the impact of search engine optimisation on …...recommendation 4: integrate seo into your business...

The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ Websites

Canadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009

JISC Content

JISC, British Library, BBC, National Health Service, Becta, and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council working together to fully realise the potential of e-content for all users. For more information on the Strategic Content Alliance, please visit:

www.jisc.ac.uk/contentalliance

Produced and funded by JISC

Canadian Heritage Information Network

This report is available in alternative formats which can be found at: www.jisc.ac.uk/contentalliance

Contents PAGE 3

ContentsRecommendations 4Immediate 4Mid-term(within3months) 4Longterm(withinoneyear) 5

Executive Summary 7Background 7Findings 7Conclusions 8

Case Study Overview 9Thecasestudystructure 9Projectschedule 10

The Case Studies 11Methodology 11Issuesandstructuralchanges 11

Case Study Individual Results 12SwanseaUniversity 12CETLD 15ArchivesHub 22

Conclusions 30

Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review 31

Recommendations

RecommendationsJISCandCHINhavedevelopedthefollowingrecommendationsbasedontheresultsoftherecentSEOcasestudiestheyundertookinconjunctionwithsixorganisationsintheUKandCanada:theArchivesHub,theCentreforExcellenceinTeachingandLearningthroughDesign(CETLD),SwanseaUniversity,theMuséeMarguerite-Bourgeoys,theWetaskawinDistrictandHeritageMuseum,aswellastheWinnipegArtGallery.

Immediate

Recommendation 1: Start analysing your web trafficBegintheprocessofanalysingthetraffictoyourwebsite.

Todothis,youshould:

�� RegisterwithGoogleWebmaster

�� RegisterandinstallGoogleAnalyticsonyourwebsite

�� RegisterwithandsetGoogleAlerts

�� Undergotrainingonwebanalytics

�� UndergoSEOtraining

Mostoftheorganisationstakingpartinthestudy–particularlythoseinCanada–didnothaveawebanalyticsapplicationsetupordirectlyaccessibleforconsultation.Wethereforerecommendthatallorganisationsthathavenotyetdonesoacquire,setup,learnaboutandstartusingawebanalyticsapplicationandbrandmonitoringtool.

Webanalyticsandbrandmonitoringarevitalactivitiesforallwebsites.Theyallowyourorganisationtoestablishtheeffectivenessofyourbusinessofferingsandoutreachactivities,includingSEO.Properwebactivityfollow-upwillensureagreaternumberof(andlonger)visitstoyourwebsites,higherconversionratesandincreasedloyalty.

Mid-term (within 3 months)

Recommendation 2: Conduct a SEO review of your websitesConductaSEOreviewofyourwebsite(particularlytheCanadianmuseums).

TheUKorganisationstakingpartinthisstudyaregenerallyingoodshapeintermsofwebsitedesignandarchitecture.TheparticipatingCanadianorganisationsarenotablyworseoff.WethereforehighlyrecommendthatCanadianmuseumsundertakeawebsitearchitecturereviewbeforetheyundertakeanyactualoptimisation.

EverywebsiteshouldbethesubjectofaproperSEOreview,andyoushouldrepeatthiseachtimeyoursiteundergoesanykindofredesign.Suchareviewconsistsofvalidatingthewebsite’sdesignandarchitectureagainstaSEOchecklist.Yourorganisation’sSEOleadshouldprovideandenforcetherequirementsincludedintheSEOchecklist,workinginclosecollaborationwithyourinformationtechnologiespersonnel.

The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009

Recommendations PAGE 5

Recommendation 3: Begin SEO Beginoptimisingyourwebsiteforsearchengines.

Toimprovethevisibilityofyourwebsiteintermsofspecifickeywordsorphrases,youshould:

�� Chooseyourkeywords.Createalistofimportantkeywordsandkeywordphrases,astheyrelatetothecontentfoundonyourwebsite

�� Reviseyourwebsite’skeypages.Addchosenkeywordsandkeywordphrasestothefollowingelementsofthekeypagesyouhavechosen:�− Titletagelements�− Headerelements(H1,H2)�− Thefirstparagraphsofcontentpages�− Meta-descriptiontexts�− Alttextforimages

�� Addcontextuallinkstootherpagesonyourwebsite.Usekeywordsorphrasesrelevanttothethemeofyourlandingpageasthecontextuallink’sanchortext

�� Undertakelinkbuilding.Askotherwebsitestolinktospecificpagesofyourwebsite.Suggestkeywordsorphrasesrelevanttothethemeofyourwebpagefortheanchortextofthelinksthattheywillbeadding

�� ‘Colonise’otherwebsites.Addlinkstospecificpagesofyourwebsitetosocialmediawebpagestowhichyoucancontribute(eg,blogs,wikis,etc.).Theanchortextofthelinksthatyouplaceshouldincludekeywordsorphrasesrelevanttoyourwebpage’stheme

Westronglyrecommendthateachorganisation’sSEOleadallocatehalfanhouradaytotheaboveactivities.Wealsorecommendthateachorganisationhavethemajorityofitsemployeesallocate15minutesadaytolinkbuildingandcolonisation,basedonthemes(threetofivethemesperemployeeforallmedia).Iftheorganisation’swebsiteislarge,fewemployeesareavailableoralotofremedialworkisnecessary,moreresourceswillberequired,especiallyfortheSEOlead.

Long term (within one year)

Recommendation 4: Integrate SEO into your business model

Integratealloftheabovesearchenginemarketingactivitiesandbestpracticesintoyourorganisation’sbusinessmodel.

IntegratingSEOintoyourbusinessmodelwillaffectseveralkeyareasofyourorganisation.

Staff skillsYouwillneedstaffwhocancarryoutthemanyactivitiesinvolvedinSEO.Toensureyourstaffhavetherightskills,youshould:

�� Developanupper-levelmanagementteamthatunderstandsandsupportsSEO

�� ProvideSEOtrainingtocurrentstaff

�� Reviseyourhumanresourcesrecruitmentcriteriafornewstaff

�� Ensurethatyourmarketingandcommunicationstaffarecapableofinitiating,leadingandmonitoringanorganisation-wideSearchEngineMarketing(SEM)strategy

ProductYouwillneedaproductthatmeetsyouraudience’sneedsandcanbeeasilyfoundthroughsearchengines.Tocreatesuchaproduct,youshould:


PAGE 6 Recommendations

�� Completethelistofkeywords(bothsinglewordsandkeywordphrases)thatareusedbyyourtargetaudience,anddevelopaprocesstoensurethatthislistisupdatedregularly

�� Revisethecontentofallyourwebpages,sothatitiswritten,presentedandpackagedinaclearandthematicmannerthatfocusesonthesekeywordsandyourtargetaudience’sneeds

Theabovewillhelpyourorganisationtalktotheaudiencethatcomestoyoursitefromsearchengines.However,itwillnothaveanyeffectifyourwebsitedesignandarchitecturearenotsearchenginefriendly.Therefore,makesurethatyouhavedesignandarchitecturepoliciesinplacethatencouragebestpracticesinwebsitedevelopmentandmaintenance.

Client relationsYouwillneedtogowhereyouraudienceisontheweb,andtoletthemknowthatyoucanhelpanswertheirneeds.Todothis,youshould:

�� Increasethepointsofaccesstoyourcontentbyundertakinglinkbuilding,colonisationandmulti-publishing/RSS

�� Optimiseyourwebsiteforsocialmediabynetworking,socialisingandbuildingacommunityaroundyouroffering

�� Setwebanalyticsandmonitoringtoolsthatallowyoutounderstandyourcustomers’behaviour,monitoryourreputation,trackyourperformanceandunderstandthecontributionofeverysingleonlineactivity

Resource allocationYouwillneedtoensurethatyourorganisationissetuptosupportanongoingandsustainedSEOprocess.ThecasestudieshighlightedthefactthatSEOactivitiesarebeyondthenormaldailyactivitiesofmanyorganisations.OnereasonforthisisthatSEOworkisoftendoneforsitesthatalreadyexist,thusredoingworkthatcouldhavebeendonemoreeasilywhenthesiteswerefirstcreated.HavingSEObestpracticesincludedinyourorganisation’sbusinessmodelwillallowyoutodothejobrightthefirsttimearound,thuseliminatingtheneedtoredothework,andwillproducelong-termsavings.Toensurethatyouhaveallocatedresourcesproperly,youshould:

�� ReviseproceduresandstafftaskassignmentsastheydirectlyrelatetoSEO(webdesign,writingandpromotion)

�� AllocatebudgetresourcesforSEOtraining

�� Allocate15to30minutesperdayformostemployeestoprofessionallyandthematicallycolonise,networkandsocialiseontheweb,usingthreetofivethemesperemployee

�� AllocateextratimeandresourcestoyourSEOleadduringthetransitionperiod.Remedialworkrequiresextratimeandresources.SodoestheprocessofdevelopingandintegratingintoyourbusinessmodelpoliciesandproceduresthatencourageSEObestpracticesinwebsitearchitecture,writingandoutreach.Assoonastheremedialworkisdoneandthebestpracticeshavebeenimplemented,theseextraresourceswillnolongerbeneeded;atthispoint,employeeswillsimplybedoingtheirdailytasksdifferentlyandmoreefficiently,producingapositiveSEOresultwithouttheextraresourceallocation.

Recommendation 5: JISC and CHIN should offer SEO trainingCHINandJISCshouldhelptheirmembersdevelopSEOskillsbyofferingthemthefollowingtrainingmodules:

�� Webanalytics

�� Webcontentwriting

�� Websitedesign(possiblyCHINonly,aswebsitearchitectureanddesignpracticeisinbettershapeintheUKthaninCanada)

�� Socialmediaoptimisation

Thesecoursesshouldbemadeavailablebothonlineandon-siteatindustryevents.Theyshouldbedevelopedatbothbeginnerandadvancedlevels.

Executive Summary PAGE 7

Executive Summary

BackgroundSearchEngineOptimisation(SEO)istheprocessofmakingawebsiteattractivetosearchengines.Thebetterawebsiteisoptimised,thehigheritsrankingwillbein‘organic’searchresultlistings–thatis,resultsinwhichsitesarerankedaccordingtotherelevanceoftheircontenttothesearchtermsused.

SEOworksby:

�� Editingthewebsite’scontenttoincludecommonlyusedsearchterms

�� Editingthewebsite’sHTMLcode

�� Removingbarrierstoindexationofthewebsitebysearchengines

�� Increasinglinkandsocialmediapopularity

ToinvestigatewhetherafewsimpleandinexpensiveSEOtechniquescanincreaseanorganisation’swebvisibilityandsignificantlyincreasetraffictotheorganisation’swebsite,theJointInformationSystemsCommittee(JISC)andtheCanadianHeritageInformationNetwork(CHIN)undertookcasestudieswiththreeorganisationsintheUK.

Thecasestudiesinvolved:

�� Areviewoftheexistingwebsites

�� ThedevelopmentofrecommendationsforSEO-relatedimprovements

�� Thedevelopmentofkeywordphrasesforeachwebsite

�� Theimplementationoftherecommendations,basedonthekeywordphrasesdeveloped

�� Themonitoringandevaluationoftheeffectsofoptimisation

FindingsDuringthecourseofthestudy,theparticipatingorganisationswerenotabletocompleteallofthenecessarytasksfortheirrespectivewebsites.Themainreasonsforthiswere:

�� Websitearchitecturechangesforoneoftheparticipantsweremoresignificantthanexpected

�� TheinitialSEOtasks(settingupandusingwebanalyticssoftware,choosingkeywords,etc.)werewellbeyondthedailyactivitiesofmostparticipants

�� Theparticipants’technicalknowledge(particularlyinregardtoSEO)wasverylow,andtheyrequiredmorecoachingthanexpected

Despitethesesfacts,thestudyindicatesthatimplementingSEO–eveninalimitedway–producespositiveresults.


PAGE 8 Executive Summary

SwanseaUniversitywasneverabletodevelopafinallistofkeywordphrases,butitdidmakeotherrecommendedchangestoitswebsite’sarchitecture.Thewebsite’sorganicsearchtrafficincreasedby2.77%overthesameperiodduringthepreviousyear.

Duringthestudy,organicsearchtrafficasapercentageofthetotaltraffictothewebsiteoftheCentreforExcellenceinTeachingandLearningthroughDesign(CETLD)rosefrom57.02%toapeakof61.06%.

TheArchivesHubwebsitesufferedaserveroutagethatkeptitofflineforseveraldaysduringthemonitoringperiod,whichhadanegativeeffectonsearchengines’indexingandrankingofitswebsite.Nevertheless,thepercentageoftotaltraffictothewebsitefromorganicsearchincreasedfrom34.33%toahighof41.6%duringthestudy.

Overall,aftersomeofthechangesrecommendedduringthestudywereimplemented,mostsearchescarriedoutwithGoogleusingthechosenkeywordsproducedresultsthatplacedthesitesinquestionwithinthetopthreepagesofthesearchresults.Beforethisstudy,theirwebsiteshadnotappearedintheresultsatallfortheseparticularkeywords.

ConclusionsBasedonthedatagatheredduringthesecasestudies,wecanconcludethat:

�� Minoradjustmentstowebsitetext–especiallypagetitlesanddescriptionmetatags–improveboththequantityandqualityofvisits

�� Selectingtheappropriatekeywordphrasesiscritical.Itisimportanttohavekeywordphrasesthatreflectthepages’content,areusedfrequentlybysearchers,andhaveastronglikelihoodofplacingthewebsiteinthetoptensearchresults

�� SEOactivitiescanbedemanding.Fortheorganisationsstudied,implementingSEOwentwellbeyondtheirnormaldailyactivities

�� Resourcesmustbecommittedtodevelopingalinkingstrategyfortheorganisation,andstaffmustcontinuallyseekoutnewlinkstospecificpages

�� SearchEngineOptimisationisalong-termstrategy.SEObestpracticesmustbecomepartoftheentirewebteam’severydaywayofthinking

�� Anyfuturecasestudyshouldfocusononeorganisationonlyforaperiodof12months.ItshouldbemandatorythatparticipantsundertakeSEOtrainingbeforeparticipatinginsuchacasestudy

Case Study Overview PAGE 9

Case Study OverviewTheJointInformationSystemsCommittee(JISC)wantedtoinvestigatethehypothesisthatimplementingafewsimpleandinexpensiveSearchEngineOptimisation(SEO)techniquescanincreaseanorganisation’swebvisibilityandsignificantlyaugmenttraffictotheorganisation’swebsite.

InsupportofthishypothesisitundertookcasestudiesonSEOincollaborationwiththeCanadianHeritageInformationNetwork(CHIN)andthreeUKorganisations:SwanseaUniversity(www.swansea.ac.uk),theCentreforExcellenceinTeachingandLearningthroughDesign(CETLD–http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk)andtheArchivesHub(www.archiveshub.ac.uk).CHINengagedK’nechtologyInc.toevaluatethecasestudyparticipants’currentwebsitesandrecommendchangestooptimisethemforsearchengines.

Inallcases,GoogleAnalyticswaschosenasthewebanalyticstoolfortrackingandreportingonwebsitetraffic.

The case study structureAllthreecasestudiesincludedthefollowingsteps:

1. Websitereviewandrecommendations

a) Eachwebsitewasreviewedfromtheperspectiveofsearchengineoptimisation.Specificrecommendationswerethenmadethat,whenimplemented,wouldmakethewebsitemoresearchenginefriendlyandenableittobettercomplywithSEObestpractices

b) Theownersofthewebsitesweretoimplementtherecommendedchangestothebestoftheirabilitywithinthelimitationsoftime,resourcesandbudget

2. Keywordevaluation

a) Cooperatively,thecasestudyparticipantsandthecontractordevelopedafinallistoffivetotenkeywordphrases.Eachphrasecontainedaminimumoftwotothreewordstotargetaspartofthisstudy

b) Theprimarycriteriaforthekeywordphraseselectionwasthelikelihoodofachievingatop10ortop20rankinginUKsearchresultsinGoogle.co.ukandprovideareasonableamountofmonthlysearchvolume

3. Webpageoptimisation

a) Theparticipatingorganisationsusedtheidentifiedkeywordphrasesandeitheroptimisedexistingpagestotargetthesephrasesordevelopednewwebsitecontentthattargetedtheidentifiedpages

4. On-goingmonitoring,evaluationandadjustment

a) Thecontractormonitoredeachsiteforthespecifickeywordphrasesfromtheperspectiveofsearchenginerankinginthefollowingsearchengines:Google.co.uk,Google.comandYahoo.co.uk

b) Basedoninitialrankings,thecontractorprovidedrecommendationsforthecontinualimprovementoftheexistingcontenttofurtherincreasepagerankingwherenecessary

http://www.swansea.ac.uk

http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk

http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk


PAGE 10 Case Study Overview

Project schedule

Activity Responsibility Start Date End Date

Teleconference #1:Introduction JISCandorganisations 23Feb2009 23Feb2009

Prepare list of key phrases Organisations 23Feb2009 6March2009

Review organisations’ websites JISC 23Feb2009 6March2009

Revise key phrases JISCandorganisations 9March2009 13March2008

Install Google Analytics JISCandorganisations 23Feb2009 6March2009

Track current activity and collect current stats

JISC 9March2009 22March2009

Teleconference #2: Recommendations JISCandorganisations 9March2009 9March2009

Optimise organisations’ websites Organisations 16March2009 22June2009

Track new activity and collect new stats Organisations 23March2009 22June2009

Analyse results JISC 16March2009 22June2009

Write up results JISC 15June2009 21June2009

Final report and presentation JISC 22June2009 22June2009

The Case Studies PAGE 11

The Case StudiesMethodology

Thefollowingthreeparticipatingwebsiteswereidentifiedascasestudyparticipants:

�� Swansea University–www.swansea.ac.uk�� Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design(CETLD)–http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk�� Archives Hub–www.archiveshub.ac.uk

ThecasestudieswereinitiatedwithintroductoryphonemeetingsbetweenrepresentativesfromCHIN,JISCandtheindividualparticipatingorganisationson25February2008.

Thegoalestablishedatthattimewastocompletethewebsitereviewswithintendaysandrecommendchangesthatcouldbeimplementedasquicklyaspossiblethereafter.

Keywordanalysiswasbrokendownintothefollowingsteps:

1. Participantsprovidedtentwo-tothree-wordkeywordphrasesasstartingpoints–6March2. Thecontractorreviewedthesewordsandprovidedalistofrecommendedkeywordphrases–10March3. Afinallistofkeywordphraseswereimplementedwithintheparticipatingsitesby15March4. Monitoringofsearchenginerankingbeganatthetimewhenthefinallistofkeywordphraseswas

agreedtoandweeklyreportingbeganthefollowingweek

Itwastheresponsibilityofthecasestudyparticipantstoimplementspecificrecommendationswherepossibleintotheexistingwebsites,followedbyadjustmenttoexistingpagesand/orthecreationofnewpagesthatwouldtargettheidentifiedkeywordphrases.Oncecompleted,theparticipantswereresponsibleforsolicitinglinksanddevelopinglinksviasocialmedia(ieblogs,socialbookmarkingsitesandsocialnetworks).

Issues and structural changesKeyword phrasesTheselectionsofkeywordphrasespresentedthegreateststumblingblockduringthecasestudies.Allparticipantsweretoprovidealistoftwo-tothree-wordphrasesthatreflectedspecificthemeswithintheirwebsites.Instead,participantsprovidedalistprimarilycomposedofsinglewordsorverygeneral/genericphrases.Sinceitisalmostimpossibletoobtainmeaningfulresultsusingasinglewordsearchterminsuchashortperiodoftime(12weeks),participantshadtogobackanddevelopanewlistofkeywordsforevaluation,therebydelayingthedeliverableofthefinalkeywordrecommendations.

Oncealistofrecommendedkeywordphraseswasproposedandsubmitted,ittookmostparticipantslongertoreviewtheserecommendationsthananticipated.SwanseaUniversitywasnotabletogetapprovalofthekeywordphrasesontimeforthecasestudy.Asaconsequence,theywereeventuallydroppedfromthecasestudiesleavingjustCETLDandtheArchivesHubasparticipants.

Website structuresTheArchivesHubprovidedadditionalchallenges,astheirwebsiteisscheduledforacompletemakeoverthatwilladdressmanyoftheissuesidentifiedduringtheevaluation.Becauseofthecomplexityofthesechanges,theycouldnotimplementallofthemduringthecasestudy.However,acompromisewasreachedwhenitwasdeterminedthatspecificnewpageswouldbecreatedforthecasestudytotargettheidentifiedkeywordphrasesandthatthesecouldbebuiltasstaticpages(outsideoftheexistingtemplatestructure)inamannermoreconsistentwithSEObestpractices.

http://www.swansea.ac.uk



Case Study Individual Results

Case Study Individual Results

Swansea University

Summary of evaluation findingsSwanseadidnotcompletealltheassociatedtasks,andthereforehadtowithdrawfromtheproject.Despitethissituation,Swanseawasabletoincreaseorganicsearchtraffictothewebsiteby2.77%(May2009comparedtoMay2008)whiletheoveralltraffictothesiteonlyincreased0.12%duringthesameperiod.

Website review and recommendationsBasedontheinitialwebsiteanalysis,thefollowingtasklistwascompiledandprovidedtoSwanseaUniversity.

Task specifications Priority

CreateXMLsitemapandintegrateitintorobots.txtfile High

Reviewkeywordresearchandproviderequestedfeedback High

Revisepagetitleformattoplacebrandattheend High

Reviewpageswithduplicatetitlesandcorrectwithmeaningfultitleswherepossible Medium

Reviewpageswithduplicatemetatagsandcorrectwhereappropriate Medium

ReviewandcorrecterrorsinCSSfile Low

InvestigateCMStodetermineifissueofmultipleH1elementsperpagecanbeeasilyresolvedandifso,makeappropriatemodifications

Low

Implemented recommendationsSeveraloftheaboverecommendationswereimplementedbySwansea.TheseincludedtheimplementationoftheXMLsitemapandtheadjustmentofthetitletags.

Initial keywords provided by Swansea�� Swansea

�� excellence

�� seafront

�� research

�� community

�� university

�� UK

�� modern


Case Study Individual Results PAGE 13

�� study

�� degree

Keyword evaluation

Proposed list of keywordsNofinallistofkeywordphraseswasapproved.Thefollowinglistwastheinitiallistprovidedforreviewandapproval:

�� onlinemba

�� accreditedonlinembaprogram

�� ukuniversities

�� topbusinessschools

�� ukuniversity

�� universityinuk

�� internationalbusinessschool

�� topukuniversities

�� mbacourses

�� ukuniversityranking

�� ukuniversityrankings

�� ukmbaranking

�� ukmba

�� toprankingukuniversitiesinmba

�� listoftopmbauniversitiesinuk

�� ukmbauniversities

�� undergraduatecoursesuk

Website ranking trend reportSincenokeywordsphraseswereidentifiednotrackingofsearchenginerankwaspossible.


PAGE 14 Case Study Individual Results

Impact on organic search generated traffic – Swansea UniversityTheweeklywebsitetrafficduringthecasestudyperiodisasfollows:

Date Range Visits Bounce Rate Avg. Time On Site

Total Organic Search

% from Search

Overall Search Site Avg. Search Diff.

15–21Feb 133,988 63,029 47.04% 62.65% 58.22% 0:01:41 01:52 10.89%

Project kick-off

22–28Feb 139,478 65,722 47.12% 62.66% 58.37% 0:01:43 01:53 9.71%

1–7Mar 142,377 67,088 47.12% 63.12% 58.65% 01:39 01:50 11.11%

SEO recommendations provided

8–4Mar 142,558 67,886 47.62% 62.97% 58.19% 01:44 01:57 12.50%

XML site map implemented – minor website modifications made

15–21Mar 133,744 63,983 47.84% 62.93% 58.94% 01:44 01:52 7.69%

22–28Mar 104,408 50,711 48.57% 60.61% 56.04% 01:56 02:07 9.48%

28Mar–4Apr 97,010 45,624 47.03% 60.99% 56.15% 01:54 02:08 12.28%

4–11Apr 81,154 37,964 46.78% 61.85% 56.79% 01:52 02:04 10.71%

12–18Apr 83,752 39,112 46.70% 62.38% 58.00% 01:47 01:56 8.41%

19–25Apr 140,065 64,752 46.23% 63.70% 59.71% 01:46 01:54 7.55%

26Apr–2May 137,283 63,507 46.26% 62.85% 59.08% 01:56 02:06 8.62%

3–9May 134,545 62,375 46.36% 63.09% 59.44% 01:54 02:04 8.77%

10–16May 136,603 64,026 46.87% 63.44% 59.91% 01:48 02:01 12.04%

17–23May 129,528 59,505 45.94% 61.59% 58.13% 01:59 02:06 5.88%

24–30May 102,256 47,784 46.73% 61.94% 58.34% 01:54 02:01 6.14%

31May31–6June 100,738 47,619 47.27% 61.26% 58.57% 01:57 02:03 5.13%

7–13June 95,721 46,310 48.38% 59.06% 55.73% 02:07 02:15 6.30%

Fromtheabovetable,notethatthespikeintotalsearchgeneratedtraffic(expressedasapercentage)occurredtwoweeksaftersomeminorchangesweremadetothewebsite.Thereafter,itappearstobeindeclineuntilthelastweekofthecasestudy.Thechartalsoshowsthat,whiletherewasnosignificantchangeinthebouncerates(eithertotalororganicsearch),overalltherewasaslightincreaseinthequalityofthevisitsasmeasuredbyvisitdurationforbothorganicsearchandthesiteoverall.Thismayormaynotberelatedtosomeofthestructuralwebpagechangesthatwererecommendedandimplemented.

Whatisnotevidentinthedatagatheredduringthecasestudyisifseasonalityhasanyimpactonvisitscomingfromsearchengines.Toaccountforpossibleseasonality,wecomparedtrafficbetweenMay2008andMay2009.ThiscomparisonshowsthefollowingchangesinoveralltraffictotheSwanseawebsite.



Comparison with same month of preceding year (2008–2009) – Swansea University

Overall website traffic

Visits

541,859Previous:541,203 (0.12%)

Pages/Visit

2.43Previous: 2.39 (1.84%)

Organic search generated traffic

Visits

251,466Previous:244,686 (2.77%)

Pages/Visit

2.76Previous:2.67 (3.69%)

Basedontheabovedata,itisevidentthatevenwithmoderatechangestothewebsite,Swanseawasabletoincreaseorganicsearchtraffictothewebsiteby2.77%,whiletheoveralltraffictothesiteonlyincreasedby0.12%.Furthermore,thequalityofthevisits(asmeasuredbypages/visit)increasedby3.69%,alsoout-pacingtheincreaseinqualityacrossalltrafficsources.

CETLD

Summary of evaluation findingsCETLDisalowtrafficwebsite,withhighlytargetedcontent.Thismadeitdifficulttoidentifykeywordphrasesthatwouldbelikelytobeactuallysearchedforbyusersduringthestudyperiodandyetalsorankhighinsearchengines.

Withsomeminoradjustments,CETLDwasabletorankinthetopteninGoogleUKformostofitstargetedphrasesduringthecasestudy.Whiletheidentifiedphrasesinthemselvesdidnotdeliversignificantincreasesintraffic,theimpactoftheoverallmodificationtothesiteincreasedthepercentageoftrafficfromorganicsearchtoahighof60.51%,whileatthesametimehavingnoimpactonthequalityoftraffic.

Duetotheassumedseasonalityofthissiteandthelackofwebanalyticdata,itwasnotpossibletodoacomparisonwiththesamemonthsfromthepreviousyear.

Website review and recommendationsBasedontheinitialwebsiteanalysisthefollowingtasklistwascompiledandprovidedtoCETLD.






Revisepagetitleformattoplacebrandattheend High

Reviewpageswithduplicatetitlesandcorrectwithmeaningfultitles Medium


CorrectXMLvalidationerrorsinpagetemplate Medium

Developlinkbuildingstrategy Medium

EnhanceWikipedialisting Medium

InvestigatereasonforslowingwebsiteresponsespeedtoGooglebot Low

Increasewordcountonpagestominimum300words Low

Implemented recommendationsThemajorityoftherecommendationswerecompletedbylateMarch2009.Thisincludes,toalimiteddegree:

�� Increasingwordcontentonimportantpages

�� Reformattingpagetitlestoputthebrandlast

�� Rewritingdescriptionmetatags

�� Creatingnewtargetedwebpages(whereapplicable)

Theexceptionwasthedevelopmentandimplementationofalinkbuildingstrategy(linksolicitationandsocialmediacolonisation).

Keyword evaluationCETLDprovidedauniquechallengeforselectingwhichkeywordphrasestotarget.Appropriatephrasesforthesitearegenerallysearchedonaninfrequentbasisandthereislittledataavailabletocorrectlyascertainiftherewouldbesufficientsearchvolumetomakeasignificantimpactonthesiteoveralltraffic.Regardless,selectingkeywordphrasesthathavenothingtodowiththesiteitself,butthatmerelyprovidehighvolumesofsearchtraffic,isinappropriate.BasedonareviewofavailabledataanddiscussionswithCETLD,akeywordphraselistwasdeveloped.Thefollowingaretheinitialkeywordsthatwereidentifiedbythemuseumandthefinallistofkeywordsthatwasutilisedforthestudy.

Initial keywords identified

�� learningSpaces

�� practice-basedlearning

�� objectscholarship

�� collections

�� student-centredlearning

�� pedagogicresearch

�� archives

�� design

�� museum

�� teaching&learning



Finalised list of keywords

�� studentcentredlearningstrategies

�� studentcentredlearningenvironment

�� studentcentredlearning

�� pedagogic

�� pedagogicaldefinition

�� practicebasedlearning

�� learningspaces

�� learningspacesdesign

�� learningspacesframework

�� studentcenteredlearning

�� studentcenteredlearningenvironment

�� studentcenteredlearningstrategies

Website ranking trend report – CETLDAbaselineoftrackingwasestablishedon26March2008,correspondingwiththeconfirmationofthekeywordphrases.

Advanced Web Ranking Report

Project: CETLD

12 June 2009 (Compared to 26 March 2009)

learning spaces http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk

Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best

Google 82 - + 9 32

GoogleUK(UK) 19 - + 2 13

YahooUK(UK) 18 25 +7 2 17

learning spaces design http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google - - ? - 42


YahooUK(UK) 17 21 +4 2 17

learning spaces framework http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google 65 - + 7 13


YahooUK(UK) 4 - + 1 4






Pedagogic http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google 80 - + 8 80

GoogleUK(UK) 33 94 +61 4 33

YahooUK(UK) 9 7 -2 1 5

pedagogical definition http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google - - ? - -

GoogleUK(UK) - - ? - -

YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -

practice based learning http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google 15 - + 2 15


YahooUK(UK) 12 - + 2 10

student centred learning http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google 7 - - 1 7

GoogleUK(UK) 3 - - 1 3

YahooUK(UK) 1 - - 1 1

student centred learning strategies http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google 14 - - 2 14



student centred learning environment http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk


Google 12 - - 2 11











Keywords in Google.co.ukThefollowingchartshowsthetrendlineofwhenspecifickeywordphrasesstartedtoappearinthetop100searchresultsinGoogle.co.uk,andtheirrankingbehaviour.



Impact on organic search generated traffic – CETLDWeeklywebsitetrafficduringthecasestudyisasfollows:



% from Search

Overall Search Site Avg.

Search Diff.

15–21Feb

Project kick-off

22–28Feb

Google Analytics implemented 4 March

1–7Mar 114 65 57.02% 66.67% 67.69% 02:24 02:34 6.94%


8–14Mar 359 153 42.62% 62.67% 68.63% 01:37 01:08 -29.90%

15–21Mar 361 188 52.08% 65.37% 71.81% 01:59 01:18 -34.45%

XML site map implemented 18 March. Start of implementation of minor website changes over next 2 weeks

22–28Mar 368 204 55.43% 65.76% 70.59% 01:18 00:59 -24.36%

Keyword phrase list finalised 26 March

28Mar–4Apr 276 167 60.51% 63.77% 70.60% 02:36 02:02 -21.79%

Changes to meta tag description and optimisation of website content to target keyword phrases made

5–11Apr 260 147 56.54% 65.38% 69.39% 01:15 00:56 -25.33%

12–18Apr 307 171 55.70% 60.91% 68.42% 02:08 01:16 -40.63%

19–25Apr 359 172 47.91% 67.41% 68.60% 01:45 01:20 -23.81%

26Apr26–2May 403 199 49.38% 62.28% 67.34% 02:34 02:27 -4.55%

3–9May 292 150 51.37% 66.10% 70.67% 01:16 01:15 -1.32%

10–16May 365 213 58.36% 64.38% 67.61% 02:14 02:28 10.45%

17–23May 357 218 61.06% 60.78% 61.93% 02:14 02:44 22.39%

24–30May 332 188 56.63% 61.14% 66.49% 01:52 01:32 -17.86%

31May–6June 248 143 57.66% 55.65% 53.85% 02:47 03:30 25.75%

7–13June 314 175 55.73% 63.69% 66.86% 02:34 02:08 -16.88%

Ayear-over-yearanalysisoftrafficwouldhavebeenidealsincetraffictothesiteisassumedtobeseasonal.SinceCETLDdidnotalreadyhaveaqualityanalyticstoolinplacepriortoGoogleAnalyticsbeingimplementedon5March2009,thisyear-over-yearcomparisonwasnotpossible.However,thereisstillsufficientdatatoprovideaclearinsightintotheimpactoftheSEOeffortonthewebsite.

Fromtheabovetable,thereisacleartrendtoorganicsearchtrafficincreasingasapercentageoftotaltraffic.Itpeakedinmid-Mayat61.06%,sevenweeksafterchangestothesitestartedbeingmade.

Fromtheabovedata,itwouldalsoappearthatthequalityoforganicsearchenginetrafficisnotashighasthatofoveralltraffic,duetoahighbouncerateandanassociatedlowertimeonsite.Thismaynotbenecessarilytrue,however.Ifsearchwereworkingcorrectly,thensearcherswouldbetakendirectlyto(orperhapsjustoneclickawayfrom)theappropriatepageonthewebsite.Ifthisisinfactthecase,thenahigherbouncerateshouldbeexpected.Sitevisitorscomingtothesitedirectlywouldhavetonavigatethroughseveralpagesbeforefindingthedesiredcontent.



Specific keyword trafficThecasestudyalsoexaminedgroupsofspecifickeywordsthatweretargetedthatshowedsignificantimprovementinsearchenginerankingsandwhichdidgeneratesmallamountsoftraffic.

Trafficfor:

�� ‘studentcentredlearning’

�− 0visitspriortoMay2009

�− 2visitsafterMay2009

�� ‘learningspaces’

�− 1visitpriortoMay2009


�� ‘practicebasedlearning’

�− 0visitspriortoMay2009


Thefollowingchartdisplaysthenumberofvisitsforthekeywordphrasethatcontainsthekeywordsstudent centred.

Fromthischart,acleargrowthinthevolumeoforganicsearchtrafficisseen,peakingduringthemonthofMay.

Thefollowingtrendlineshowsthenumberofvisitsfromorganictraffictothesite,whichpeakedinMayandcorrespondstotheperiodwiththehighestsearchenginerankingsforthetargetedkeywordphrases.Itisalsoassumedthatoveralltraffictothissiteshouldbelowestduringthesummermonths.

Whiletheabovedataissomewhatcircumstantial,itdoesindicatethatbyimplementingaSEOstrategy,measurableimprovementscanbeachieved.

WefurtherexaminedtotalorganicsearchtraffictotheCETLDsiteexcludingphrasesthatcontainedtheword‘CETLD’(becauseweassumethatthesiteshouldranknumberoneforthesewithouttheSEOeffort)andproducedthefollowingchart:

Fromthischart,acleargrowthinthevolumeoforganicsearchtrafficisseen,peakingduringthemonthofMay.



Archives Hub

Summary of evaluation findingsTheArchivesHubstartedinanadvantageouspositioninthiscasestudy,withthousandsoflinkstothesite’shomepage.However,thewebsitewasinneedofimprovementtoupdateitsarchitectureandmakeitmoreuserfriendly.TheArchivesHubhadalreadyidentifiedthisproblemandwasplanningtheimprovements,butatthetimeofthecasestudyithadnotyetbeenabletoaddresstheseissues.

Duringtherecommendationphaseofthecasestudy,numerousrecommendationsweremadeaboutthecurrentdesign.Atthattime,therewasneitherbudgetnormanpoweravailabletocompletelyoverhaulthewebsitedesignanditwasdeemedbeyondthescopeofthisproject.Thereiscurrentlyaplaninplacetoaddresstheseissues,butthenewdesignwasnotimplementedintimetobeafactorinthiscasestudy.

Asacompromise,andtotestthetheoryoftheimpactofdesignonSEO,newpageswerecreatedthatmimictoacertaindegreetheproposednewlookandHTMLstructurethatisbeingplanned.

AnunexpectedserveroutageinMaycausedaminorsetbackintheSEOcasestudy.TheArchivesHubsitewasdownforfourdays.Duringthistime,wecanassumethatthesearchenginebotscametothesiteanddeterminedthatpageswerenolongeravailable.Thisresultedinmostpagesbeingdroppedfromthetopoftherankingsforseveralweeks,whichimpactedthepercentageoftraffictothesitefromorganicsearchresults.

ComplicatingtheabilitytomeasuretheimpactofSEOonthesiteitselfisthenatureoftheArchivesHubwebsite.TheArchivesHub,byitsmandate,highlightsspecificcollectionsatdifferenttimesthroughon-siteandoff-sitepromotions.Theeffectivenessoftheseexternalcampaigns(impactonnewscoverage,etc.),andpublicinterestinthesubject,affectthenumberofsearchesbeingdoneonspecificsubjectsatanygiventime.Thismakesitdifficulttoaccuratelydeterminethesuccessofspecificsearchengineoptimisationefforts.Throughtheeffortsofsearchengineoptimisationthegoalistomakesurethatthesearchenginescanfindandindexthevariouscollectionsandinturnrankthemhighinthesearchresults.Evenwiththeseissues,duringthecasestudy,thepercentageoftotaltraffictothesitefromorganicsearchincreasedfrom34.33%toahighof41.6%.Also,theArchivesHubsawpositiveeffectsonolderfeaturedcontentthatleaptupinpopularity.

Whilethesiteoverallhasasufficientnumberofexternalwebsiteslinkingtoit,oncethenewpageswerecreatedthattargetedtheidentifiedkeywordphrases,notenoughresourcesweredeployedtosolicitlinksandusesocialnetworkingorsocialbookmarkingsitestogenerateexternallinkstothespecificpages.TheArchivesHubwasabletopromotethesenewpagesonTwitter,Digg,StumbleUponandontheirblog.Ideally,withalongertimeframeforthecasestudy,theArchivesHubwouldalsohavebeenabletoundertakealink-buildingcampaignforthenewpagestorecruitlinksfromotherwebsites,andengageinawidercolonisationcampaignonsocialmedias.Despitethisissue,theSEOcasestudywasabletoachievesignificantimprovementsinsearchenginerankingforalltheidentifiedkeywordphrases.

Website review and recommendations – Archives HubBasedontheinitialwebsiteanalysis,thefollowingtasklistwascompiledandprovidedtotheArchivesHub.






Reviewpageswithduplicatetitlesandcorrectwithmeaningfultitles Medium


CorrectXMLvalidationerrorsinpagetemplate Medium

Investigatepossibilityofimplementingnewpagetemplatethatistablefree(tablefreedesignwillberequiredfortestpages)

Medium

InvestigatereasonforslowingwebsiteresponsespeedtoGooglebot Low

Investigatepossibilityofrenamingdirectoriestoincludemeaningfulterms Low

Implemented recommendationsThefollowingtaskswerecompletedaspartofthiscasestudy:

�� CreateandimplementaXMLsitemap

�� ResolveissuesonwhywebserverisrespondingslowlytotheGooglebot

�� Fix(whereappropriate)issuewithduplicatepagetitles

�� Improvethequalityofpagetitlesforcriticalpages

�� Fix(whereappropriate)issuewithduplicatedescriptionmetatags

Keyword evaluation

Initial keywords identified

�� universityarchives

�� collegearchives

�� archivedescriptions

�� primarysources

�� archivestandards

�� (uk)archives

�� researcharchives

�� eadtraining

�� archivecatalogues

�� archivesonline

Finalised list of keywords

�� fairgroundhistory

�� historyoffairgrounds

�� fairshistory

�� textileshistory

�� historyofthetextileindustry

�� historyoftextiles

�� historybritishrailways

�� railwayhistoryuk

�� britishrailwayhistory



Website ranking trend report – Archives HubWebsitetrackingbeganon6April2009,oneweekafterthefinalapprovalofkeywordphraselist.

Advanced Web Ranking Report

Project: Archives Hub

8 June 2009 (Compared to 6 April 2009)

british railway history www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google 15 - + 2 14



fairground history www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google 6 - + 1 5



fairs history www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google 65 - + 7 65



history british railways www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google 25 - + 3 25



history of fairgrounds www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google 6 - + 1 5



history of textiles www.archiveshub.ac.uk










Google 13 - + 2 13



history of the textile industry www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google - - ? - -



railway history uk www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google 14 - + 2 13



textiles history www.archiveshub.ac.uk


Google 11 - + 2 11








Keywords in Google.co.uk – Archives HubThefollowingchartshowsthetrendlineofwhenspecifickeywordphrasesstartedtoappearinthetop100searchresultsinGoogle.co.uk,andtheirrankingbehaviour.

Theabovechartdemonstratesthatsearchenginerankingresultsarenotalwaysconsistentandchangeregularly.Despitebeingdroppedfromthetop100forseveralweeks(duringearlyMay),allkeywordsreturnedtothetop100andweregenerallyrankedinthetop25positionsinGoogleUK.

Impact on organic search generated traffic – Archives HubWeeklywebsitetrafficduringthecasestudyisasfollows:



% from Search

Overall Search Site Avg.

Search Diff.

15–21Feb 2,686 949 35.33% 50.19% 63.12% 02:22 01:31 -35.92%

Project kick-off

22–28Feb 2,923 1,112 38.04% 52.82% 66.37% 02:07 01:38 -22.83%

1–7Mar 3,526 1,492 42.31% 50.26% 60.99% 02:01 01:52 -7.44%


8–14Mar 2,735 1,052 38.46% 50.86% 63.50% 02:05 01:29 -28.80%

15–21Mar 2,810 1,079 38.40% 52.17% 65.62% 03:36 01:49 -49.54%

22–28Mar 2,794 947 33.89% 49.68% 63.89% 02:02 01:25 -30.33%

XML site map created and implemented, started implementing site changes where possible, examined server load speed, HTML validation and cleanup of homepage, missing title tags, modified default page title tag form. Changes implemented over a two-week period

28Mar–4Apr 2,371 857 36.15% 53.02% 65.11% 01:53 01:47 -5.31%



Keyword phrases finalised

4–11Apr 2,063 826 40.04% 54.39% 62.71% 02:03 02:11 6.50%

1–-8Apr 2,219 888 40.02% 52.19% 62.16% 01:52 01:33 -16.96%

19–25Apr 2,437 868 35.62% 50.84% 62.90% 02:19 01:43 -25.90%

26Apr–2May 2,632 910 34.57% 52.58% 67.03% 02:17 01:11 -48.18%

Created keyword phrase targeted pages and published to website 29 April Minor changes to pages based on page review 1 May

3–9May 2,320 918 39.57% 54.18% 63.94% 01:50 01:29 -19.09%

Created new pages according to SEO best practices with internal links to new pages

10–16May 1,775 740 41.68% 54.98% 65.14% 01:55 01:28 -23.48%

17–23May 1,711 605 35.36% 53.89% 62.48% 01:56 01:18 -32.76%

24–30May 2,014 780 38.73% 54.72% 63.08% 01:53 01:34 -16.81%

31May–6

June

2,309 824 35.69% 54.57% 64.81% 02:03 01:31 -26.02%

Use of Digg and Twitter to promote new pages Drafting of blog post about pages, should be posted week of 21 June

7–13June 2,494 934 37.45% 54.01% 62.10% 02:06 01:58 -6.35%

ThenatureoftheArchivesHubwebsiterequiresittopromotespecificcollectionsatdifferenttimes.Also,thepublic’sdesiretosearchonspecificsubjectsmaybeimpactedbyexternalmarketingeffortsandnewsitems.Itisthereforeimpracticaltoderivespecificandirrefutabledatafromthelimitedtimeperiodofthiscasestudy.

However,whatisevidentintheabovedataisthat,witheachimplementationofchanges,therewereimprovementsinthepercentageoftotaltrafficcomingtotheArchivesHubfromorganictraffic.

DuringthemonthofMay(15–18May),theArchivesHubexperiencedatechnicalproblemthatrequiredthesitetobedownforfourdays.Thisexplainsthelowvolumeoftotaltrafficduringthisperiod.Theimpactofthesitenotbeingavailabletothesearchenginebotsisalsoevidentintheabovedata.Priortothistechnicalproblem,thepercentageoforganicsearchtraffictothesitewasslowlyincreasingandremainingsteadyatapproximately40%.Withintwoweeks,thispercentagedroppedto35.69%andstartedreboundingonlyafter7June.Thereasonwebsitedowntimecanhavethisimpact,isthatsearchenginebotswilltryseveraltimestoaccessspecificpages.Ifthispageisnotavailableafterseveralattempts,thesearchenginesarelikelytode-listit,oratleastreduceitspagerank.

TheArchivesHubstartedtopromotethenewpagesandbuildlinkstothemthroughTwitterandthesocialbookmarkingsiteDiggafter1June.Theimpactofthismayexplaintheslightincreaseinbothorganicsearchandoveralltrafficduringtheweekof7–13June.Twittertweetscontainlinksdirectlytothesite,whichcanincreasevisitortrafficandpageawareness.SocialbookmarkingsitessuchasDigg,ontheotherhand,helpwithsearchenginerankingsandhavethepotentialtogenerateotherreferrertraffic.

Referring Traffic from Twitter



Tominimisetheimpactoftheserverdowntimeandtoallowforpossibleseasonaldifferences,comparisonoftrafficbetweenMay2009andMay2008showsthefollowingchangesinoveralltraffictotheArchivesHubwebsite.

Comparison with Same Month of Preceding Year (2008–2009) – Archives Hub

Overall Website Traffic

Visits

8,689Previous:9,402 (-7.58%)

Pages/Visit

2.82Previous:2.95 (-4.51%)

Organic Search Engine Traffic

Visits

3,345Previous: 3,611 (-7.37%)

Pages/Visit

2.30Previous:2.26 (1.59%)

Itappearsthattherewasadecreaseinorganicsearchtraffic.However,aspreviouslystated,duringMay2009,theArchivesHubexperiencedatechnicalproblemthatrequiredthesitetobedownforfourdays.Iftheaveragenumberofvisitsperdayiscalculatedandcompared,therewouldbeanaverageof123.8duringMay2009,comparedto116.5duringMay2008.Thisequatestoanincreaseinorganicsearchenginetrafficof6.2%,whileoveralltrafficincreased6.1%.Amodestgainatbest,buttheimpactonorganicsearchtrafficofdowntimeisevidentfrom17–23May;thepercentageoftotaltrafficwasthesecondlowestobservedduringthecasestudy(35.36%).Onlythefirstweekpriortoanychangestothesitehadalowerpercentage.

Onefactoraffectingoverallsearchtrafficissubjectmatter.TheArchivesHubpromotesnewanddifferentsubjectmattersatdifferenttimes.Dependingontheoverallpublicinterestintheseitems,thismightaffecttheoverallnumberoftargetedsearchesappropriateforthecontentontheArchivesHub’swebsite.

Specific keyword trafficThefollowingchartsdisplaythenumberofvisitsbykeywordphrasesthatcontaingenerickeywords.Forthepurposeofthiscasestudy,thegenerickeywordsthatformedthekeypartoftheidentifiedkeywordphraseswereused.

Railway

Fairgrounds



Textiles

History

Conclusions

ConclusionsBasedonthedatagatheredduringthesecasestudies,thefollowingconclusionsregardingorganicsearchtrafficcanbegeneratedandappliedtoallwebsites.

1. Makingminoradjustmentstowebsitecopy–especiallypagetitlesanddescriptionmetatags–cananddoesimproveboththequantityandqualityofvisits

2. Selectingtheappropriatetwo-tothree-wordphrasethatreflectsthepage’scontentiscritical.Thisisnotaresourceintensiveexercise,butrequirescommitmentandtheunderstandingthatthephrasetotargetmightnotreflecttheorganisation’sinternallexicon.Itiscriticaltoselectphrasesthatarebothsearchedonfrequentlyandhaveastronglikelihoodofachievingatoptenresult

3. Resourcesmustbecommittedtodevelopalinkingstrategyfortheorganisationandtocontinuallyseekoutnewlinkstospecificpages.Merelycreatingasinglelinkinasocialbookmarkingsite,weeksafterapagehasbeenreleased,shouldnotbethenorm.Sitevisitorsshouldbeencouragedtoaddthesepagestotheirownsocialbookmarkingaccount.Thiscanbeaccomplishedbyplacingiconsonthebottomofpagesforthedifferentbookmarkingserviceswiththeappropriatelinks

4. EngaginginaSEOstrategyisnotasingleevent,butalong-termstrategyconsistingofaseriesofbestpractices.Thesebestpracticesmustbecomepartoftheentirewebteam’severydaywayofthinking

Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 31

Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review


PAGE 32 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review

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nloa

ds P

age

Re

com

men

datio

ns

1.

Incr

ease

the

abou

t of d

escr

iptiv

e/th

emed

con

tent

on

page

s to

a to

tal w

ork

coun

t of o

ver 3

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2.

Rew

rite

pag

e tit

les

to r

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eme

mor

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cura

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3.

En

sure

all

alt t

ags

are

com

plet

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r al

l im

ages

incl

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“vis

ual c

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xcel

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opp

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to

emph

asiz

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Rep

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ts/i

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ksca

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ran

k

So

cial

med

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Lin

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No

link

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on a

ny m

ajor

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arki

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158

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http

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ww

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27

http

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even

ts/i

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hom

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A li

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All

sear

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onsi

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umbe

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ny m

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CETL

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web

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com

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datio

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1.

Dev

elop

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nk s

trat

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r a

mor

e un

ique

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hanc

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK: England & Wales License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA

This document is available in alternative formats. For more information: www.jisc.ac.uk/contentalliance

Document No: 664Version 1.1, December 2009


Further information about JISC:Web: www.jisc.ac.ukEmail: [email protected]: +44 (0)117 331 0789

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