition (e.g. ddl)

37. Data cleansing

38. Data extension

40. Security

41. Building

42. Cube definition

44. Report-Folder

45. Report-Format

46. Report-Execution

47. Data mining ProcessMetadata Metadata Modeling Tools BI/Reporting Tools Courtesy of Stu Carty – Gavlian Research 12

48. Parallel Perspectives What is the difference between a data architect, a taxonomist and an information architect? Data architects are concerned with structured data and technical aspects of applications and database design Taxonomists are concerned with unstructured content semantics and the meaning of terms Information architects consider how structured data elements, unstructured content meaning and user intent combine to form the user experience

49. The (Traditional) Taxonomist View of Metadata Taxonomy: system for organizing and classifying content Metadata: information about our content, housekeeping, as well as semantic and structural information Content Objects: groups of metadata that are assembled into components that are then assembled into pages or documents How will taxonomy surface on the front-facing application? What do the wireframes suggest? How do people interact with content? How does the content architecture deliver the front-end design?

50. Enterprise Architecture Requires a Holistic View Enterprise architecture “A comprehensive framework used to manage and align an organization's Information Technology (IT) assets, people, operations, and projects with its operational characteristics. In other words, the enterprise architecture defines how information and technology will support the business operations and provide benefit for the business.” The National Institutes of Health http://enterprisearchitecture.nih.gov/About/What/

51. Taxonomy Frameworks in Enterprise Architecture Related documents Browsing & filtering Compare product Financial reporting Case Example: Motorola’s Global Taxonomy Framework Served Multiple Processes Business intelligence Program Management Product Lifecycle Management 16

52. 17 From Technical Design to User Experience… Case Example: American Greetings …becomes the foundation for a flexible, intuitive user experience Developing a technical model of content, assets and processes…

53. Example Trends Which Require Solid IA Business Intelligence needs metadata on structured data as the basis for quantitative analysis, taxonomy on unstructured content for the results of analysis Extend traditional quantitative BI with qualitative BI from unstructured content once a taxonomy is applied: analysis of risk/no risk claims by disease category analysis of call center issues by product to monitor a recall analysis of ad placement effectiveness by social media context Master Data Management needs taxonomy – both aim to define a “single version of the truth” MDM to eliminate structured data redundancy Taxonomy to eliminate unstructured content ambiguity

54. Ideal Scenario: Master Taxonomy as a Service Example from another client – Taxonomy as a service

55. Each group of stakeholders has different issues Different timelines Different terminology Battling old ways of working Different workflows Marketing & CMO Manufacturing Legal & CSO Finance & CFO Business Intelligence Merchant Team Fulfillment Customer Service IT Team & CIO Challenges in Enterprise Architecture

56. Different Clock Speeds

57. FAST E commerce suite Reconcile vendor product metadata with structure and format for catalog, merchandising, order management Digital Asset Management Guided navigation Facets and attributes based on taxonomy resolve with search user experience best practices Structure and terminology to support non text asset location and reuse Product taxonomy Cross sell/up sell Content management Semantic relationships for related products, controlled terminology for merchandisers to support specific promotions Content and document types, topics/subjects, audiences, etc to support unstructured information Different Terminology

58. Different Workflows Brick and Mortar BI/Reporting Product taxonomy Ad Campaigns Signage Finance www.Bestbuy.com

59. Difficulty Changing Paradigms “We have everything we need to know about our products from the SKU…” Merchandiser “Taxonomy values are just a list of terms…” Data Architect Caption = BDY FATHER FRM DAUGH Recipient = Father Occasion = Birthday Sender = Daughter “We can drive content semantics from composite database keys…” Database Architect “I’m more comfortable indexing content than dealing with back end systems…” Taxonomist + 24

61. What unstructured information does the business need to organize?

62. Which of these are shared among departments or business processes?

63. Which are specific to a functional area or business initiative? Enterprise Taxonomies Use Taxonomy to Unify Business Operations

64. The Evolution of Taxonomy Taxonomy has evolved from a library science/ information architecture/ content organization perspective Used to improve the ability to find content once you arrive at a web site Perspective: internal, focused on “self selected” audiences Typically does not consider how people arrive on your site, just that they are there and tries to direct users down an appropriate path 26

65. Why is Taxonomy Important? Main interaction customers have with your site They are a key element of good design and findability Even the best taxonomies need a little spring cleaning They can become disorganized, out of control over time They can fall out of line with industry trends and competitors They can be mismatched with user terminology and be ignored by search engines Taxonomy Heuristics are Best Practices that ensure: 1. Content is findable 2. Taxonomy maintenance and growth is based on methodology 27

67. Including preferred and variant terms, related terms (i.e.; taxonomy and thesaurus structures)

68. Ultimate Goal

70. Why Taxonomy & SEO? Integrating internal and external perspectives Taxonomy Used to improve the ability to find content once you arrive at a web site Internal perspective focused on “self selected” audiences Typically does not consider how people arrive on your site, just that they are there and tries to direct users down an appropriate path Search Engine Optimization Used to improve the ability to find a web site at a macro level External perspective focused on driving traffic, attracting attention from a broader audience Typically does not consider how people find content once they are on your site, just that they find it 30

71. They Should Work Together… Taxonomy drives information organization Powers navigation and search Enhances the user experience SEO informs taxonomy values Incorporates customer perspectives / searcher behaviors 31

72. Misalignment of Terminology 32 I’d like to pick up some new accessories for my PlayStation 3 Not sure where to look so let’s do a search to see what’s out there Just saw an advertisement from Best Buy for PlayStation 3 Accessories I think PS3 = PlayStation 3 “PS3 Accessories” “PS3 Accessories” X

73. Website Findability What’s the scope of the challenge? “More than 12 Billion searches conducted in July 2008” Search Engine Watch – Sep 2, 2008 “1 trillion (as in 1,000,000,000,000) unique URLs” Official Google Blog – Jul 25, 2008 33

74. Differing Perspectives From the perspective of the Searcher… An evolution from “give me what I said” to “give me what I want” Don’t always know what they want Often begin with ambiguous search queries followed by refinement Does the topic of each page on your site accurately represent the language potential customers are using to find your site? 34

76. news

77. local

78. shopping

79. personalizedE E I I

80. Differing Perspectives From the perspective of the search engine… 36 Implicitly derives the topic or meaning of a page by analyzing and parsing page content Topic of this page is PlayStation 3, correct?

81. Topical Analysis of Page Content Ideally, we’d like to see PlayStation related terminology dominating the text consumed by the search engine Inferred topic: limited item offers Supporting terminology – furniture, services, health, home et al. semantically unrelated to the intended concept 37

82. 38 Google Uses Over 200 Signals For Ranking”

83. 39

84. Overlap & Alignment 40 SEO Taxonomy Content Freshness Grouping principles Clean Coding URL Structure Label Choice Synonym Identification Terminology Research Relationships Metadata Optimization Balance & Term Volume Link Popularity Content Hierarchy Polyhierarchy Internal Link Structure Breadth & Depth Inbound Anchor Text Facet Construction Page Speed

85. 41 “Term Selection”

86. Synonyms Important for both Taxonomy and SEO Label selection and user experience What’s will resonate best with your users? Search thesaurus Ensure appropriate query expansion Popular geographic references “Las Vegas” vs “Sin City” “Detroit” vs “Motor City” Acronyms “FBI” and “Federal Bureau of Investigation” “SAT” and “Scholastic Achievement Test” or “Scholastic Aptitude Test” 42

87. Misspellings Important for on-site search “did you mean…” May be a rich source of additional traffic Not recommended for inclusion in pagetext (do not intentionally misspell words) Plan carefully and be creative E.G. “blue-ray” vs “blu-ray” 43

88. Term Proximity & Placement The closer together terms appear, the more closely related they are deemed Word order can matter Special formatting of terms in page content places a slightly higher importance on the word or phrase itself Page headlines (<h1> through <h5>) Bolding & italicizing Link text 44

89. Related Terminology Identification of supporting words or phrases that should be used in conjunction with preferred terms Used to enhance and support the overall theme of the page by pulling together a tightly related topic E.G. LEED Acronym for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design Key themes include: Training, Accreditation, Certification, Exams Construction, Building, Architecture, Homes, Design Green, Energy, Rating, Sustainability 45

90. The Importance of Metadata HTML elements that provide structured metadata about a web page (page source) Key attributes to consider include the page title (<title>) and the meta description (<meta name=“description>) Often forgotten or neglected Negatively affect the user experience 46 <title>Hasbro Network</title><meta name="Description" content="“ /> <meta name="Keywords" content="“ />

91. The Importance of Metadata Opportunity to speak directly to potential visitors When done right, click-through rates increase 47 <title>Enjoy Poker Online With PartyPoker.com - Play Holdem, Omaha and More!</title> <meta name="Description" content=“Play online poker at PartyPoker.com. You'll find Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud &amp;amp; 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo. Huge Poker Tournaments and a Free Poker School. Choose the free poker software download or our new no download play in your browser poker game.“ /> <meta name="Keywords" content=" poker, online poker, play poker, poker room, poker game, video poker, internet poker, texasholdem, poker rules, poker school, poker tournaments, free poker, download, partypoker, party poker, partypoker.com“ />

92. Alignment of Terminology 48 I’d like to pick up some new accessories for my PlayStation 3 Not sure where to look so let’s do a search to see what’s out there Just saw an advertisement from Best Buy for PlayStation 3 accessories “PlayStation 3 Accessories” “PlayStation 3 Accessories”

93. A Little SEO Knowledge Can Be Dangerous Don’t over do it! There’s no point in over-optimizing your site to obtain traffic that is not targeted Might get you more visits in the short term, but at what cost? Goal – attract qualifiedvisitors 49

94. It Can Be a Delicate Balance Oftentimes there’s a trade-off between optimization, taxonomy and the user experience Long labels can cause navigation to wrap or be hidden from view Repetition of terminology reduces ability to scan Always consider the end-user perspective Research both terminology and related websites 50

95. Sources For Keyword Research 51 Search Logs

96. 52 Navigation Labels Header Tags Title Tag Page Content External Link Text Internal Link Text

98. Supporting Terminology

100. Additional Resources Communities of Practice Taxonomy: www.finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxoCoP SharePoint IA: www.tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SharePointIACoP Search: www.tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/SearchCoP Upcoming Webinars Taxonomy Community of Practice series: www.earley.com/webinars Technology Showcase series :www.earley.com/webinars/technology-showcase Jumpstarts: www.earley.com/webinars/jumpstarts 55

102. Founded: 1994

103. Personnel: Twenty core team consultants, plus a network of other top industry experts

104. ECM and KM experts

105. taxonomy specialists

106. search experts

107. information architects

108. usability professionals

109. technology consultants

110. business process experts

111. Headquarters: Boston, MA

112. Consulting Philosophy:

113. Organizing Principles based on business context and goals

115. Information Organization and Access Courses AIIM Master Certification in IOA 4-day classes being held in: Chicago: July 26th – 29th Toronto: August 9th – 12th Washington, DC: September 13th – 16th San Francisco: September 20th – 23rd Houston: October 18th – 21st Course Descriptions and Registration at: www.earley.com/training/aiim-courses 58

116. Seth Earley seth@earley.com 781-820-8080 Follow me on twitter: sethearley Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sethearley Jeff Carr jeff@earley.com 780-819-7275 Follow me on Twitter: siftonpark Connect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/siftonpark Questions? 59 www.earley.com