A comparative study on the indexing and ranking of the content objects including the MARCXML and Dublin Core's metadata elements by general search engines

The purpose of this research was to assess and compare the indexing and ranking of XML‐based content objects containing MARCXML and XML‐based Dublin Core (DCXML) metadata elements by general search engines (Google and Yahoo!), in a comparative analytical study.

One hundred XML content objects in two groups were analyzed: those with MARCXML elements (50 records) and those with DCXML (50 records) published on two web sites (www.dcmixml.islamicdoc.org and www.marcxml.islamicdoc.org).The web sites were then introduced to the Google and Yahoo! search engines.

The indexing of metadata records and the difference between their indexing and ranking were examined using descriptive statistics and a non‐parametric Mann‐Whitney U test. The findings show that the visibility of content objects was possible by all their metadata elements. There was no significant difference between two groups' indexing, but a difference was observed in terms of ranking.

The findings of this research can help search engine designers in the optimum use of metadata elements to improve their indexing and ranking process with the aim of increasing availability. The findings can also help web content object providers in the proper and efficient use of metadata systems.

This is the first research to examine the interoperability between XML‐based metadata and web search engines, and compares the MARC format and DCMI in a research approach.