Digital books are split into individual resources, generally representing specific portions of the work (a page, a chapter, etc.), known as Content Documents. Each resource file must include metadata in its source code to describe it or provide information about it. This is the description metadata which, as its name implies, describes the page.

Objectives

• Enable search and indexing tools to extract information about page content.
• Enhance content processing by search engines and indexing tools.
• Improve the search results.

Implementation

• During content creation, draft a short description for each portion of the book.
• During production, populate the <meta name="description" content="..."> tag, or a functionally equivalent element, with a description of the content.

Control

• Inspect the source code of each page (using browser developer tools, for example) to ensure the <meta name="description" content="..."> tag or an equivalent is present.
• Check that the text within this tag accurately describes the page content, either specifically or generically.