Why DITA Short Descriptions Get Results

Why are short descriptions important and how do you craft them properly? This infographic touches on a few of the topics that were discussed during the Short Descriptions webinar hosted by JANA’s Joe Storbeck and IXIASOFT’s Keith Schengili-Roberts.

Infographic in Text Format

Why DITA Short Descriptions Get Results

Tells Readers Why They Should Read Your Topic
Effective short descriptions provide enough context for a reader to understand what the topic conveys. A short description that contains keywords will help the reader identify whether the topic contains information useful to them.

Improves Your Product’s Review & Sales
Help your readers determine whether a topic is pertinent to their needs and find the information they need easily. Good short descriptions enhance the overall customer experience of a product, leading to satisfied users, good reviews, and improved sales.

Helps Content Creators Find Content for Reuse
Reusing content effectively is a chief benefit of DITA, helping content creators find existing content to use in their own document. Enhanced search in some content repositories or content management systems can return short descriptions along with topic titles.

Improves Search Engine Results
Short descriptions appear within search engine results and are important to enhancing Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If absent, the first sentence or two appears by default instead, rarely summarizing what the content of a topic is about.