Search Engine Optimization Rebecca Blanchette SEO and Analytics Specialist Carnegie Communications @beccablanchette
What Is SEO Anyway? The short answer: Search Engine Optimization refers to the process of optimizing your website so it is visible to search engines.
The Long Answer SEO is about more than just showing up in the SERP.
SEO Is Also About Making users want to click on your result when you show up.
And It s About Providing useful information that matches what users are looking for.
And It s Also About Having a website that is easy to navigate, learn more about, and request info from.
SEO and User Experience The same things that make a good user experience make for good SEO!
What Factors Make Up UX?
User Experience Starts in the SERP Let s start with how prospective students begin their search
How Students Search As students search, they narrow down what exactly they are looking for.
What s the Long Tail? MBA programs MBA joint degree programs in Pennsylvania with engineering focus
What Are Some Long-Tail Factors? Program Location Funding
Branded Search Students also may search with your brand name if they have encountered you already from a paid advertisement, billboard, e-mail, college fair, etc.
Searching With School Name Student knows your name and wants to find out if you offer the program they are looking for.
Back to User Experience *How* you show up in Google is just as important as showing up at all!
Meta Titles and Descriptions Meta Title: Meta Description:
Why Does Metadata Matter? Meta titles and descriptions form a prospective student s first impression of your website and even your institution.
Metadata Matters This is your chance to market to students while they re already looking for what you offer and where they re already looking!
Click Through Metadata is your chance to entice prospective students to click through to your site.
How Do You Customize Metadata? Length is important! Meta titles should be 56 60 characters, while meta descriptions should be 150 160.
Avoid Ellipses Longer titles and descriptions will be replaced with ellipses.
How Do You Implement Metadata? Every CMS is different. The easiest way is to install a metadata plugin, though sometimes customizing metadata takes some recoding.
Metadata Top Tips: #1 Titles should always contain your name after a bar at the end for brand recognition.
Metadata Top Tips: #2 Titles and descriptions should be a combination of the program name and other keywords that have high search volume. TITLE: Online MBA Part-Time Program Lehigh University DESCRIPTION: Lehigh s part-time Flex MBA program can be completed on campus or online. Learn more about the constantly changing landscape of global business today!
Metadata Top Tips: #3 Include a call to action in your description! Learn more now! Schedule a campus visit! Request info today! Explore program options now!
Metadata Top Tips: #4 Make sure you don t have duplicates. Every page should have unique metadata. Google can penalize you for duplicate content.
Metadata Top Tips: #5 Think of the way students are searching. Remember, metadata only shows up in search, so you can use language that may not be custom internally.
The Curse of Knowledge The ways students search are not necessarily the same ways you would. The way you talk about your institution internally is not necessarily the way students talk about it. Renewable Engineering Green Energy Program Liberal Arts Program General college degree program
The Infamous Bounce Rate SEO is not just about people finding you in search but people staying on your website when they get there! If a user clicks on your search result, lands on your page, and leaves without visiting any other page (or clicks back to the SERP), this will register as a bounce.
Bounce Rate Bounce rate is a buzz phrase, as high bounce rates are seen as undesirable. The real reasoning behind this is user experience. Google wants to serve up results that are useful to users. If a user clicks off your site right away, that indicates a bad experience. That s why it is important that your metadata match the content on the corresponding webpage.
What Else Is Part of Google s Algorithm? URL names and breadcrumbs Page errors and redirects Keyword stuffing Mobile responsiveness and speed Image optimization and accessibility
URL Names Does your URL contain your main keyword? Example: www.schoolname.edu/mseco Revision: www.schoolname.edu/masters-ineconomics
Breadcrumbs? Academics in breadcrumb but not in URL, which can cause bot crawling issues
Page Errors What pages on your site are leading to 404 errors?
Redirects Have 301 redirects been set up properly? schoolname.edu/mseco schoolname.edu/ma sters-in-economics
Un-stuff Your Keyword Meta Tag college, university, campus, life, fun, school, New York, dorms, clubs, school, education, football, admission, student, apply, bachelor s degree, master s degree, academics
Don t Keyword Stuff Your Content KEYWORD-STUFFED DESCRIPTION Carnegie University offers English major, Creative Writing major, and Literature major options. Come be an English major in our department today and take courses in Creative Writing and Literature! DESCRIPTION WITH KEYWORDS Carnegie University offers two English major degree paths: one that gives you the option to specialize in Literature and the other in Creative Writing. Come join our talented community of scholars and students!
Mobile Responsiveness Is your site mobile friendly? If not, it s time to redesign!
Test If Your Site Is Mobile Friendly! You can test if your site is mobile friendly by visiting https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly.
Mobile Speed What s your page speed on both desktop and mobile? Students will only wait a couple of seconds for a page to load before clicking away!
ALT Text: Do Your Images Have It?
Why Does ALT Text Matter? It s about more than SEO. It s also about:
All of the technical aspects covered ensure that your site *can* be optimized. Content actually does the optimizing. Not only that, content accounts for so much of a user s experience on your site!
Evaluate Your Content
Prospects Are Searching for Content!
Do Your Webpages Contain All the Information Students Are Looking For?
Are You Speaking Each Unique Audience s Language? Traditional undergraduate Adult undergraduate Online undergraduate Full-time master s Part-time master s Online master s Doctorate
Full-Time Master s Program What do these prospective students care about? Funding Assistantships Research facilities Faculty Master s-to-doctorate track options Conference and travel funding
Part-Time Master s Program What do these prospective students care about? Career advancement Evening classes Weekend options 1-year completion options Location Cost
Does Your Content Match Their Search Query?
Remember You don t want them to bounce!
Once They Land on Your Website
Is It Easy to Navigate to Other Pages on Your Site?
Is the Information Easy to Consume?
Is It Easy to Request Info or Learn More?
Good Writing Google can tell good writing from bad, so pay attention to spelling, grammar, and sentence structure!
Focused Pages Carnegie assisted Lehigh in creating a separate MBA in Engineering page and a separate MBA in Educational Leadership page.
Evaluate Your Content to Ensure All Pages Are Still Relevant
Old Event Pages Big Culprits
Redirect or De-index Old Pages and Pages With Duplicate Content You could have content living under multiple URLs without knowing it. http://www.schoolname.edu https://www.schoolname.edu http://schoolname.edu https://schoolname.edu http://www.schoolname.edu/english-department http://www.schoolname.edu/englishdepartment
Make Sure Every Page Has at Least 300 Words
In a Nutshell
SEO and User Experience Go Hand-in-Hand
Technical Website Components, Such as Metadata, Are Very Important
Both Google and Prospective Students Are Looking for Good Content
Questions?