External Findability Student Web Presence Guidelines
External Findability
Student Web Presence Guidelines
Findability?
Definition 1: “the ease with which information contained on a website can be found, both from outside the website (using search engines and the like) and by users already on the website.” Wikipedia Definition 2: “the ability of users to identify an appropriate Web site and navigate the pages of the site to discover and retrieve relevant information resources“ Morville Definition 3: “The quality of being able to be discovered and retrieved through searching or browsing.” Landes
Page titles
• Page titles should: • Brief but descriptive • include keywords your site visitors • reflect the content / purpose of the page • closely match the URL • be unique
• A page title tells users and search engines what the page is about • In meta data it is contained in the <title> tag • In CMS it is contained in the page name box
<html> <head> <title>Notes </title> </head>
Search result: Title tag: CMS page name
Web page heading:
URL
• Create URLs that • Reflect the content / purpose of the page • Use real words • Reflect the title of the page
• Stable URLS • Don’t keep changing them • Avoid using dates in URL • Update pages – don’t replace
Example Better /ssid/forms/circs /ssid/forms/extenuating-circumstances
FinancialSupportPaperApplicationForm201415.pdf file/FinancialSupportApplicationForm.pdf
/ssid/exams/exabrinf /ssid/exams/exams-abroad
/ssid/international/immigration/cos /ssid/international/immigration/leave-of-absence
/ssid/fees/payment /ssid/fees/how-to-pay
/health/information/cqc /health/information/care-quality-commission
/careers/students/advice /careers/students/develop-your-skills
Keywords
• Use the keywords of site users • Identify your site users keywords.
• Google organic search results are a good starting point (opposite)
• Organise / prioritize your keywords by closed card sorting exercise
• Don’t overstuff your site with keywords • Search engines are wise to this (and other
black hat) techniques and will penalize your site
exam timetable ssid university of sheffield sheffield university exams fees results exam results sheffield transcript sheffield exam timetable exam calculator examination timetable tuition fees ssid sheffield directory of modules university of sheffield exam timetable resit exam dates muse sheffield exam timetables feedback form
registration 谢菲尔德大学 correspondence address transcripts cas visa change of status visa extension tuition fee dates examination sheffield exams accommodation what is harassment student advice centre change of status form student services sheffield ssid graduation shef uni exam timetable disability goodwin sheffield mentors ddss leave of absence
Using a keyword a few times is good keyword use. Using keyword too many times is not good keyword use but bad keyword use. Using too many keywords is bad keyword use as it is keyword overuse, keyword overkill or keyword stuffing. And keyword stuffing will be recognised by search engines and your page ranking will suffer.
Page summary
“If the heading is the hook, the summary is the line that pulls you in.” McGovern p123
• Accurately summarise the page’s content • Use unique descriptions for each page • Keep it to 20 words or less
Meta description
Search engines might use meta descriptions as snippets of pages (sometimes they will prefer in page text as snippets)
Meta description in html: <meta name="description" content="Council Tax is a charge to help pay for certain public services such as libraries, schools and police." />
Meta description in CMS:
Snippet highlight words from search
Alternative phrases
Use phrases that may be typed by site visitors (as alternative to the technically correct)
Technically correct Alternatives
Programmes of study Courses
Student Self Certification Form Short-term absence, sick note, medical note
Certificate of Student Status Certifying Letter, Bank Letter, Proof of Student Status
Examinations timetable Exams timetable,
Examinations in the Supplementary (Reassessment) Period
Resit Exams
• Don’t put important information in a PDF • Search engines index pdf files but volume of content means it is rarely the most
relevant result to a organic search • Don’t link directly to a pdf • Don’t forget to give your pdf a title (below)
Use generic terms
Use generic terms (unless your brand name is better known) Brand name Generic terms
Coke Cola
Ucard Student card
Well connected Student welfare
Tier 4 General student visa
In this example retailers use generic terms to help new (or occasional) site visitors find what they want…
Link building (referrals)
The more your page is linked to from other (good quality) pages, the higher it climbs in search results ranking and we can influence this on our site. For example:
This is an improvement because: • making the text the link label increases findability of that page and this • less words on the page make the page more usable • “click here for more information” is rarely used as a search term and rearely used
as a page title • It is now a call to action
After
Before
Create quality pages in the first place!
“What makes a website good will also give it a high SERP rank, but overly tricky search engine optimization can undermine the user experience.” Neilsen • Write easy to read, good quality text • Write concise text • Keep to the subject described by the page title • Try to keep your content fresh • Evaluate and improve your site and content
• Usability testing • Content audit
• Create for your site visitors not for search engines
References
SEO and Usability by Jakob Nielsen on August 13, 2012 http://www.nngroup.com/articles/seo-and-usability/ Quality search requires quality people March 17, 2013 -- Gerry McGovern http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/quality-search-requires-quality-people Landes C in Abel S and Baile RA (2014) “The Language of Content Strategy” The Content Wrangler inc. McGovern G (2006) “Killer Content”, A&C Black