Help Your Threads Get More Search Hits with
Better Titles and Thread Tags!
(and improve XDA search functionality for free!)
Better Titles and Thread Tags!
(and improve XDA search functionality for free!)
Nobody likes being told "Why didn't you search before posting?" only to have to explain that they did in fact search
but couldn't find anything relevant. I am not going to say search on XDA is the greatest thing ever but it is not nearly
as bad as some posters here think. It could get a lot better over time if everyone did a couple of simple things that are free.
The first thing is to use good thread titles.
Using good thread titles is a last attempt at searching before you post a new thread. Thread titles such as "[Q]" or "Need Help!"
will actually keep people from opening your thread! This shows members that you didn't search for an answer to your problem.
Members here will assume that you have put the same amount of work into your title as you have put into documenting and
solving your problem and they will simply move on to the next thread.
Here are 3 Thread Title suggestions that can help get you better results and solutions.
1. Make it Descriptive!!
When you type in a thread title and then click in the post section, a search shows you threads with similar titles to what you
just typed in. How many threads do you think there are with titles like "[Q]" or "Need Help!" ?
Type in a good title and see what threads are suggested. Type slightly different thread titles and check the searched thread results. The best result here
is to not have to open a new thread at all, but if you do not find a thread which is similar to your problem or recent enough
that you can post in it and get a good answer, then please use a good title for your thread.
2. Include [TAGS] so people can identify it more easily. h/t AllGamer for a more complete list
[Q] or [QUESTION] - All Questions
[REQ] - Requests topics for ROM ports, INFO, THEME, MOD, etc.
[GUIDE] or [HOWTO] - How to do instructions or Guides for newbies
[SOLVED] - for issues that have been fixed or [Q] that have been answered
3. Remember that your target audience is worldwide.
XDA members live around the world in every country. English is probably not their first language. I find it best to use
common words if I have a choice of wording, especially if they are using Google Translate.
The second thing we can all do is more use of thread tags.
I have noticed that many threads do not have thread tags so I think most users don't know about them. This only works with
the XDA website, not the XDA app. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page of most threads, you will most likely see this:
If you were to click on the Edit Tags button, you would find that you could add 5 tags as an OP or Original Poster of the thread.
Threads can have up to 25 tags of 50 characters each, but most threads have none at all, so they don't get
indexed optimally by the search engine.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The admins have changed the tagging policy so that the OP can add 5 tags, or RC's can add 2 tags.
Mods can of course edit/add any tags as needed. I am asking all RC's to please join in this effort and add tags for anyone that requests it.
Tags should be keywords or phrases that people search for. If those keywords or phrases are linked to your threads then
your threads will be higher in the listed search results. This is really important for guide threads.
This is a little better, but since it is a new user guide there are more tags that could be added there, such as "new user guide",
"where to get started", "starting on xda", "how to get 10 posts".
When people search for those terms, I want them to find that guide, so I need to get those phrases added as thread tags.
If there is a guide in your forums that new users need to find, please some tags to it to help the new people find them,
such as "new user guide for sgs3", "how to flash firmware on a sensation", "all onex users start here", "root guide for droid2".
When users search for those terms we want them to find the guides instead of opening new threads. Good thread tags will help do this.
You can add tags to any thread. Please add good ones.
Anyone that would like additional thread tags added can post requests in their threads with any requested tag terms,
members here can easily help with that, or ask one of the Recognized Contributors and they can help you out with that.
Thank you for helping with this effort. Every time you do these things the search index will be updated and improve the results
for everyone on XDA. This is a valuable contribution to the community every time you do it..
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