Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website to improve its visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords. This involves a range of technical and content-related strategies to enhance crawling, indexing, and ultimately, ranking. Because a significant portion of SMU's website traffic comes from website searches, it's imperative to take best practices into account when working with content.
Best practice
Start with your strategy
What keywords do people use to search for your content?
Use this information to develop a keyword strategy. This may be a single phrase or set of three or four keywords.
Target these keywords strategically across various on-page elements, including page titles, headings, meta descriptions, image alt text, and within the content itself. While placement is important, modern search algorithms consider the overall context and relevance of keywords throughout the page.
Keyword research is crucial for effective SEO. Identify relevant keywords with search volume and user intent. Avoid using an overabundance of keywords – known as “keyword stuffing” – which can hurt rankings. Focus on creating high-quality, user-focused content that naturally incorporates target keywords.
Create unique titles and content
For each page on your site, it's important to have a unique and descriptive page title.
Avoid vague titles, such as "Welcome" or “Home”, which do not add meaning to the page. Instead, use the title to describe the page content.
Additionally, repeated titles, such as the word "About," can lower your overall search engine ranking. To resolve this, use the site tagline feature to automatically add a departmental tagline to each page title as it appears in a search engine listing. Don't add your department name to each page within Sitecore, as this may result in your department name appearing twice in the page title.
Duplicate content can negatively impact SEO. Ensure all pages have original content. If content must be shared across pages, use canonical tags to indicate the preferred version. OIT or the SEO Manager can help with this if you need assistance.
Use meta fields
By default, the page title you enter in Sitecore will also appear in the search engine listing. You may override this feature if needed by using the Meta title field.
Use the meta description field to control the description that appears in a search engine listing. If you leave this field blank, search engines will attempt to discern which content from your page to display, and it may not be the content you would prefer.
While they do not directly influence website rankings, meta descriptions do indirectly influence ranking by affecting click-through rates (CTR). Compelling and accurate meta descriptions (150 characters or less) can improve CTR, which signals relevance to search engines. While the meta title field can be used to customize the title tag, it’s important to understand that the title tag is a direct ranking factor.
Use headings
Use a logical heading structure (H1-H6). The H1 should be the main title of the page, and an H1 should only appear once per page. Subsequent headings should organize the content hierarchically. Include relevant keywords in headings where appropriate, but prioritize clarity and user experience.
Learn more about best practices for headings.
Be strategic with your use of links
In Sitecore, certain menu systems are constructed automatically, such as top-level navigation and sidebar menus. As part of your website strategy, link to important pages within your content rather than relying solely on the navigational menu systems. This helps search engines better understand the structure of your site and can help improve rankings.
Try to include one or two internal links (a link to another page on the website). When linking content, use descriptive anchor text that accurately reflects the content of the linked page. Avoid generic anchor text like "click here," "learn more," or "read more." These are not only bad for SEO but also for accessibility.
Read more about structuring links.
Ensure sites load quickly
Site speed is a crucial ranking factor. Optimize images, leverage browser caching, minify CSS and JavaScript to improve page load times. Measure Core Web Vitals to identify and address performance bottlenecks. OIT or the SEO Manager can help with this if you have questions. To ensure quick load time:
• Ensure the images have been optimized for the web. Most banners should not be wider than 1400 to 1600 pixels; most page images should not be wider than 600 to 800 pixels.
• Resize images (link) using Sitecore's image properties feature when needed.
• Avoid scripts or third-party content that will increase page load time. Asynchronous scripts can be safely added.
Optimize images (alt text and file names)
Image optimization is crucial. Use descriptive alt text for all images, including relevant keywords where appropriate. Name image files descriptively using hyphens to separate words.
What to avoid: WMP1203892.jpg
Better option: professor-david-johnson.jpg
Compress images to optimize file size without sacrificing quality. Avoid embedding text in images whenever possible. If text must be in an image, ensure the alt text contains that text as well. Do not use images of text as a replacement for actual text, especially for headings.
Learn more about best practices for images.
Optimize page names
When you create a new page in Sitecore, you have the opportunity to name the URL.
• Use short, descriptive URLs that include relevant keywords. Separate words with hyphens. Avoid keyword stuffing in URLs. While lowercase is generally recommended, consistency is key. If existing URLs use uppercase, maintain that convention. Crucially, if URLs are changed, implement 301 redirects from the old URLs to the new ones to preserve SEO value and avoid broken links. OIT or the Help Desk can help with 301 redirects.
• Example: smu.edu/human-resources/retirement-plans-roth-ira-403b-transamerica-bonds-stocks-employment-match
• Name files using lowercase words
It has not been SMU's historic practice to separate keywords in URLs with dashes or use lowercase words. Unless you are creating a new page, your page names likely won't match the above guidelines. Leave older page names as-is; renaming pages without a redirect strategy in place will result in broken links, which will in turn impact your SEO negatively.
Next Steps: Accessibility
SEO often goes hand-in-hand with accessibility. Our best practices guide provides a detailed look into both topics.
Need help getting started?
OIT provides Google Analytics consultations. We can also help you review which keyword searches are bringing people to your site as well as which pages generate the most hits. You may find it surprising which searches are most common - it may not be what you expect.