1. Optimizing Content for Search
Engines : Discoverability Through
Technology, Policy, and Strategy
Pre-Meeting Seminar
Society for Scholarly Publishing
June 1, 2005
Case study of The Journal of Bone
and Joint Surgery
n Home page and miscellaneous pages
q Maintained in -house
n lots of flexibility but limited expertise
n Full-text section
q Maintained by HighWire Press
n lots of expertise but limited flexibility
-2-
What we knew about Search-Engine
Optimization (SEO)
n “We already took care of this”
n 1995
q filled in an online form for Yahoo
n 1998
q added metadata to our source code
-3-
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2. False confidence
n We’re so important, if they need us
they’ll find us
n Important keywords are in our content
n The cream will rise to the top
-4-
How we heard about modern SEO
n Retreat on how to increase web advertising
q to pay for increasingly expensive website
n Presentation from a general-interest medical
journal
q a non-profit (like us)
q high ethical standards (like us)
q optimized their website (unlike us)
n the result was so many ads they have a waiting list…
-5-
What modern SEO techniques can do
n Increase ranking on search engines
q Look at your web statistics; where do users come from?
We have a powerful, sophisticated search engine
BUT
many users still come in through Google and Yahoo
n Impress advertisers
q Advertisers look at numbers and quality of users
q But numbers come first
-6-
2

3. Our first steps
n We woke up and paid attention
q between 2003 and 2004, our traffic from Google
had increased 20X
n We checked out how we ranked on Google
and Yahoo
q “hip replacement ” – not within the first 100 results
q “osteoarthritis” ditto
q “fracture ” ditto
-7-
Educating ourselves
n Research
q Search Marketing Advisor (free e-mail newsletter from www.iprospect.com )
q ClickZ Experts Search Engine Marketing (free e-mail newsletter from
JupiterMedia)
q SearchEngineWatch.com (modest annual fee, 30-day free trial)
q lots more is available, and lots of it is free
q Buyer's Guide to Search Engine Optimization Firms: US, UK & Canada, 3rd
Edition, from http://sherpastore.com/store/ (they have other useful products
as well)
n Recognized we were out of our league
q could not do this ourselves
-8-
How vendors stay solvent
n Search-engine algorithms change constantly
q The engines try to improve
q They compete with each other
q They change to avoid sites that game the system but have
no content of their own
n Vendors sell you on their ability to keep up with
changing algorithms
q One-year contracts
n Set-up, optimizing your pages
n 6 months of tweaking
n 6 months of maintenance
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3

4. Our plan
n Pilot project
q maximize SEO on 10 pages
q fixed fee
q limited time
n Decided not to sign a long-term contract
q We were reluctant to commit to this
q Would it work?
q Could we live with ourselves if it did?
-10-
Qualms
n It felt commercial
n We feared we were pandering to our baser instincts
n We didn’t like the idea that we were gaming the system
q “Everyone else does it” -- but aren’t we better than everyone
else?
n We thought our users should stop using Google…
q Why don’t they like our professional search engine?
q Why don’t they bookmark our home page or search page?
q Why don’t they recognize our innate superiority??
-11-
Choosing a vendor (part 1)
n First we looked at the vendor used by
“Journal X”
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
(collective gasp)
-12-
4

5. Choosing a vendor (part 2)
n There are a lot of vendors
n Most have not worked with non-profits
n Not all adhere to the highest ethical standards…
n Communication difficulties
q They want to push products, but our product is information
-13-
What the vendor wanted to do
n Identify keywords in orthopaedics
n Match them against how frequently they are
entered into major search engines
q This changes over time and needs regular updating
n Use the matched terms in multiple locations
n Link between the pages that use the terms so the
search engines see lots of links to the pages
q Links to a page increase its rank in search results
-14-
The project itself (part 1)
n We told the vendor to race for the goal, and then we
tied his legs together and told him he had to hop …
n Could not modify the full-text pages (HighWire
hosted) where the keywords naturally occur
q Obstacles both technical and ethical
n Needed to set up new pages to use the terms
q Without decreasing the status and value of the site
-15-
5

6. The project itself (part 2)
Lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth
followed by …
Huge bursts of creative energy
resulting in…
-16-
A new structure
n Meeting our users halfway
n Acknowledging their need for shortcuts
q We are setting up ready-made search results
n The vendor optimized 10 pages
q We need to create and optimize ~40 more
-17-
Compromise
n 90% of the structure and content of our new
pages will be useful to general and
subspecialistorthopaedists
q and is also search-engine friendly
n 10% is of possible use to our core audience
q and is very search-engine friendly
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6

7. Results to date
n New site launches in September 2005
q Sorry, I cannot give details before we launch
(any competitors in the audience?)
n Increased hits and therefore increased
advertising are likely (but not assured!)
n A continued vendor relationship is possible
-19-
Conclusion
n Search engines give users what they want
n We are using the results of their research
n Opening our minds led to a better
understanding of what our users want
(we think)
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Follow-up
I’ll be happy to discuss the results after the
launch…
Mady Tissenbaum, General Manager
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Inc.
20 Pickering Street, Needham, MA 02492
madyt@jbjs.org 781 449 9780 phone
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