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 CMS page name Search result: Title tag: <html> <head> <title>Notes </title> Web page heading: </head>
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 registration exam timetable • Use the keywords of site users 谢菲尔德大学 ssid • Identify your site users keywords. correspondence address university of sheffield transcripts • Google organic search results are a good sheffield university cas exams starting point (opposite) visa fees • Organise / prioritize your keywords by change of status results closed card sorting exercise visa extension exam results tuition fee • Don’t overstuff your site with keywords sheffield dates transcript • Search engines are wise to this (and other examination sheffield exam timetable black hat) techniques and will penalize your sheffield exams exam site accommodation calculator what is harassment examination timetable student advice centre tuition fees change of status form ssid sheffield Using a keyword a few times is good keyword use. student services directory of modules Using keyword too many times is not good keyword sheffield ssid university of sheffield use but bad keyword use. Using too many keywords graduation exam timetable is bad keyword use as it is keyword overuse, shef uni exam timetable resit keyword overkill or keyword stuffing. And keyword disability exam dates stuffing will be recognised by search engines and your goodwin muse sheffield page ranking will suffer. sheffield mentors exam timetables ddss feedback form leave of absence
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) Snippet highlight words from search Meta description in CMS: 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." />
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 Resit Exams Supplementary (Reassessment) Period
PDF • 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 In this example retailers use generic terms to help new (or occasional) site visitors find what they want… 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
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: Before After 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
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
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