Metadata Management

As Enterprise Content Governance (ECoG) specialists, we at Vamosa clearly understand the benefits of findability. However we also realize it is all too frequently under-valued or worse completely overlooked by many. We are possibly too engrossed in our day-to-day activities and findability is simply lost in the list of ‘to-do’s’, or maybe it is on the agenda but carries a negative connotation because it’s perceived as search engine optimization (SEO) grunt work. In any case findability is left at the sidelines because we don’t understand where or how to fit it into our process.

At the most basic level, the goal of findability is to connect your audience with the content you create and the things you write, design and build.  When you produce relevant and valuable content, present it in an accessible format, provide tools that facilitate content exchange and portability you are ensuring that you break the communications clutter and that you are reaching your audience with your message. Our PDF on ECOG-Framework shows you the process in stages of how to do this.

Ignoring findability is like shouting over static noise, hoping that someone passing by might catch a hint of its message. To further complicate the chances of reaching your target audience, a barrage of other web sites are vying for the same commodity—attention.

Findability is a complicated matter that touches every sub-category of our industry, and everyone involved with your web estate has a part to play in making it more findable—this includes project managers, information architects, copywriters, designers, developers, and usability experts. Findability can’t be put off to the end of a project and it can’t be fobbed off as SEO.  Here is some content enhancing information to mull over while you think about your web structure, streamlining content, making the language easy to understand, putting the most important information first, and meta-tagging each page with relevant terms. Meta-tagging is a big and important issue with being found don’t let it be the elephant in the room no-one talks about. Get prepared and have a read at this excellent educational article which explains how search engines find your information and all the different ways your content can help your search ranking. Failing to do so may result in your website being a waste of time and money otherwise. There’s more bang for your buck in educating everyone on your team about the benefits of findability, and their role in achieving its goals.

Speaking of bucks, there’s money to be made by finding a place for findability in your web sites life-cycle. The more findable your content is, the more likely it will be the commercial success you’d hoped. Users will appreciate having clear and concise content and it makes finding information about your services and what you ‘offer’ easier, essentially giving the people what they want. It could be what separates you from the competition, and may help your organization win more business.

These bottom-line benefits make findability an easy sell to a production team and clients alike, and can be summed up with a simple equation:

Findable content = Increased ROI

What’s not to like about that?

However in order for findability to be effective, it needs to be understood and embraced by all who plan, design, and build on the web. Despite this, when you consider the possible potential benefits of findabiity, it’s easy to see why you should care about being found.