Improving SEO of Library Catalogs Using Google Search Console: Action Research on the OPAC of the National library and Archives of Iran (NLAI)

Due to the fact that library catalogs are often hidden in the invisible web, the purpose of the present research has been increasing visibility and findability of bibliographic records of Online Public Access Catalog’s (OPAC) of the NLAI. Also, SEO components (i.e. visibility, ranking and click through rate) were measured in Google before and after using the Google Search Console.  The research method is action research. Bibliographic records of NLAI Sitemaps were submitted to Google Search Console. Lewin's three steps (planning, execution and evaluation) were used to design the research steps.  Less than four months from submission, a fivefold increase (from 17948 to 90330) in indexing records was observed. During this period, 4% of URL sitemaps submitted to Google Search Console were indexed. This number is increasing daily. From the perspective of other SEO components (ranking and click-through rate), the ranking decreased from 7.8 to 8.6. Also the click-through rate decreased from 12.5% to 11.1%. The highest click-through rate was for desktop with 19.3%.  Click-through rate is calculated by dividing number of clicks by the number of impressions. As the number of impression of OPAC in Search Engine Results Pages increased due to the indexing of records, the number of clicks must also increase in order to achieve a high click-through rate. The click-through rate increases the OPAC’s NLAI ranking from eighth to first to third. By improving the infrastructure and addressing the problems with tags and meta tags, ranking could increase. Doubling the click-through rate on desktop compared to mobile phone is also a warning to the National Library of Iran to fundamentally changes its OPAC architecture. This structure was designed fifteen years ago and needs to be redesigned. Nowadays, to be mobile friendly is a highly important characteristic in Google rankings. The NLAI like other OPACs in the world, needs strategic and continuous planning for high visibility and ranking on the web