# GitHub Repository Discoverability Factors (Practical Reference) This reference captures empirically useful factors for GitHub repository discoverability. GitHub does not publish a full ranking formula. ## High-Signal Metadata - Repository name clarity and intent match. - Description specificity and keyword fit. - Repository topics relevance and completeness (up to 20). - Homepage URL quality and consistency. - Social preview quality for share CTR. ## README Signals - Strong opening summary (what it is, who it is for, why it matters). - Query-aligned language for target use cases. - Clear installation and quickstart path. - Proof of utility (examples, artifacts, screenshots, outcomes). - Contributor onboarding clarity (CONTRIBUTING, issue templates). ## Trust and Maintenance Signals - Community profile completion (README, LICENSE, contribution policy, code of conduct, security policy). - Release cadence and recency. - Clear support path (issues/discussions/support docs). - Citation metadata (`CITATION.cff`) for academic and professional reuse. ## Activity and Social Signals - Stars and forks as adoption proxies. - Contributor activity and issue/PR responsiveness. - Watchers and discussion activity. These are directional indicators and should not be treated as direct ranking weights. ## Measurement Guidance - Track query-position trends weekly with a fixed query set. - Track conversion from views to stars/forks. - Archive traffic snapshots daily or every 48h due GitHub retention limits. - Run one experiment at a time and evaluate causal impact before stacking additional changes. ## Anti-Hallucination Rules - Never claim definitive ranking weights. - Distinguish observed evidence from inferred hypothesis. - Mark API-limited sections as unknown, not failed.