Hi! Welcome to our project. Experience with search engine optimization (SEO) led to the question “what if the principles of SEO apply to academic writing as well”? If Google, the de facto creator of SEO principles, is truly looking at the behaviors of web users and adjusting its search algorithm based on their preferences, then it seems logical that at least some of Google’s findings would apply in an academic setting.
Naively thinking we were the first to consider this possibility, we launched a study to test this hypothesis using the legal articles we dealt with regularly as academic law librarians. The results of our study quickly showed us that we were on to something. Of course, not all SEO principles correlate perfectly to academia, and academic authors have considerations that the average web user does not.
Along the way to completing our study, we also found that we were definitely not the first to examine and test how factors other than quality impact citations. In fact, there are many other studies in this area. However, no one was truly focused on presenting these studies and their findings to busy academic authors. Further, the studies did not all agree. Who has the time to wade through loads of studies looking for the “correct” answer? Hence the need for this website and the concept of “academic citation optimization” or ACO. We want to level the playing field by giving easy access to factors that may impact academic citations.
Are we missing an important article? Did we misinterpret something? If you have noticed an error or have a suggestion to improve this site, please let us know. We're always looking to improve - just EMAIL US.