An Independent School’s Guide to SEO

Daren Worcesterlinkedin.com/in/darenworcester

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Today’s Goals

• Understand the various factors that influence SEO.

• Get into an SEO state of mind!

• Learn actionable ways to better optimize your school’s site.

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What is SEO?

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Why is SEO important?

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Why is SEO important?

52% }The average percentage of private school website sessions acquired by organic search.

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Why is SEO important?The click-through rate from Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) drops significantly with each position lower in the standings.

Source: http://www.advancedwebranking.com/blog/google-organic-click-through-rates-2014/

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Why is SEO important?

8 - 10%= the average correlation between visits to the Apply page and actual applications.

Increasing applications is a matter of attracting more site visitors.

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SEO Industry Evolves Rapidly

Google makes upwards of 500 algorithm changes a year!Source: http://mozcast.com/

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Search Result Influences

Today, search results are influenced by a variety of on- and off-site factors.

The best SEO strategies strike a balance between each influence.

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Content Strategy

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Content Strategy } Keywords

“Keywords” — the phrases users enter into search engines — are the core of content strategy.

Think of keywords as “topics” for the site and individual pages. In short, if a keyword phrase doesn’t appear on a page, then the page won’t rank for that phrase.

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Content Strategy } Keywords

Make sure all content contains the right keywords to maximize search visibility.

Use Google Adwords to search for and identify relevant keywords.

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Content Strategy } Keywords

The key is to target realistic keywords for the school.

This means focusing on “long tail keywords,” which are less frequent searches that typically feature a combination of multiple keywords.

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“Over 70% of the traffic you earn for any given page will come from keywords you didn't try to optimize for.”— Cyrus Shepard, Moz

Source: https://moz.com/blog/keywords-to-concepts

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Structural SEO

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Structural } Page Titles• Feature keywords in

page title tags, but don’t stuff.

• Each page should have a unique, click-worthy tag.

• 55-60 character limit on title tags.

• Display the school’s name in most title tags.

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Structural } Meta Description• Each page should have

a unique meta description.

• Keep descriptions to 156 characters or less.

• Keywords have an indirect impact in meta descriptions

• Think of descriptions as the sales pitch for a page. Why should someone click?

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Structural } Tags & Descriptions

onMessage has SEO settings for entering page title tags and meta descriptions.

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Structural } Navigation

Google looks at navigation from the top down, assuming the most important pages are at the beginning.

This is why many schools are now electing to begin their navigation with Admissions.

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Structural } Navigation

It’s also important to apply keyword research to navigation titles, using terms with more search/recognition value.

Consider “Tuition and Financial Aid” instead of “Affording,” “Drama” instead of “Theatre,” etc.

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Structural } URL

Readable URLs with keywords help the search engines establish the page topic.

Try to avoid “stuffing” URLs with repetitive keywords.

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Structural } Header Tags

Header Tags provide a topical hierarchy to the page. Having keywords in headers further emphasizes these terms.

Other text treatments such as bold and italic also signify important text to the search engines.

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Structural } Internal Links

Links within body text aid site optimization because they help search engines connect related topics.

The links should always be written to aid the user experience. This means linking keywords instead of “click here” or “learn more.”

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Page Optimization

When we combine everything we’ve discussed from content and structure, a well optimized page would look like this.

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Technical SEO

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Technical } Mobile Friendly

Google has started favoring mobile-friendly sites in searches conducted on mobile devices.

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Technical } Mobile Friendly

A recent look at Blackbaud K-12 sites revealed that 26% of visitors were on mobile devices.

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Technical } Mobile Friendly

All onMessage sites pass Google’s mobile-friendly test (with flying colors, of course!)

Source: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

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Technical } Mobile Friendly

It’s possible an individual page could fail due to content on the page. Non-responsive embed codes are a common culprit.

Embed Responsively can help!

Source: http://embedresponsively.com/

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Technical } Page Load Speed

Search engines want to recommend pages that load fast, especially for mobile devices.

The best thing website managers can do is optimize images for the web by saving photos at 60% of the original resolution and uploading .jpg files.

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Link Building

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Link Building

Google highly values links to a site as they’re seen as votes of approval for the site.

The goal is to get as many quality links as possible.

Tip: Review pages with the most links and create similar content to get more links.

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Social Media

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Social Media

Social media influences SEO by:

•Building brand recognition and website traffic

•Increasing web citations and inbound links

•Cultivating online reviews

•Filling the organic search results for the school’s name

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Social Media

An important first step for schools is ensuring that profile information on all of its social properties has been completed. Always include a link to the main site.

It’s also key to have links on the main site to the various social properties to establish authorship.

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Social Media

Don’t ignore Google+!

•Aid local searches and help populate the knowledge graph

•Connect YouTube for increased engagement

•Provide personalized search results

•Foster online reviews

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Social Media

Get five or more reviews on Google+ and Google will display a star rating in the school’s search results.

That’s a good thing. Usually...

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Local SEO

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Local SEOGoogle takes user location into account when returning search results.

It’s important for the school’s name, address and phone number (NAP) to appear EXACTLY the same in directories as it does on the school’s site.

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Local SEO

When editing the school’s profile in the various directories (Google+, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Superpages, etc.), add the school to as many “categories” as are relevant.

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Local SEO

Moz Local offers a great deal for updating location data across the major directories.

Source: https://moz.com/products/pricing/local

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Brand Recognition

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Brand Recognition

Strong brand recognition can have a positive impact on search results.

Brand recognition influences inbound links, social sharing, direct traffic, repeat visitors, and “branded” searches.

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User Metrics

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User Metrics

Google is looking for engagement. How long are visitors on the site? What do they click on? And do they come back?

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User Metrics

Google Analytics users should consider signing up for QuillEngage. Free weekly e-mail analytic reports that are easy to understand.

Source: https://quillengage.narrativescience.com/

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An Independent School’s Guide to SEO