Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) & Improving UP rankings

1. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) & Improving UP rankings Emmerentia Nel - April 2010

2. International – users start at a search engine 88% of the time

3. SEO focus • Get your site listed as high as possible in SERPs for important queries. • Jacob Niellsen

5. Search engine optimization is often about making small modifications to parts of your website. When viewed individually, these changes might seem like incremental improvements, but when combined with other optimizations, they could have a noticeable impact on your site's user experience and performance in organic search results. Google

6. SEO and more.. • Beyond a top listing, you need two things: • Users must click the link and actually visit your site. (CTR = clickthrough rate.) • Once they arrive, your site must convert users from visitors into customers (bounce rates).

7. UP Feb & March 2010

8. Improve SEO • Create unique, accurate page titles • Make use of the "description" meta tag • Make your site easier to navigate • Offer quality content and services • Write better anchor text • Use heading tags appropriately Google

9. Titles and tags • Selecting the first 2 words for your page titles is probably the highest-impact ROI-boosting design decision you make in a Web project. Front-loading important keywords trumps most other design considerations. • Writing the first 2 words of summaries runs a close second. Here, too, you might want to succumb to passive voice if it lets you pull key terms into the lead. AB

11. Choosing keywords • Research – find the words your industry, students & other clients use • Choose your keywords before you write your content • Who is the best person to choose keywords? Ask everybody! • Spell correctly! • Use plurals

12. Good practices for site navigation • Create a naturally flowing hierarchy - Make it as easy as possible for users to go from general content to the more specific content they want on your site. • Use mostly text for navigation - Controlling most of the navigation from page to page on your site through text links makes it easier for search engines to crawl and understand your site.

13. Good practices for content • Write easy-to-read text - Users enjoy content that is well written and easy to follow. • Stay organized around the topic • Use relevant language - Think about the words that a user might search for to find a piece of your content • Create fresh, unique content - New content will not only keep your existing visitor base coming back, but also bring in new visitors.

14. Use Old Words When Writing for Findability • Familiar words spring to mind when users create their search queries. • "Speak the user's language“ -use keywords that match users' search queries. • The fact that the Web is a linguistic environment further increases the importance of using the right vocabulary. Alertbox.com

15. Winston Churchill said that "short words are best and the old words when short are best of all."Churchill was talking about how to write punchy prose, not about SEO. To be found, precise words are often better than short words Jacob Niellsen

16. Language of SEO • Play down marketese and internal vocabulary. Call a spade a spade, not a digging implement. Certainly not an excavation solution. Alertbox.com

17. Language of SEO cont. Avoid "politically (or academically) correct“ terminology. When writing about accessibility, for example, talk about blind users or low-vision users, not visually challenged users. First, nobody searches for a made-up phrase like "visually challenged." Second, "blind" and "low-vision" are more precise: they refer to two separate groups of people.

18. Passive Voice in titles • Active voice is best for most Web content, but using passive voice can let you front-load important keywords in headings, blurbs, and lead sentences. This enhances scannability and thus SEO effectiveness.

19. Good practices for link/anchor text • Choose descriptive text - The anchor text you use for a link should provide at least a basic idea of what the page linked to is about. • Write concise text - Aim for short but descriptive text—usually a few words or a short phrase. • Format links so they're easy to spot

22. Good practices for heading tags • Imagine you're writing an outline - Similar to writing an outline for a large paper, put some thought into what the main points and sub-points of the content on the page will be and decide where to use heading tags appropriately. • Use headings sparingly across the page - Use heading tags where it makes sense.

24. Creating Google-friendly sites • Give visitors the information they're looking for • Make sure that other sites link to yoursLinks help our crawlers find your site and can give your site greater visibility in our search results. • Very nb for Webometrics rankings!!

25. Webometrics • International ranking of universities – web-based • Why important to UP? • Strategic plan Becoming an internationally recognised South African teaching and research university is central to the University of Pretoria’s mission statement.

26. www.webometrics.info

27. Ideas for inbound links • Wikipedia • Governing bodies • Academic bodies • Associates • Research groups

28. Other Webometrics plans • Increase pdf and other files • Increase images, video, audio • Increase pages – staff pages • Improve metadata usage – Dublin Core • New sitemaps & other technical developments

29. Other web developments • Staff pages • Stats reports (web.up.ac.za/admin/statsreport.asp) • Blogs & wikis features • Twitter feeds • Newsletters • New look & feel