Introduction to search engine optimisation
What is search engine optimisation?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the ranking of a web page on a search engine results page. The higher up the ranking, the better. This applies to world wide web search engines (eg, Google, Yahoo!, Bing) and also on the University of Otago search. Both are important for your web pages.
Why should I care about SEO?
If users can't find your web page, then they can't read it. Successful SEO will bring your web page further up the search engine results page and increase the chances of your page being read.
What does SEO involve?
SEO largely focuses on the strategic placement of keywords (or search terms) in the different elements of a web page. When writing a web page it is necessary to think about what search terms users will use to find the information on your web page, and write it accordingly.
Web page elements
Page title element
The page title element appears at the top of your browser window and is effectively the name of the page.
The most important keyword must be in the page title element and placed as close to the start as grammatically possible (this is called front loading and is important in all parts of your web page).
Tip: Otago web pages automatically have “University of Otago, New Zealand” or “[name of department], University of Otago” added to them, so bear that in mind when creating your titles as not to repeat phrases unnecessarily.
Example: Research in contemporary popular music, Department of Music, University of Otago, New Zealand
Keyword metadata
List up to 10 keywords and search phrases that users are likely to use when searching for information contained on your web page. These are the same keywords you will use for the rest of the page.
Tip: Try and use generic terms and ideas for your keywords. Branded or unusual phrasings are less likely to be searched for unless they are widely used terms.
Example: music, classical music, contemporary rock music, popular music, film music, folk music, music industry, technology
Description metadata
The description should describe the contents of the page in approximately 140-160 characters. The most important keywords should be placed as close to the start as grammatically possible.
This description usually appears on the search engine results page to help searchers decide if that is the page they are after. Although the page description does not directly contribute to the page rank in Google, it is vital in generating click-through traffic from search engine results.
Example: The Department of Theology and Religion draws on a rich heritage of over 60 years of theological education. Our courses are taught by committed staff who are accomplished teachers and scholars.
Heading 1 (H1)
The H1 is the first heading on a web page The H1 must clearly describe the content of the web page should be between 60 and 70 characters in length.
Tip: On Otago pages the H1 is also the page title element (see above), which appears at the top of your browser and in the search engine results.
Example: Research in contemporary popular music at the Department of Music
Headings (H2, H3, etc)
Use headings sensibly on your page, focusing on the reader, and including keywords in the headings where appropriate. Search engines look for heading tags and the keywords inside them.
If you follow good web writing practices and front load your headings to make the page easy to scan by humans and search engines alike, Google will reward your page with a higher ranking.
Tip:Always use the heading styles provided and in the correct order—regardless of which heading is your favourite (e.g. H2 before H3, H3 before H4 etc).
Example: Music as a minor subject; Contemporary rock music: Major
URLs
Search engines also take into account the keywords placed in the URL of the page. URLs that have proper words in them are viewed more favourably than those with numeral IDs, etc (by humans and by search engines).
Tip: Use a hyphen (-) to separate words in a URL instead of an underscore (_) or space (%20).
Example: http://www.otago.ac.nz/courses/qualifications/bachelor-of-music-musb.html
Links
Link text is the clickable text (hyperlinks) on your web page that leads to internal or external web pages. The more specific and relevant you make your link text (especially if it contains keywords), the more helpful it will be to your human readers and the search engine crawlers.
Tip: Never use “click here” as link text; it doesn't tell anyone where the link leads to.
Example:
- Application form for Classical performance and World Music performance [PDF, 258 KB]
- New Zealand Music Commission website
Body
You want to aim to have the keyword make up approximately 2% of your web page content. That works out to about 8 keyword mentions per 400 words. That is, 400 good words conveying relevant information, without padding, with plenty of headings, and the most important information at the top of the page.
Tip: Update your content frequently. It aids your search engine ranking. Search engines are like people, they want fresh, up-to-date, and clear content.
Images
All images must have alt-text. This is the text that appears when the user has images turned off or is using a screen reader. The name that you give the image when you load it into the CMS will become the alt-text.
Tip: It is important that you describe the image accurately, and with the relevant keywords.
Glossary
- Search engine results page Web page containing search results based on keyword searches
- Keywords The words or phrases that people search for information under relevant to the subject matter
- URL The web address of a web page
- Alt-text Text that appears alternatively to an image
- CMS The content management system. The system the University uses to edit web pages
- Crawler Also known as 'bots', 'web bots', or 'spiders'. A computer programme that browses the Internet in a methodical way to index web pages