PDF Disclaimer
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files. See EPA's PDF page for more information about getting and using the free Acrobat Reader.
Site Help
Topics
Glossary
Site Map
Many links on the Web Guide are available to EPA Intranet users only. If you are an outside contractor working for EPA, please contact your EPA representative for more information. If you are another federal agency or other party interested in EPA's web policies and procedures, please contact EPA through the "Contact Us" page on this site.
Questions?
Web or WebCMS Questions?
Email the EPA Call Center
1-866-411-4EPA (4372).
Computer Questions?
Call CTS
1-866-955-4CTS (4287).
Metadata Frequently Asked Questions
Metadata should provide succinct, descriptive information of an HTML page or PDF document. Metadata is used to describe the page it lives on, not an entire web area, site, or TSSMS account. Having metadata can influence and improve search results, as well as give you greater control over your content.
Find information about
Drupal WebCMS Metadata.
Frequent Questions:
- Creating Metadata
- Keywords and Search Engines
- Metadata at EPA
How do I create good metadata?
What are the required metadata fields?
The required metadata fields are:
Top of page
How do I create metadata for foreign language documents?
As a best practice, you should always try to create metadata in the language of the document itself. However, there are some exceptions:
- Since most systems do not allow special characters, document in non-Western languages require English metadata. We suggest adding a note to your title and description fields, such as "Chinese translation of..."
- Also due to the limitation on special characters, accent marks or other diacritical marks must be omitted.
- For HTML documents, use the exact English terms for Channel and Content Type.
Top of page
Do I need to use Channels and Content Type outside of the Web CMS?
Yes. Both Channels and Content Type are required fields for HTML files created outside of the Web CMS. Both can be used to filter search results dynamically with EPA's search engine, allowing users to refine and target their searches. Whenever we reach a critical mass of correct metadata, we can turn on new search filters for EPA content.
In Template 4, the four channels identified in the Information Architecture are now used as global navigation. Web editors for these channels will continue to improve the content of the four Channel areas as more EPA content is tagged.
Content Type is also tied to the content review schedule (See: Web Content Types and Review Procedure). Even outside of Web CMS, web owners are required to follow this procedure for reviewing, updating, and removing web content.
Outside of Web CMS, the content type metadata will be used to create automatic lists of content, syndication feeds such as RSS, and in potential ROT identification. Within Web CMS, content type.
Top of page
Do I need metadata in the Web CMS for GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TXT, XLS, etc. file types?
No. You only need the full metadata for HTML and PDF files. The other file types have file properties, such as Alt text.
Top of page
If I use a specific keyword will my page come up first for that search term?
Having metadata and getting to first place in search results is not a direct relationship. Metadata can influence and improve search results, but it does not guarantee them.
Absolutely critical terms should be in your title or description fields. The keyword field reinforces important terms from the content of your document. If
users are searching by terms not in your document, just adding that term to the keywords field is ineffectual. Adding too many keywords, or keywords not found in the actual content, can negatively impact your results in outside search engines, as they try to filter out spam and irrevalant results.
For more about influencing search results in EPA's search, see Improving Your Page's Relevancy Rank
Top of page
What is search engine optimization (SEO) and how can it help me?
At a basic level, SEO is about creating good content, written for your specific user, that is highly linked to by other sites. This means understanding the search terms your users employ and using that same language in your HTML or PDF document. Your page titles, metadata title, and metadata description should include critical search terms.
Not only is it important that your page is linked to, but it also matters that the keywords you target are used in the link text. You should write good, meaningful links on your page-- and give external websites a leg up in linking to you by creating smart, content-rich titles to your pages.
SEO is not about including every possible keyword in your metadata. In fact, very few search engines include meta tags in their ranking algorithms because of this kind of spamming. Some unscrupulous SEO services promise good results by creating fake pages that flood the internet with links to your site or they "hide" text and links in the code, falsifying search results for those keywords. Meta tags are, however, very important for EPA's search engine and will affect your search results.
Read more:
Top of page
Why do we need metadata?
Metadata gives you more control over your content, tying it to EPA's Information Architecture (IA) and content review schedules.
It also improves your page rank in EPA's Google Search Appliance (GSA). The GSA will use the metadata to make connections between your document and the search query. However, metadata must be supported by the terms in your document to get the full benefit. Read more about improving page rank.
Metadata is required for any content published through the WebCMS.
Metadata supports the OneEPA Web restructuring effort. Read the April 2010 Memo: Restructuring EPA's Web Site. For pages outside of the OneEPA structure, the redesign process requires PDF metadata review and certification.
Top of page
What are the main issues with metadata at EPA?
- Missing: there is no metadata at all.
- Incomplete: some fields are filled out, usually just the HTML title tag, but others are left empty.
- Incorrect:
- Most commonly, the title and description are the same within a single page or document.
- The metadata is repeated, exactly, for every page or document within the entire web area or TSSMS.
- Metadata tags are being used incorrectly, such as the subject field being used for keywords in PDF documents or non-WCMS pages using web taxonomy fields ("DC.Subject.xxxx") as open keyword fields.
Check your metadata!
Top of page
How are EPA's Information Architecture, Web Taxonomy, and metadata related?
The agency-wide Information Architecture (IA) functions as an over-arching top layer for EPA's web content. The IA provides a framework for EPA to present topically-related web content from various offices and regions via a unified interface. This unified top layer co-exists with, not replaces, the multiple discrete web areas that comprise the EPA web site. The IA starts with these four main information channels:
- Learn the Issues
- Laws & Regulations
- Science & Technology
- About EPA
In Template 4, the four channels identified in the IA are now used as global navigation. Web editors for these channels will continue to improve the content of the four Channel areas as more EPA content is tagged.
The EPA Web Taxonomy allows audiences easy access to relevant information from EPA programs, by using a common vocabulary to describe EPA web content. The specification includes the core metadata elements that are required to find, use and manage items on EPA's website. The controlled vocabularies and the metadata specification are collectively known as the EPA Web Taxonomy.
The Web Taxonomy is closely tied to the IA, in that the selected terms help feed the content to the IA. IA is the structure and organization of the content. Taxonomy is how content is tagged for search and retrieval in the CMS and the web site.
Top of page
In the Web Taxonomy, why is there no "general public" term in the audience facet?
Labeling content for the "general public" does not add value to EPA content. All of our public access pages, unless otherwise specified, are for the general public.
What we want to do is note those pages that are for a specific subset of the general public, such as Kids or Businesses. Having that metadata will allow us to create content collections segmented to those audiences.
