ACADEMIC PROGRAMS & SEARCH OPTIMIZATION: KEY STEPS TO HELP PEOPLE FIND YOUBob Johnson, Ph.D.ACT Enrollment Planners ConferenceJuly 11-13, 2012 Chicago, IL

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 1

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

Most important: content that people want“Organic search”… fix your website firstContent stewards: high impact possible

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 2

4 steps to success…

• “Eternal” SEO success points:• Good title tags on your pages• Good body copy• Great content• No barriers on your website to block the search

• No broken links• Links lead to the expected content

• Danny Sullivan, editor, SearchEngineLand.com

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 3

4 top elements you can impact…Internet Business Promoter: http://www.ibusinesspromoter.com/• “Essential” SEO elements…

• Keyword in page title tag • External link popularity of your website • Link text of in-bound links… press releases • Keyword use in body text

• “Very important” SEO elements• Age of your website• Keyword use in primary (H1) headline

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 4

You can impact these 8 elements…

• Keywords in H2 – H6 headline text (important)• Keywords in ALT text for images (important) • Keywords in bold body text (important)• Keyword use in links within your site (moderate)• Keywords use in outbound link text (moderate)• Keywords in the meta description (moderate)• Readability level of the web page (slight)• Keyword in first sentence of body text (slight)

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 5

Can you impact these elements?

• Keyword use in the page URL (important)• Links from social networks (important)

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 6

THRIVING IN THE “ONLINE MBA” JUNGLE… Penn State Drexel University Northeastern University Marylhurst University

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 7

Start with Google Adwords…online MBA, online MBA degree, online MBA programs

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 8

Search for “online MBA”

• Organic search results…• Northeastern #3• Penn State #6• Marylhurst #10

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 9

Search for “online MBA degree”

• Organic search results…• Penn State #2• Drexel #4• Marylhurst #5

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 10

Search for “online MBA programs”

• Organic search results• Northeastern #3• Penn State #5• Drexel #10

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 11

Top performing organic page…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 12

Checking the pieces… URL

•http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-and-certificates/penn-state-online-mba-degree-program/overview

•Other URLs…• http://onlinemba.neu.edu/• http://www.drexel.com/online-degrees/business-degrees/online-mba/index.aspx

• http://onlinedegrees.marylhurst.edu/

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 13

Checking the pieces… title tag

• Penn State – Online MBA Degree Program – Overview

• Other title tags…• Online MBA Degree Programs – Northeastern University

• AACSB Accredited Online MBA Programs at Drexel University Online

• Online MBA, Online Business Degrees – Online Business Degree Programs / Marylhurst University

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 14

Checking the pieces… subheads

• 1st two subheads:• “Put a Renowned MBA on Your Resume”

• “What Makes the Penn State Online MBA Program Different?”

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 15

Checking the pieces: Link deeper into your site…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 16

Visual style is not a factor…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 17

THE SOCIAL MEDIA ELEMENT…Social media impact is growing…Goal: network of links that include the primary website

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 18

Social media impact for links…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 19

YouTube is 2nd in Social Media…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 20

THE IMPACT OF “PANDA”… New importance for the quality of

website pages

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 21

Important Google change in 2011…

• “Panda” raised the value of web content editors everywhere…

• For example…• “Removing low quality pages, merging or improving the content of individual shallow pages into more useful pages, or moving low quality pages to a different domain could eventually help the rankings of your higher-quality content.” (http://bit.ly/k2uUZX)

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 22

23 “high quality” questions to ask…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 23

Especially for content stewards…

• “Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?”

• “Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?”

• “Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?”

• “Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?”

• “Would users complain when they see pages from this site?”

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 24

Key metrics for “quality” content…

• SEO specialists are watching two measures of “quality” content…• Time spent on website pages by individual visitors

• Number of pages visited on a site

• Recommendation for high education sites:• Check & compare “bounce rate” from entry page to academic program content

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 25

Find the “Top Landing Pages”…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 26

Compare results for academic program pages…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 27

Find the least visited web pages you control…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 28

WRITE FOR THE HUMANS VISITING THE SITE…

Use keyword words that real people use…Add content “Carewords” that people want to

read

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 29

Don’t “stuff” keywords…

The page title and description, primary headline, one subhead, twice in the text…

More and the page won’t seem well written

Advice…Read it to yourself… is it “natural”?

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 30

Tips for success… page headingshttp://bit.ly/ayzqPH

• Title tag:• 8 to 10 words – 50 to 80 characters• Main key word at or close to the start

• Different title tag on every page• If not, Google may think content is the same

• Meta tag:• Write for the person visiting the page, not for search

• Primary heading (H1)… one per page• Write a “Carewords” headline for the visitor first• Then try to work in a primary keyword

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 31

Tips for success… page content

• Keyword word or phrase• In the first sentence if you can

• Links• In the first paragraph if possible• Write a link using key words rather than “click here”• But “click here” might be best for highest response

• In ideal world, link words will be words in primary heading on the following page

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 32

Final notes…

• SEO isn’t a mystery… be careful of gurus, ninjas, and evangelists

• Content is the most critical element in SEO performance• Web editors should leverage this point

• Keywords, content presentation, links are still important

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 33

Buy this book…

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 34

Read “Search Engine Land”…http://searchengineland.com/

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 35

Learn the Periodic Table…http://searchengineland.com/seotable

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 36

Read Matt Cutts’ blog…http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 37

THANKS FOR BEING HERE THIS MORNING!Bob Johnson, Ph.D.bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.comwww.bobjohnsonconsulting.com

Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC 38