What is SEO?
Making your site’s content
easy to find through
external search engines
such as Google, Yahoo!
and Bing
Why is SEO Important?
40% of visitors to uwyo.edu get to the site by finding it
through a search engine.
Today’s Topics
•Page Titles
•Page Descriptions
•Page Content
•Hyperlinks
•Repairing Broken Links
•Inbound Links
•Images
Page Titles
The clickable text that shows up in a search results page.
One of the most important parts of optimizing a web
page. Each page on your site needs a unique title.
How to Write a Page Title
1.Start with your target keyword – what people would
search for
2.End with department name, “University of Wyoming”
3.Target a max of 70 characters
Example:
You have a page about “Business Degree Programs”
Title:
“Business Degree Programs | College of Business |
University of Wyoming”
Page Descriptions
Should briefly describe the contents of the page and give
someone a reason to click on the result.
Each page on your site needs a unique description.
How to Write a Page Description
1.Include your target keyword – what people would search
for
2.Provide additional context
3.Target a max of 150 characters
4.Use call to action language when appropriate
Example:
You have a page about “Business Degree Programs”
Description:
“The University of Wyoming College of Business offers 14
fully accredited graduate and undergraduate business
degree programs. Learn more today!”
Page Content
After someone has clicked on your search result, they expect to
see page content that is consistent.
After I search on “School of Nursing”, I should see that phrase
again on the page itself, ideally in the H1 heading and the main
content.
Page Content
Use only one Heading 1 style per page.
Include the keyword(s) in the first 100 words of text on the page
and target between 250 – 500 total words.
Page Content
Keep your primary pages updated with new information.
• News
• Events
• Profiles
Hyperlinks
The “anchor text” or text that appears within a hyperlink should
use keyword phrases when possible.
Good places to do this include your sidebar navigation and crosslinks within page content. Title your homepage “Dept Name
Home”
Hyperlinks
Check your broken links regularly. If a page can’t be found, it
can’t get indexed. UW’s CMS broken link checker is available at
http://webdev.uwyo.edu/web_statistics
Inbound Links
An inbound link is a link from another website to yours. Search
engines consider inbound links like “votes” for your site. The
more links you have from quality sites, the more authority your
page has in the eyes of the engines. While an inbound link is
good, one that uses keywords in the anchor text is ideal.
Ideal
Good
How to Get Inbound Links
There are a variety of ways to get inbound links:
• Inquire of any academic or industry associations (research
groups, conferences where your faculty are presenting,
accreditation agencies, etc.).
• Government workforce sites.
• Make sure any press releases have hyperlinks included in the
body text. Use target keywords in the release headlines.
• Faculty personal sites or blogs.
• Make sure any job postings link to your department.
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).
Alternate Text For Images
The “alt text” field allows you to provide a text description of an
image so that someone who cannot view the image can
understand what it is. Search engines are the same way, so
include keywords in your alternate text descriptions.
Properly Size Your Images
When images are larger than they need to be, a webpage takes
longer to load. Longer load times cause visitors to leave a page
and have a negative impact on search ranking. Ensure that
images are set at actual pixel size and no more than 72 dpi.
[DEMO http://webdev.uwyo.edu/cmst1test/image-size.html]
SEO Checklist








Unique titles (Display Name) for each page in your site
Unique descriptions for each page in your site
One Heading 1 that includes keyword phrase on each page
Body text that includes keyword phrase in first 100 words
Use of keywords in anchor text for hyperlinks
Fix broken links
Inquires with associations and groups for inbound links
Schedule for keeping top-level pages updated with
information
 Alternate text, including keywords, in place for images
 Properly sized images
Additional Resources
Weekly analytics reports that show number of visitors, where
they come from, top keywords, and which pages they view
delivered to site managers within next two weeks.
Bi-weekly Open Work Sessions in ITC 171. Sign up at
http://www.uwyo.edu/infotech/services/training/schedule.asp
.
Individual site review and keyword research. Contact
webhelp@uwyo.edu to schedule.
This presentation will be shared with everyone who attended.