Hello,

I am a novice EAD encoder!  So the answer to this question may be obvious to
others with more experience in EAD or web-based authoring in general.

The question is how do we encode so it is more likely that people will find
our materials when using Google (or other search engines.)

Background: We post our finding aids in EAD through the On-Line Archive of
California.  We are trying to figure out how to ensure that our finding aids
are likely to be found by people searching for the department that we list
(for example, the California Department of Agriculture).  Because of our
conventions for naming these materials, we do not always include California
in the title of the finding aids.  Yet we are aware that there are many
Department of Agricultures in cyberspace.  We know that if people are
searching within the OAC, they will find our materials without much trouble.

But we are not certain if the same is consistently true for other materials.
Is there some method that we can use to improve the results that will still
meet EAD standards? We are considering making some minor changes in the
encoding of many of our finding aids and might be able to incorporate
suggestions into this process.

One example of a relatively "elusive" finding aid is the California Air
Resources Board -- http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf7f59n8kg

Thanks for any help this list can offer,

Lucy Barber

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Lucy Barber
Archivist
California State Archives
1020 "0" St
Sacramento, CA 95814
916-651-8419
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