search contradictions/reverse effects, etc.

external search vs. site search

[ritualcoffee]

I work inhouse for a rather "large" company and I've always struggled finding information here that is balanced between optimizing for external search engines (yahoo, google, etc.) and site searches (verity, google appliance, etc) as well as other considerations like 508 compliance (especially if you rely on govt contracts).

For example,

take the normal question of how long can a title tag or a descrip tag be? or can we stuff some keywords in the alt tag? The typical answers that I see are geared to external engines understandably but if internal site searches are taken into consideration the conversation could get deeper.

To get the point - is there enough of an audience here that deals with these issues to warrant a forum or am I lost out there by myself? ;)

[jeremy goodrich]

If you are optimizing for the internal search engine, there are several options / trade offs to be considered.

1) cloak for the internal engine
2) optimize for both (stuff alt tags, etc)
3) leverage a tool that gives better results / matches the external indexing

As far as I know, you can configure all of the above tools you mentioned, and as long as you are publishing the proper meta data, keywords, description, etc - then it should work out OK.

What issues are you currently having that necessitate the 'alt tag stuffing'?

(disclaimer: I optimize for external engines only).

[edit_g]

I've always found that Verity works really well with Google optimised content. <edit>This is a relatively small DB I'm talking about, around 30,000 pages[/edit]. We've got the two of them loving our sites at the same time. If you're that worried about it how about using Google for your internal/site searches as well?

[edited by: edit_g at 9:02 pm (utc) on June 24, 2003]

[ritualcoffee]

Those example issues are not anything I am having issues with at the moment - just examples.

If you are doing search for a large corporation - the site search is just as important as external search engines in the eyes of those with the budget. As well as other issues like 508 compliance and it's ever evolving impact on seo.
Also, if you are optimizing for keywords - you have to consider behavior in external engines as well as your site search (my experience has shown quite a difference in search behavior between the two)

I was wondering if those issues should have a place in this community.

[jeremy goodrich]

You can make a safe bet that there are other members with the same issues.

Post away & I'm sure you can get some help with the issues you are having. :)

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