Searching: Metadata

In order to conduct a search that gets you the results you need there are a few things you need to understand about the subject.

Putting a word or two into Google is only helpful if you aren't looking for anything in particular and don't mind wasting a lot of time.

Search engines like Google tend to give precedence to the words found in metadata. Metadata is like documentation; ideally it is a description of the webpage. It is like the fields in a library catalog where it lists the author, date, publisher, etc. Metadata is also similar to tags on a digital photo. A web designer may put in words that describe the website contents so it is easier for a search engine to find. I say might because not everyone does this. Also, some site creators deliberately put in commonly searched words, both in the metadata and on their webpages, to get more traffic. That's why, in the earlier days of the internet, all search words led to porn.

Advertising companies do everything they can to get their websites to the top of the page. They pay for link space at the top of the results page. When you Google the word "nursing" the first three results are ads for schools. Commercial website are generally not a good place to go for neutral information.
If the search engine is combing through the actual text on a website your word may be only a minor reference to what you actually want.

Let's take a look at Metadata. You can look at what  metadata has been written about a page by looking at the source code. If you are using Internet Explorer click Page and go to the option View Source.

Click for larger image.

If you are using Firefox click the Firefox button, go to the Web Developer option and click View Page Source.

 

Try going to a commercial site and looking at their source code. It will open in a separate window. At the top will be the metadata. It starts with the tag "meta" and will be followed by something else like "author", "keywords", "description" and so on. The description in the metadata is often what appears in the results list. The keywords are words that describe their site. They are hoping that when you enter in one of these words their page will show up. You can see what searches they are trying to get. If your search word is in their metadata their site is more likely to come up closer to the top and the more clicks they get the higher they are on the result list.

Some sites don't have much of any metadata and this can make them harder to find. Metadata isn't just used on websites.  Metadata are also the tags on photos and pictures and the descriptive words attached to files and articles. Metadata are the fields on the library catalog that describes the book you're looking at.
All of this means that the results you get aren't random but they aren't always the best for finding good, neutral information. If you want to search well you need to have a strategy.

(You can say "Metadata are the tags on photos" or "Metadata is the tags on photos". The first one may be technically correct because Metadata is a plural noun but in some situations it sounds weird. In American usage collective nouns like "Government" and "Team" are generally treated as singular so you say "The team is on a winning streak" rather than "The team are on a winning streak." For Metadata both ways of usage are common although treating it as singular is used more often. I like using both because I enjoy confusing people.)