Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The following is a quick reference guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques, divided up by area of responsibility.  Unfortunately, at this time the college does not have a dedicated SEO expert, so it will be challenging to address all possible aspects of SEO.  However, it should be understood that it is not necessary to address every possible area either – addressing even just a handful of areas can provide notable benefits, and units should try to find a balance that fits with the capabilities of their available web staff.

School Communicators / School Web Admins

  • General Concepts
    • Review site and eliminate any duplicate pages
  • Links and Linkage
    • Make URLs short (less than 256 characters) and readable
    • Get other sites (particularly reputable sites in your field) to link to your pages
    • Link to relevant reputable external material when possible
    • Link every page to at least one other local page
    • Check for broken links
  • Content
    • Name every page with a clear descriptive title (of less than 56 characters)
    • Create interesting headlines for articles and headings for page sections
    • Write content that is high quality, readable and interesting
    • Avoid large images – resize before uploading to a maximum of 1024 x 768 pixels
      • "Hero" images on top-of-page headline areas can be up to 1440 x 550 pixels depending on the website configuration
      • 1/2 width images: 500px wide; 1/3 width images: 400px wide; 1/4 width images: 250px wide
    • Write keyword-centric content with good use of synonyms
  • Accessibility
    • Use proper heading tags (H2 - H6) on section headings
    • Provide descriptive text within links that tells visitors where the link will take them (do not use 'Click Here' or 'Read More')
    • Avoid duplicate links on any one page when possible
    • Provide clear and descriptive alternate text on images that convey important information.  Keep this alternate text to less than 256 characters.
    • More accessibility guidelines can be found in our Web Accessibility Primer
  • Format and Structure
    • Make good use of menus, headings, lists, etc.
    • Responsive Design: format and design content to work well on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.)

Search Engine Optimization Expert

Unfortunately, at this time the college does not have a dedicated SEO expert to handle these tasks or assist school and project center web staff with handling them.  You can try contacting Institute Communications to see if any training or assistance is available for any of these tools and tasks.

  • Set Up Webmaster Tools (Google Search Console, Yahoo, Bing Webmaster Tools, etc.)
    • Create and Submit an XML Sitemap
  • Use Analytics Tools
    • All College of Liberal Arts school websites are using Google Analytics, and some of our project center sites are being tracked using a local analytics system called Matomo (formerly Piwik).  School communications and web staff should have access to their site's statistics – if you do not, please contact the web developer.

      Please do not create your own Google Analytics accounts or attach unit site analytics to your personal Google account!  We have a college-wide Google account system that we can use, which will help ensure that analytics data remains available to our units even as staff come and go over the years.  Contact the web developer to have any kind of analytics set up on a new site or an existing site that does not currently have analytics.
  • Keyword Research
    • Research and identify keywords for your unit
    • Document current rankings of those keywords
    • Research your competitors
    • Use Google Keyword Planner to identify additional keywords
    • Build a master keyword list
    • Use keywords from your master list when creating new content and updating old content on your site
  • Set Up Google PageSpeed Insights
  • Set Up Google My Business for Your Unit
  • Set Up Google Tag Manager
  • Set Up Micro Tags

College of Liberal Arts Web Developer

The college's web developer is actively working on the following tasks for the websites under his control.  If you have any questions about any of these task with regards to your unit's website, please contact the web developer.

  • Drupal Modules
    • Proper redirection for moved pages
      • In place for all school / project center Drupal websites.
    • Site analytics
      • All College of Liberal Arts school websites are using Google Analytics, and some of our project center sites are being tracked using a local analytics system called Matomo (formerly Piwik).  School communications and web staff should have access to their site's statistics – if you do not, please contact the web developer.
    • Page and site metadata
      • Can add to Drupal 8 sites on request.
    • XML sitemap
      • Needs someone in the unit to set up and learn how to use Webmaster Tools first (see the Search Engine Optimization Expert section above)
    • Proper information on "404" / "Page Not Found" error pages
      • In place for all school / project center Drupal websites.
  • Enable SSL / HTTPS (Secure Site Access)
    • Already enabled for all school sites and most project center sites.  Please contact the web developer if this is not enabled on your site and you would like to have it enabled.