Dublin Core and Google SEO

Question

What do you think, is Google using Dublin Core tags when indexing site ? Are these tags (DC.description etc) important for Google ?

Thanks.

Answer 1

I'm assuming you're talking about this: http://dublincore.org/

It's certain that Google are NOT using that in their indexing. I've never heard of them before, never heard Google mention them, and there is no mention of Google or search engines on that site.

That's not to say Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc will never implement them. Google is using more metadata and rich snippets these days. Although from a quick look, they appear unnecessarily complex so it probably won't happen.

Answer 2

The above answers may apply to Google Web Search, but it is worth noting that Google Scholar does use Dublin Core tags (reluctantly) in indexing content. From their indexing guidelines:

Use Dublin Core tags (e.g., DC.title) as a last resort - they work poorly for journal papers because Dublin Core doesn't have unambiguous fields for journal title, volume, issue, and page numbers. To check that these tags are present, visit several abstracts and view their HTML source.