Make content findable
How we write our content for our website can help or hinder users from finding it.
GOAL: Label and describe content so people can find what they’re looking for.
To make content findable we must think beyond search. Go to how people find (and re-find) content
Findability checklist
| Content element |
Desired characteristics |
| Quality |
- Useful — meets users’ information needs
- Unique — not reused, repeated
|
| Keywords |
- Relevant to the content purpose, topic or task
- Familiar to users
|
| Title |
- Describes content well
- Keywords at the start
- Site name at the end
- Concise — 70–80 characters
- Unique — no other page has the same title
|
| Meta description |
- Summarises or describes the content
- Supports or expands on the title
- Concise but not too short — 150–160 characters
- Unique — no other page has the same meta description
|
| File and folder names |
- Use keywords — no stop words
- Concise —1–2 words for folders, 5–6 words for files
- Hyphens separate words
|
| Link text |
- Identifies linked content
- Uses keywords — no ‘click here’ or ‘read more’
- Concise
|
| Headings |
- Descriptive
- Use relevant <H> tags to show the content structure
|
| Text alternatives |
- Text version of the content in images
|
