Increasing the knowledge level: Best search engine optimization strategies for higher education
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Search engine optimization or SEO is an important activity in the context of promoting any project on the Internet. This also applies to educational projects. However, only a competent approach can achieve truly outstanding results.
In this article, we will share the best search engine optimization strategies that will help you significantly improve your results.
Use SEO as an element of the strategic development of an educational institution
Knowledge and application of SEO give the educational institution several opportunities at once:
- More visibility. A much larger number of people will know about your minimum lovable product, which will automatically increase the prestige of the educational institution due to better recognition.
- Opportunities to attract new customers. When you use search engine optimization strategy correctly, it allows you to attract the attention of a wider audience.
The thoughtful use of SEO tools makes it possible not only to increase organic traffic but also to get more readers and customers. This is despite the fact that according to research, leads generated from the SEO channel have a close rate of 14,6%. You can get a base of users who regularly return for interesting knowledge and want to associate some of the stages of their lives with the promoted educational institution.
Make content for both search robots and people
When the management of an institution aims to promote it on the Internet, you need to focus on the following parameters:
- Creation of content with a sufficient number of keywords that relate to the subject of the resource. These are not only immediate base keys but also LSI (contextual) keys. The search engine does not parse the meaning of what is written but determines whether the text belongs to a particular topic precisely by keywords. Therefore, it is worth taking care that they are present in the texts on the site. But here it is also important not to overdo it so that the search engine does not consider the texts as spam content and does not lower the site’s ranking in the search results.
- Accounting for the fact that texts should be interesting not only for search robots but also for people. In order for your site to be displayed in response to user requests, it will be enough to be filled with the right keywords. But when people have already come to the Internet resource through search results, the content must be interesting for them, otherwise, they will close the site and leave. As a result, all the actions from the previous paragraph will be useless, since the content will not fulfill the main task – to keep the attention of users. To prevent this from happening, the content should be given no less close attention than the keywords.
Diligence and consistency are also important. There are a huge number of educational institutions that compete with each other for the attention of the client. And this means that you need to fill the site with interesting materials regularly. Another thing to understand is that SEO tools, although they give tangible results in the long run, they do not come so quickly and require regular work. It is important for search engines like Google or Microsoft Bing that the content on your site is updated regularly. How to achieve this when you have already filled the most important pages? This can be done using the news and blog sections.
A part of this concept of making content for both search robots and people is also making sure your content is optimized for mobile—thus SEO becomes an important element of your overall mobile marketing strategy.
Constantly fill the site with new educational relevant materials
Regular publication of such thematic materials will provide an opportunity to achieve a positive result in two directions at once:
- Search engines will see the dynamics of information updates on the site and improve the indexing of the Internet resource of your educational institution.
- Users will understand that the site can regularly learn new relevant information. For example, it can be news from the life of an educational institution that conveys its atmosphere and shows student life from the favorable side. Or – a variety of advice to applicants and other information of a similar nature, which helps people to better navigate issues that are important to them, will become relevant.
If you approach the content on the site from this position, it will give excellent results.
Work systematically
It is very important to ensure that the Internet resource of the educational institution is not only rich in information but also sufficiently structured. There is no point in having large amounts of even the most relevant and useful information if people cannot find it quickly. Therefore, you need to make sure that the site is user-friendly. In this direction, you can work as follows:
Make a convenient heading for the site. It is good when the user can quickly find what he needs.
- Take care of the quality setting of the search option. This will make the site even easier to use.
- Make internal citations on related articles. So you can ensure that the user spends more time on your Internet resource.
- Use different types of content. For example, in the news about the events held, informational and engaging content will be optimal. And when you want to talk about discounts for certain training programs, selling content will be in place. Tailor offers according to individual preferences, leveraging your education catalog, and consider employing catalog automation software for enhanced efficiency.
In a word, it is important to work in an integrated approach and understand that SEO is not a one-time or short-term action, but a whole strategy.
