Web indexing

Web indexing, or Internet indexing, comprises methods for indexing the contents of a website or of the Internet as a whole. Individual websites or intranets may use a back-of-the-book index, while search engines usually use keywords and metadata to provide a more useful vocabulary for Internet or onsite searching. With the increase in the number of periodicals that have articles online, web indexing is also becoming important for periodical websites.^[1]

Back-of-the-book-style web indexes may be called "web site A-Z indexes".^[2] The implication with "A-Z" is that there is an alphabetical browse view or interface. This interface differs from that of a browse through layers of hierarchical categories (also known as a taxonomy) which are not necessarily alphabetical, but are also found on some web sites. Although an A-Z index could be used to index multiple sites, rather than the multiple pages of a single site, this is unusual.

Metadata web indexing involves assigning keywords, description or phrases to web pages or web sites within a metadata tag (or "meta-tag") field, so that the web page or web site can be retrieved with a list. This method is commonly used by search engine indexing.^[3]

See also

• Automatic indexing
• Information architecture
• Search engine optimization
• On-page Optimization
• Google Webmaster
• Site map
• Web navigation
• Web search engine
• Information retrieval

Further reading

• Beyond Book Indexing: How to Get Started in Web Indexing, Embedded Indexing, and Other Computer-Based Media, edited by Marilyn Rowland and Diane Brenner, American Society of Indexers, Info Today, Inc, NJ, 2000, ISBN 1-57387-081-1
• An example of an Internet Index A-Z

References

1. "Web Crawlers:Indexing the Web".
2. Kundu, Malay Kumar; Mohapatra, Durga Prasad; Konar, Amit; Chakraborty, Aruna (2014-05-26). Advanced Computing, Networking and Informatics- Volume 1: Advanced Computing and Informatics Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Advanced Computing, Networking and Informatics (ICACNI-2014). Springer. ISBN 9783319073538.
3. "Indexing the Web | American Society for Indexing". www.asindexing.org. Retrieved 2015-11-25.

4. What is Website Indexing?