SEO for CHASE Research Networks
It’s good to be found, when you want to be found.
What is SEO and why is it important to Research Networks?
SEO stands for search engine optimisation. Practically, it means tweaks and additions to a website that will help those using a search engine to find you. It may be useful to incorporate aspects of SEO into your Research Network should you be creating an online presence, so that other like-minded researchers can find you.
As Google is the most-used search engine, many of the rules that cater to SEO will be directly related to Google search engine algorithms. That said, the Internet is constantly in flux, with new platforms constantly being introduced. With this in mind, it should be noted that there are other search engines that might be useful for your purposes. For example, Twitter has an active and robust academic community that you can tap into. YouTube is one of the biggest search engines for videos, and TikTok has recently made some Google executives quite nervous with the popularity of their search functions.
Despite these various searchable platforms, when it’s a website someone searches for, Google and other website search engines are what you want to cater your website to. The following are a few key things to consider when building your website for the sake of SEO:
Meta Tags
Meta tags contain information that will not appear on your webpage for the human user, but rather it’s what search engines read in order to determine what information is of prevalence to its users. It’s also what Google and other search engines might show their users on search pages. Most content management systems will give you the option to put in meta tags, or will automatically derive them from the content of your webpage. For more information about meta tags, you can view this helpful guide.
Keywords
Be thoughtful about what words you’re including on your page. Keywords are words that a user might type into a search engine in order to find a specific result. That means catering the words you use to what a user might search for. For example, if your page is about artists active between the 1950s and 70s, you might want to use terms like “post war contemporary art”, as that is what a researcher might search. Equally, you don’t want to spam your page with an excess of illegible keywords. If you do, search engines might detect your page as spam, and your page won’t rank because of it. A rule of thumb is to write for humans and not algorithms, especially as algorithms change to match human needs.
Alt text for images and links
Alt text is text that tells search engines and screen readers that the contents of your image or URL is. By adding alt text, you not only make it easier for someone to find your relevant images, but you’re helping those with vision impairment who use screen readers to better understand the content on your page. To find out more about alt text, read our post about Web Accessibility.
URL Slugs
Slugs are the part of your URL after the initial domain. For example, www.chase.ac.uk is the domain, while /SEO-research-networks is the slug. Search engines will typically take into account the words that are embedded in your URL slug, so ensuring that the slug matches your content is always a good idea. If the URL of this page was https://www.chase.ac.uk/slugs-are-cute, it wouldn’t be particularly relevant to our topic at hand, and a search engine might not rank it as high.
Descriptive hyperlinks
When hyperlinking to another page, especially on your own website, it's best to link text that describes the page it links to. For example, if you'd like someone to read about accessibility on the web, instead of writing and linking “click here for more”, write and link the following:
Here are some additional ways you can ensure your research network website is more accessible.
Accessibility
Search engines will typically reward you for making your website more accessible to users with limitations. That means ensuring your website is usable for those with hearing and visual impairments by using subtitles and employing alt text for screen readers. It also means that your website is mobile-friendly, as not everyone has access to a desktop. Find out more about web accessibility here.
Backlinks
Backlinks are links from other websites to your site. The more backlinks you have, especially from websites that are valuable, the more likely you'll rank. A website is valuable when it's deemed trustworthy by a search engine, meaning it has a low bounce rate and is itself a high ranking website.
Always be changing
It's important to note that SEO rules are constantly changing. As search engines evolve to cater better to human needs, and as other factors such as new technologies and changing profit goals come about, the best ways to help your website rank might be different tomorrow than they are today. Keeping up to date with SEO is a part of good website maintenance. If you're wondering why you have a drop in visitors, it's always worthwhile to check what's changed in the world of search engines.