{"id":23017,"date":"2022-12-13T11:39:33","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T11:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/seo-for-higher-education-and-universities\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T11:39:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T11:39:33","slug":"seo-for-higher-education-and-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/seo-for-higher-education-and-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO For Higher Education And Universities"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Higher education is a competitive sector when it comes to Search Engine Optimisation (<\/span>SEO<\/span><\/a>). Highly authoritative educational domains are competing with each other on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for coveted applications from potential students.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be taking a look at how universities and other higher education establishments can improve their SEO to increase organic visibility and traffic, going beyond the generic SEO advice that could be applied to any website. Instead, we\u2019re going to look at what universities specifically can do to improve their organic visibility and conversions, and we\u2019ll include examples from a number of university websites.<\/span><\/p>\n

What needs to be considered in an SEO strategy for higher education and universities?\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

One of the main aims of a university\u2019s <\/span>marketing strategy<\/span><\/a> is to get new student applications, which comes as no surprise considering students generate the majority of their revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>So, we\u2019re sharing a few different ways universities could make SEO improvements to increase course applications.<\/span><\/p>\n

How are university domains different?\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Authority<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Universities are hugely authoritative websites thanks to their .ac.uk domains.<\/span><\/p>\n

These domains are regarded as trustworthy \u2013 a backlink from a .ac.uk domain is a cause for celebration in the SEO world. Universities will naturally pick up quality links as a result of their often global presence and marketing efforts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This high level of domain authority is a double edged sword. The downside is that competing university domains will likely be equally as authoritative.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the benefit is that fairly basic changes to <\/span>on-page SEO<\/span><\/a> elements like title tags, headers and copy are likely to have more of an impact than on less authoritative sites, particularly if that optimisation is lacking in the first place, thanks to the foundation of authority the domain already has.<\/span><\/p>\n

Large number of URLs<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Universities offer hundreds of courses and in addition to providing supporting content relating to each course, their websites will have plenty more pages covering things like university facilities, staff profiles and information for current students.<\/span><\/p>\n

This means that university domains can be quite large in terms of their number of pages. <\/span>
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The larger the URL, the more issues you might have with <\/span>crawl budget<\/span><\/a>, but it shouldn\u2019t be too much of a concern unless a website is updated very regularly or has millions of pages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

University domains should keep on top of making sure all pages they want in the index are being crawled and indexed effectively, and that the pages in their index are high quality. It\u2019s worth getting rid of outdated or legacy content by auditing content and reviewing their <\/span>content strategy<\/span><\/a> regularly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The importance of on-page SEO for universities<\/span><\/h2>\n

For many universities, competition in terms of SEO may be very similarly matched when it comes to off-page SEO and domain authority.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, we can see that Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham and Warwick universities all have very similar domain ratings:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"domain<\/span><\/p>\n

With domain authority incredibly strong, fairly evenly matched and it being increasingly difficult to improve domain rating once these high levels of authority are reached, we can look to other arguably easier on-page methods as a way of gaining organic visibility over the competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where can universities start with on-page SEO?<\/span><\/h2>\n

With such large websites in terms of number of URLs it can be difficult to know where to begin when it comes to on-page improvements. <\/span>
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I\u2019d initially focus on the pages which drive conversions, which in this case will be course pages on which users start their application process, like this Mathematics BSc page:<\/span>
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\"screenshot<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Improving keyword targeting on course pages<\/span><\/h3>\n

A quick look at the page highlights a few areas that could be improved to increase its organic performance and improve visibility for the target keyword \u2018mathematics bsc\u2019, which has a UK average monthly search volume of 260. <\/span>
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First of all, outside of the heading, which SEOs call the H1 and is a crucial place to put the target keyword, the term \u2018mathematics bsc\u2019 isn\u2019t actually used anywhere in the copy on the page.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a basic thing, but still important to get right. It\u2019s not always necessary to pay attention to metrics like keyword density, but it is important to use the target keyword related to the topic of the page at least a few times on that page. <\/span>
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An effective way to do this is by clearly answering users\u2019 questions, either in subheadings or in an FAQ section.<\/span><\/p>\n

Birmingham University have effectively done this, allowing them to use the target keyword in a H2, which also answers an important question for users:<\/span>\"screenshot<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Improving internal linking on course pages\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Nottingham University has a block <\/span>internally linking<\/span><\/a> to related courses, which is useful both for users and for SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n

It gets link equity flowing between URLs and helps Google understand the relationship between different pages. <\/span>
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However, a quick tweak would be beneficial here, as the anchor text for every related course link is simply \u2018view course\u2019:<\/span>\"screenshot<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst it\u2019s clear for users, we could help Google understand the topic of the page it links to by using keyword-focused anchor text.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this case that\u2019d simply be including the course name in the anchor text, as Birmingham have done:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"List<\/p>\n

Course pages tend to be very information-rich, with lots of information on aspects such as entry requirements, tuition fees and career prospects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst it\u2019s important we link between different pages, on detailed pages like this it\u2019s useful to have a table of contents and link to the different areas of the page using internal jump links.<\/span><\/p>\n

UoN\u2019s Mathematics page isn\u2019t doing this currently, but Imperial\u2019s is:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"screenshot<\/p>\n

As well as being useful for users, Google likes jump links. In some cases, when a user clicks from the SERP the browser will scroll directly to the relevant piece of text, and jump links can help this.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Breadcrumbs<\/span><\/h3>\n

Effective use of <\/span>breadcrumbs<\/span><\/a> is important for higher education websites \u2013 as it is on any large website with tens or hundreds of thousands of URLs and lots of subfolders. <\/span>
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<\/span>I like how Imperial\u2019s use of breadcrumbs links to more pages in the hierarchy rather than just to \u2018all courses\u2019 as in Nottingham\u2019s case, as this allows link equity to flow more effectively to those deeper subfolders:<\/span>\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Nottingham\u2019s doing a better job than Kings, where I couldn\u2019t spot any breadcrumbs at all on their course page!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Kings<\/p>\n

4. Structured data improvements<\/span><\/h3>\n

Universities should implement course structured data<\/a> on relevant pages to help Google understand the content of the page and make the URL eligible for rich results.<\/span><\/p>\n

I checked a number of different Mathematics BSC course pages from different institutions and a surprisingly high number didn\u2019t have this structured data in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For universities that are using this markup, make sure it\u2019s valid. In Nottingham\u2019s case, they\u2019re using this course structured data, but it\u2019s missing the description field which invalidates the markup:<\/span>\"nottingham<\/span><\/p>\n

If you remember just a few key takeaways, make sure it\u2019s these:<\/span>
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