SEO for Editors
A Primer
by Lauren Caple
What is SEO?
"the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine."
Search Engine Optimization
AKA appeasing the Google gods
What is SEO?
- Relevant, well written content
- An accessible website
- An effective user experience
- Properly written, clean, consumable code
But really it's just...
Why it Matters
Alt and title tags, readable image names, and properly used hyperlinks means happier users
It leads to a better user experience
Easy to read, consistent, informative copy helps you communicate with users
Users find what they're looking for faster
(users = prospective students, peers, faculty, etc.)
Why it Matters
People can find your site and content on your site easily
Search engines like it!
You have more control over how the image of your department is portrayed on Google, Bing, etc.
With some strategy, you can drive traffic to certain areas of your site
The Technical
We've already done it for you!
- Use human readable, hyphenated URLs
- Set metatags on all pages
- Give users the ability to add title and alt tags
- Help search engines find your site easily with sitemaps and robots.txt
- Use clean, proper HTML and CSS
- Implement page redirects for moved pages
Top 5 things Editors can do
Content is the bulk of SEO. Poorly written content riddled with typos that's not relevant to the site will hold it back.
Have a Content Strategy
- Avoid typos
- Keep it concise and informative
- Pick a style or voice for the site and stick to it
- AP Style is popular for copy
- Don't duplicate content, link instead
Use Headings to your Advantage
Use headings where it makes sense. Apply the title rules to headings as well.
The title of your page or news story is always Heading 1. Follow it with Heading 2, Heading 3, etc.
Search Engines understand this hierarchy. Using it improperly will count against you.
Top 5 things Editors can do
Use Brief, Informative Titles & Headlines
A good rule of thumb for content titles is to use 70 characters or less. Focus on keywords and terms that the user might be looking for or that might catch their attention when scanning a page.
Our New Chair, John Doe, Awarded 2015 James B. Pendleton Award for Completion of Cinematic Works for The Hard Way
vs
Chair John Doe Awarded 2015 Pendleton Award
Top 5 things Editors can do
Link the Right Way
A good link is attached to text that tells you about what the hyperlink is taking you to. Avoid just using the URL as text or using Click Here or other non-descriptive link text when it is within copy.
BAD: Learn more about this and other topics by clicking here.
BAD: The extensive paper on this scientific breakthrough can be found in the University of Washington digital library resources. http://www.lib.washington.edu/science/breakthrough-paper.pdf
GOOD: Department Chair John Doe finished the original script for The Hard Way in 1985.
Top 5 things Editors can do
Tag and Name Your Images
- Use the alt attribute to describe your images
- Use the title attribute to give relevant information (a caption)
- Give all images hyphenated, readable names
- ex: uw-husky-mascot.jpg facebook-icon.png
Note: hyphens are read like spaces by search engines, Underscores are not.