Hack20.Define Useful Page Names and Content Groups


Hack 20. Define Useful Page Names and Content Groups

Make sure that everyone in your organization can decipher your page and content group names.

One aspect of implementations that is often overlooked is the importance of establishing meaningful page names and content groupings. Fight the temptation to take shortcuts during implementation, and instead strive to define useful and human-readable names for your web pages. For example, rather than allowing the overworked implementation team to create incomprehensible page names like pv_133221, invest the few extra seconds it takes to make a more meaningful name like Product View: Product ID 133221. TRanslating developer-speak into human-readable names dramatically increases the likelihood that non-techies will be able to make use of the information.

2.8.1. Good Names, Bad Names, I Know You've Had Your Share

If you're using a web measurement solution based on a JavaScript page tag [Hack #28], make sure you actually set a page name programmatically instead of using the document <TITLE> or script name (for example, index.asp) and always make sure you follow any directions your vendor provides regarding the script, such as converting spaces and removing illegal characters. If your data source is a web server logfile, you start at a disadvantage; generating useful page names usually requires some type of translation table [Hack #22]. Some examples of good and bad page names include:


index.html

BAD. This default filename provides little or no insight into what content is presented to the visitor. Even when this page is reported in context of the document location (/products/productA/details/index.html), it is only nominally better.


index.asp?skuid=45552cb122

BAD. This default filename, again, even in context, because of its dependence on the information contained in the query string (skuid=45552cb122), is perhaps the worst possible page name. Without some kind of translation, the reader will have no idea what the visitor saw when this page was requested.


Shoes Home Page | Shoe Company.com | The Online Leader in Shoes and Socks

BETTER. This page name, likely pulled directly from the document's HTML <TITLE> tag, at least lets the reader know that they're looking at the "Shoe Home Page." The problem with the name is the extraneous information (| Shoe Company.com| The Online Leader in Shoes and Socks), which provides no additional value to the reader and will likely be repeated throughout a page report.


Nike Air Jordan product view (SKU 45552cb122)

BEST. This page name tells you everything you need to know: what type of page it was (a product view), which product was seen (Nike Air Jordans), and even the specific SKU for the product (45552cb122). It's human readable, insightful, and brief.

Content groups are virtual containers for your web pages that are similar to your directory structure or the folders on your computer. Content groups can also be tricky. Sometimes it's actually a good idea to leverage your document path (the /products/shoes/mens/running in http://www.shoes.com/products/shoes/mens/running/index.html), especially when your web developers have been moderately thoughtful in how they've organized pages. Problems arise, however, when sites are generated dynamically or built from content management systems. In these instances, translation is necessary to make content groupings useful to nontechnical users. Treat content groups the same way you treat page names whenever possible, defining human-readable, insightful, and brief names for each content group.

2.8.2. Rules for Naming Pages and Content Groups

Here are a handful of page naming guidelines to help you create more meaningful page names:


Use human-readable names.

Your page and content group names shouldn't require any special knowledge of your web site's underlying technology.


Be consistent in your naming.

Try not to vary your page naming conventions, including use of whitespace and case, from page to page. This is most often a problem on dynamically generated sites where different templates are used.


Be brief, but not too brief.

Try to use relatively short page names to increase the chance that the full name will appear in the reporting interface, but remember that the page name needs to be descriptive enough to identify one page in a hundred (or a thousand, or ten thousand).


Greater granularity often answers deeper questions.

Especially in content grouping, if you have to choose between "flat" and "deep, " go deep. Since many web measurement applications provide page view, visit, and visitor metrics for individual content groups, take advantage of this whenever possible and increase your chances of answering the "How many visitors saw these pages?" question.


Once you've selected the names, don't change them.

Changing page names makes it difficult to trend traffic to pages over time. Some vendors allow you to edit the names of things via the reporting interface, but this often creates problems down the road.

When in doubt, remember that simplicity rules the day. You may also want to read Information Architecture and the World Wide Web (O'Reilly) for more information about naming pages and content groups and how, in general, to think about the relationship between information and site visitation.



    Web Site Measurement Hacks
    Web Site Measurement Hacks: Tips & Tools to Help Optimize Your Online Business
    ISBN: 0596009887
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 157

    flylib.com © 2008-2017.
    If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net