I don't know how different this is for public vs. academic libraries, but we get 35% of our traffic from search. So being searchable on the open web is kind of critical. If you're not in a position to get these numbers for your own site, you could check with some peers at other institutions and find out what percentage of their traffic comes through search. Genny Engel Sonoma County Library [log in to unmask] 707 545-0831 x1581 www.sonomalibrary.org -----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lauren Magnuson Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 12:41 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Academic Library Website Question Agree - you'd still need evidence to convince the powers that be. To get some data to that end, maybe some snapshot usability observation where you sit down a handful of users at a computer (better yet, on a tablet/mobile device) and ask them to find the library's website (ensuring that the browser doesn't default to university.edu). Observe their strategy - do they go to university.edu and click around, or do they Google? Or do they use the university.edu search box (which is often a Google site search, playing by the same rules)? If your users are Googling, having that data in hand might provide an argument that your page should be Google-able and you should have some more visibility/control. Or you could set up some dummy sites and Google bomb yourself :). (Joking. Kind of.) -Lauren