Australian Local Government Association

April 2004

Executive summary

To improve the chances of information discovery of council websites and maximize council website positioning in the search results, a number of enhancements can be made to council web sites.

This document provides the list of non-metadata web site optimisation tips that can improve the discoverability of council websites in commercial search engines. This document also provides examples and reasons as to why and how these changes can be applied. These recommendations should be treated as a guide only.

Scope

The scope includes:

• Identify and explain what changes are required to council web sites to improve the chances of discoverability.
• Provide examples for each type of change required
• Provide a sample model front-page web site which avoids complexity using the suggestions in this document
• Provide information of how to make changes to domain name if required
• Provide instruction on how to register council site with DMOZ.

The scope does not include:

• This document does not cover metadata changes to council website. See Metadata Tools and Analysis for metadata changes.

Download the Non-metadata toolkit

For information regarding local government and information technology, please contact: