The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ Websites
Canadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
JISC Content
JISC, British Library, BBC, National Health Service, Becta, and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council working together to fully realise the potential of e-content for all users. For more information on the Strategic Content Alliance, please visit:
www.jisc.ac.uk/contentalliance
Produced and funded by JISC
Canadian Heritage Information Network
This report is available in alternative formats which can be found at: www.jisc.ac.uk/contentalliance
Contents PAGE 3
ContentsRecommendations 4Immediate 4Mid-term(within3months) 4Longterm(withinoneyear) 5
Executive Summary 7Background 7Findings 7Conclusions 8
Case Study Overview 9Thecasestudystructure 9Projectschedule 10
The Case Studies 11Methodology 11Issuesandstructuralchanges 11
Case Study Individual Results 12SwanseaUniversity 12CETLD 15ArchivesHub 22
Conclusions 30
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review 31
PAGE 4 Recommendations
RecommendationsJISCandCHINhavedevelopedthefollowingrecommendationsbasedontheresultsoftherecentSEOcasestudiestheyundertookinconjunctionwithsixorganisationsintheUKandCanada:theArchivesHub,theCentreforExcellenceinTeachingandLearningthroughDesign(CETLD),SwanseaUniversity,theMuséeMarguerite-Bourgeoys,theWetaskawinDistrictandHeritageMuseum,aswellastheWinnipegArtGallery.
Immediate
Recommendation 1: Start analysing your web trafficBegintheprocessofanalysingthetraffictoyourwebsite.
Todothis,youshould:
�� RegisterwithGoogleWebmaster
�� RegisterandinstallGoogleAnalyticsonyourwebsite
�� RegisterwithandsetGoogleAlerts
�� Undergotrainingonwebanalytics
�� UndergoSEOtraining
Mostoftheorganisationstakingpartinthestudy–particularlythoseinCanada–didnothaveawebanalyticsapplicationsetupordirectlyaccessibleforconsultation.Wethereforerecommendthatallorganisationsthathavenotyetdonesoacquire,setup,learnaboutandstartusingawebanalyticsapplicationandbrandmonitoringtool.
Webanalyticsandbrandmonitoringarevitalactivitiesforallwebsites.Theyallowyourorganisationtoestablishtheeffectivenessofyourbusinessofferingsandoutreachactivities,includingSEO.Properwebactivityfollow-upwillensureagreaternumberof(andlonger)visitstoyourwebsites,higherconversionratesandincreasedloyalty.
Mid-term (within 3 months)
Recommendation 2: Conduct a SEO review of your websitesConductaSEOreviewofyourwebsite(particularlytheCanadianmuseums).
TheUKorganisationstakingpartinthisstudyaregenerallyingoodshapeintermsofwebsitedesignandarchitecture.TheparticipatingCanadianorganisationsarenotablyworseoff.WethereforehighlyrecommendthatCanadianmuseumsundertakeawebsitearchitecturereviewbeforetheyundertakeanyactualoptimisation.
EverywebsiteshouldbethesubjectofaproperSEOreview,andyoushouldrepeatthiseachtimeyoursiteundergoesanykindofredesign.Suchareviewconsistsofvalidatingthewebsite’sdesignandarchitectureagainstaSEOchecklist.Yourorganisation’sSEOleadshouldprovideandenforcetherequirementsincludedintheSEOchecklist,workinginclosecollaborationwithyourinformationtechnologiespersonnel.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Recommendations PAGE 5
Recommendation 3: Begin SEO Beginoptimisingyourwebsiteforsearchengines.
Toimprovethevisibilityofyourwebsiteintermsofspecifickeywordsorphrases,youshould:
�� Chooseyourkeywords.Createalistofimportantkeywordsandkeywordphrases,astheyrelatetothecontentfoundonyourwebsite
�� Reviseyourwebsite’skeypages.Addchosenkeywordsandkeywordphrasestothefollowingelementsofthekeypagesyouhavechosen:�− Titletagelements�− Headerelements(H1,H2)�− Thefirstparagraphsofcontentpages�− Meta-descriptiontexts�− Alttextforimages
�� Addcontextuallinkstootherpagesonyourwebsite.Usekeywordsorphrasesrelevanttothethemeofyourlandingpageasthecontextuallink’sanchortext
�� Undertakelinkbuilding.Askotherwebsitestolinktospecificpagesofyourwebsite.Suggestkeywordsorphrasesrelevanttothethemeofyourwebpagefortheanchortextofthelinksthattheywillbeadding
�� ‘Colonise’otherwebsites.Addlinkstospecificpagesofyourwebsitetosocialmediawebpagestowhichyoucancontribute(eg,blogs,wikis,etc.).Theanchortextofthelinksthatyouplaceshouldincludekeywordsorphrasesrelevanttoyourwebpage’stheme
Westronglyrecommendthateachorganisation’sSEOleadallocatehalfanhouradaytotheaboveactivities.Wealsorecommendthateachorganisationhavethemajorityofitsemployeesallocate15minutesadaytolinkbuildingandcolonisation,basedonthemes(threetofivethemesperemployeeforallmedia).Iftheorganisation’swebsiteislarge,fewemployeesareavailableoralotofremedialworkisnecessary,moreresourceswillberequired,especiallyfortheSEOlead.
Long term (within one year)
Recommendation 4: Integrate SEO into your business model
Integratealloftheabovesearchenginemarketingactivitiesandbestpracticesintoyourorganisation’sbusinessmodel.
IntegratingSEOintoyourbusinessmodelwillaffectseveralkeyareasofyourorganisation.
Staff skillsYouwillneedstaffwhocancarryoutthemanyactivitiesinvolvedinSEO.Toensureyourstaffhavetherightskills,youshould:
�� Developanupper-levelmanagementteamthatunderstandsandsupportsSEO
�� ProvideSEOtrainingtocurrentstaff
�� Reviseyourhumanresourcesrecruitmentcriteriafornewstaff
�� Ensurethatyourmarketingandcommunicationstaffarecapableofinitiating,leadingandmonitoringanorganisation-wideSearchEngineMarketing(SEM)strategy
ProductYouwillneedaproductthatmeetsyouraudience’sneedsandcanbeeasilyfoundthroughsearchengines.Tocreatesuchaproduct,youshould:
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 6 Recommendations
�� Completethelistofkeywords(bothsinglewordsandkeywordphrases)thatareusedbyyourtargetaudience,anddevelopaprocesstoensurethatthislistisupdatedregularly
�� Revisethecontentofallyourwebpages,sothatitiswritten,presentedandpackagedinaclearandthematicmannerthatfocusesonthesekeywordsandyourtargetaudience’sneeds
Theabovewillhelpyourorganisationtalktotheaudiencethatcomestoyoursitefromsearchengines.However,itwillnothaveanyeffectifyourwebsitedesignandarchitecturearenotsearchenginefriendly.Therefore,makesurethatyouhavedesignandarchitecturepoliciesinplacethatencouragebestpracticesinwebsitedevelopmentandmaintenance.
Client relationsYouwillneedtogowhereyouraudienceisontheweb,andtoletthemknowthatyoucanhelpanswertheirneeds.Todothis,youshould:
�� Increasethepointsofaccesstoyourcontentbyundertakinglinkbuilding,colonisationandmulti-publishing/RSS
�� Optimiseyourwebsiteforsocialmediabynetworking,socialisingandbuildingacommunityaroundyouroffering
�� Setwebanalyticsandmonitoringtoolsthatallowyoutounderstandyourcustomers’behaviour,monitoryourreputation,trackyourperformanceandunderstandthecontributionofeverysingleonlineactivity
Resource allocationYouwillneedtoensurethatyourorganisationissetuptosupportanongoingandsustainedSEOprocess.ThecasestudieshighlightedthefactthatSEOactivitiesarebeyondthenormaldailyactivitiesofmanyorganisations.OnereasonforthisisthatSEOworkisoftendoneforsitesthatalreadyexist,thusredoingworkthatcouldhavebeendonemoreeasilywhenthesiteswerefirstcreated.HavingSEObestpracticesincludedinyourorganisation’sbusinessmodelwillallowyoutodothejobrightthefirsttimearound,thuseliminatingtheneedtoredothework,andwillproducelong-termsavings.Toensurethatyouhaveallocatedresourcesproperly,youshould:
�� ReviseproceduresandstafftaskassignmentsastheydirectlyrelatetoSEO(webdesign,writingandpromotion)
�� AllocatebudgetresourcesforSEOtraining
�� Allocate15to30minutesperdayformostemployeestoprofessionallyandthematicallycolonise,networkandsocialiseontheweb,usingthreetofivethemesperemployee
�� AllocateextratimeandresourcestoyourSEOleadduringthetransitionperiod.Remedialworkrequiresextratimeandresources.SodoestheprocessofdevelopingandintegratingintoyourbusinessmodelpoliciesandproceduresthatencourageSEObestpracticesinwebsitearchitecture,writingandoutreach.Assoonastheremedialworkisdoneandthebestpracticeshavebeenimplemented,theseextraresourceswillnolongerbeneeded;atthispoint,employeeswillsimplybedoingtheirdailytasksdifferentlyandmoreefficiently,producingapositiveSEOresultwithouttheextraresourceallocation.
Recommendation 5: JISC and CHIN should offer SEO trainingCHINandJISCshouldhelptheirmembersdevelopSEOskillsbyofferingthemthefollowingtrainingmodules:
�� Webanalytics
�� Webcontentwriting
�� Websitedesign(possiblyCHINonly,aswebsitearchitectureanddesignpracticeisinbettershapeintheUKthaninCanada)
�� Socialmediaoptimisation
Thesecoursesshouldbemadeavailablebothonlineandon-siteatindustryevents.Theyshouldbedevelopedatbothbeginnerandadvancedlevels.
Executive Summary PAGE 7
Executive Summary
BackgroundSearchEngineOptimisation(SEO)istheprocessofmakingawebsiteattractivetosearchengines.Thebetterawebsiteisoptimised,thehigheritsrankingwillbein‘organic’searchresultlistings–thatis,resultsinwhichsitesarerankedaccordingtotherelevanceoftheircontenttothesearchtermsused.
SEOworksby:
�� Editingthewebsite’scontenttoincludecommonlyusedsearchterms
�� Editingthewebsite’sHTMLcode
�� Removingbarrierstoindexationofthewebsitebysearchengines
�� Increasinglinkandsocialmediapopularity
ToinvestigatewhetherafewsimpleandinexpensiveSEOtechniquescanincreaseanorganisation’swebvisibilityandsignificantlyincreasetraffictotheorganisation’swebsite,theJointInformationSystemsCommittee(JISC)andtheCanadianHeritageInformationNetwork(CHIN)undertookcasestudieswiththreeorganisationsintheUK.
Thecasestudiesinvolved:
�� Areviewoftheexistingwebsites
�� ThedevelopmentofrecommendationsforSEO-relatedimprovements
�� Thedevelopmentofkeywordphrasesforeachwebsite
�� Theimplementationoftherecommendations,basedonthekeywordphrasesdeveloped
�� Themonitoringandevaluationoftheeffectsofoptimisation
FindingsDuringthecourseofthestudy,theparticipatingorganisationswerenotabletocompleteallofthenecessarytasksfortheirrespectivewebsites.Themainreasonsforthiswere:
�� Websitearchitecturechangesforoneoftheparticipantsweremoresignificantthanexpected
�� TheinitialSEOtasks(settingupandusingwebanalyticssoftware,choosingkeywords,etc.)werewellbeyondthedailyactivitiesofmostparticipants
�� Theparticipants’technicalknowledge(particularlyinregardtoSEO)wasverylow,andtheyrequiredmorecoachingthanexpected
Despitethesesfacts,thestudyindicatesthatimplementingSEO–eveninalimitedway–producespositiveresults.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 8 Executive Summary
SwanseaUniversitywasneverabletodevelopafinallistofkeywordphrases,butitdidmakeotherrecommendedchangestoitswebsite’sarchitecture.Thewebsite’sorganicsearchtrafficincreasedby2.77%overthesameperiodduringthepreviousyear.
Duringthestudy,organicsearchtrafficasapercentageofthetotaltraffictothewebsiteoftheCentreforExcellenceinTeachingandLearningthroughDesign(CETLD)rosefrom57.02%toapeakof61.06%.
TheArchivesHubwebsitesufferedaserveroutagethatkeptitofflineforseveraldaysduringthemonitoringperiod,whichhadanegativeeffectonsearchengines’indexingandrankingofitswebsite.Nevertheless,thepercentageoftotaltraffictothewebsitefromorganicsearchincreasedfrom34.33%toahighof41.6%duringthestudy.
Overall,aftersomeofthechangesrecommendedduringthestudywereimplemented,mostsearchescarriedoutwithGoogleusingthechosenkeywordsproducedresultsthatplacedthesitesinquestionwithinthetopthreepagesofthesearchresults.Beforethisstudy,theirwebsiteshadnotappearedintheresultsatallfortheseparticularkeywords.
ConclusionsBasedonthedatagatheredduringthesecasestudies,wecanconcludethat:
�� Minoradjustmentstowebsitetext–especiallypagetitlesanddescriptionmetatags–improveboththequantityandqualityofvisits
�� Selectingtheappropriatekeywordphrasesiscritical.Itisimportanttohavekeywordphrasesthatreflectthepages’content,areusedfrequentlybysearchers,andhaveastronglikelihoodofplacingthewebsiteinthetoptensearchresults
�� SEOactivitiescanbedemanding.Fortheorganisationsstudied,implementingSEOwentwellbeyondtheirnormaldailyactivities
�� Resourcesmustbecommittedtodevelopingalinkingstrategyfortheorganisation,andstaffmustcontinuallyseekoutnewlinkstospecificpages
�� SearchEngineOptimisationisalong-termstrategy.SEObestpracticesmustbecomepartoftheentirewebteam’severydaywayofthinking
�� Anyfuturecasestudyshouldfocusononeorganisationonlyforaperiodof12months.ItshouldbemandatorythatparticipantsundertakeSEOtrainingbeforeparticipatinginsuchacasestudy
Case Study Overview PAGE 9
Case Study OverviewTheJointInformationSystemsCommittee(JISC)wantedtoinvestigatethehypothesisthatimplementingafewsimpleandinexpensiveSearchEngineOptimisation(SEO)techniquescanincreaseanorganisation’swebvisibilityandsignificantlyaugmenttraffictotheorganisation’swebsite.
InsupportofthishypothesisitundertookcasestudiesonSEOincollaborationwiththeCanadianHeritageInformationNetwork(CHIN)andthreeUKorganisations:SwanseaUniversity(www.swansea.ac.uk),theCentreforExcellenceinTeachingandLearningthroughDesign(CETLD–http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk)andtheArchivesHub(www.archiveshub.ac.uk).CHINengagedK’nechtologyInc.toevaluatethecasestudyparticipants’currentwebsitesandrecommendchangestooptimisethemforsearchengines.
Inallcases,GoogleAnalyticswaschosenasthewebanalyticstoolfortrackingandreportingonwebsitetraffic.
The case study structureAllthreecasestudiesincludedthefollowingsteps:
1. Websitereviewandrecommendations
a) Eachwebsitewasreviewedfromtheperspectiveofsearchengineoptimisation.Specificrecommendationswerethenmadethat,whenimplemented,wouldmakethewebsitemoresearchenginefriendlyandenableittobettercomplywithSEObestpractices
b) Theownersofthewebsitesweretoimplementtherecommendedchangestothebestoftheirabilitywithinthelimitationsoftime,resourcesandbudget
2. Keywordevaluation
a) Cooperatively,thecasestudyparticipantsandthecontractordevelopedafinallistoffivetotenkeywordphrases.Eachphrasecontainedaminimumoftwotothreewordstotargetaspartofthisstudy
b) Theprimarycriteriaforthekeywordphraseselectionwasthelikelihoodofachievingatop10ortop20rankinginUKsearchresultsinGoogle.co.ukandprovideareasonableamountofmonthlysearchvolume
3. Webpageoptimisation
a) Theparticipatingorganisationsusedtheidentifiedkeywordphrasesandeitheroptimisedexistingpagestotargetthesephrasesordevelopednewwebsitecontentthattargetedtheidentifiedpages
4. On-goingmonitoring,evaluationandadjustment
a) Thecontractormonitoredeachsiteforthespecifickeywordphrasesfromtheperspectiveofsearchenginerankinginthefollowingsearchengines:Google.co.uk,Google.comandYahoo.co.uk
b) Basedoninitialrankings,thecontractorprovidedrecommendationsforthecontinualimprovementoftheexistingcontenttofurtherincreasepagerankingwherenecessary
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 10 Case Study Overview
Project schedule
Activity Responsibility Start Date End Date
Teleconference #1:Introduction JISCandorganisations 23Feb2009 23Feb2009
Prepare list of key phrases Organisations 23Feb2009 6March2009
Review organisations’ websites JISC 23Feb2009 6March2009
Revise key phrases JISCandorganisations 9March2009 13March2008
Install Google Analytics JISCandorganisations 23Feb2009 6March2009
Track current activity and collect current stats
JISC 9March2009 22March2009
Teleconference #2: Recommendations JISCandorganisations 9March2009 9March2009
Optimise organisations’ websites Organisations 16March2009 22June2009
Track new activity and collect new stats Organisations 23March2009 22June2009
Analyse results JISC 16March2009 22June2009
Write up results JISC 15June2009 21June2009
Final report and presentation JISC 22June2009 22June2009
The Case Studies PAGE 11
The Case StudiesMethodology
Thefollowingthreeparticipatingwebsiteswereidentifiedascasestudyparticipants:
�� Swansea University–www.swansea.ac.uk�� Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design(CETLD)–http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk�� Archives Hub–www.archiveshub.ac.uk
ThecasestudieswereinitiatedwithintroductoryphonemeetingsbetweenrepresentativesfromCHIN,JISCandtheindividualparticipatingorganisationson25February2008.
Thegoalestablishedatthattimewastocompletethewebsitereviewswithintendaysandrecommendchangesthatcouldbeimplementedasquicklyaspossiblethereafter.
Keywordanalysiswasbrokendownintothefollowingsteps:
1. Participantsprovidedtentwo-tothree-wordkeywordphrasesasstartingpoints–6March2. Thecontractorreviewedthesewordsandprovidedalistofrecommendedkeywordphrases–10March3. Afinallistofkeywordphraseswereimplementedwithintheparticipatingsitesby15March4. Monitoringofsearchenginerankingbeganatthetimewhenthefinallistofkeywordphraseswas
agreedtoandweeklyreportingbeganthefollowingweek
Itwastheresponsibilityofthecasestudyparticipantstoimplementspecificrecommendationswherepossibleintotheexistingwebsites,followedbyadjustmenttoexistingpagesand/orthecreationofnewpagesthatwouldtargettheidentifiedkeywordphrases.Oncecompleted,theparticipantswereresponsibleforsolicitinglinksanddevelopinglinksviasocialmedia(ieblogs,socialbookmarkingsitesandsocialnetworks).
Issues and structural changesKeyword phrasesTheselectionsofkeywordphrasespresentedthegreateststumblingblockduringthecasestudies.Allparticipantsweretoprovidealistoftwo-tothree-wordphrasesthatreflectedspecificthemeswithintheirwebsites.Instead,participantsprovidedalistprimarilycomposedofsinglewordsorverygeneral/genericphrases.Sinceitisalmostimpossibletoobtainmeaningfulresultsusingasinglewordsearchterminsuchashortperiodoftime(12weeks),participantshadtogobackanddevelopanewlistofkeywordsforevaluation,therebydelayingthedeliverableofthefinalkeywordrecommendations.
Oncealistofrecommendedkeywordphraseswasproposedandsubmitted,ittookmostparticipantslongertoreviewtheserecommendationsthananticipated.SwanseaUniversitywasnotabletogetapprovalofthekeywordphrasesontimeforthecasestudy.Asaconsequence,theywereeventuallydroppedfromthecasestudiesleavingjustCETLDandtheArchivesHubasparticipants.
Website structuresTheArchivesHubprovidedadditionalchallenges,astheirwebsiteisscheduledforacompletemakeoverthatwilladdressmanyoftheissuesidentifiedduringtheevaluation.Becauseofthecomplexityofthesechanges,theycouldnotimplementallofthemduringthecasestudy.However,acompromisewasreachedwhenitwasdeterminedthatspecificnewpageswouldbecreatedforthecasestudytotargettheidentifiedkeywordphrasesandthatthesecouldbebuiltasstaticpages(outsideoftheexistingtemplatestructure)inamannermoreconsistentwithSEObestpractices.
PAGE 12 Case Study Individual Results
Case Study Individual Results
Swansea University
Summary of evaluation findingsSwanseadidnotcompletealltheassociatedtasks,andthereforehadtowithdrawfromtheproject.Despitethissituation,Swanseawasabletoincreaseorganicsearchtraffictothewebsiteby2.77%(May2009comparedtoMay2008)whiletheoveralltraffictothesiteonlyincreased0.12%duringthesameperiod.
Website review and recommendationsBasedontheinitialwebsiteanalysis,thefollowingtasklistwascompiledandprovidedtoSwanseaUniversity.
Task specifications Priority
CreateXMLsitemapandintegrateitintorobots.txtfile High
Reviewkeywordresearchandproviderequestedfeedback High
Revisepagetitleformattoplacebrandattheend High
Reviewpageswithduplicatetitlesandcorrectwithmeaningfultitleswherepossible Medium
Reviewpageswithduplicatemetatagsandcorrectwhereappropriate Medium
ReviewandcorrecterrorsinCSSfile Low
InvestigateCMStodetermineifissueofmultipleH1elementsperpagecanbeeasilyresolvedandifso,makeappropriatemodifications
Low
Implemented recommendationsSeveraloftheaboverecommendationswereimplementedbySwansea.TheseincludedtheimplementationoftheXMLsitemapandtheadjustmentofthetitletags.
Initial keywords provided by Swansea�� Swansea
�� excellence
�� seafront
�� research
�� community
�� university
�� UK
�� modern
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 13
�� study
�� degree
Keyword evaluation
Proposed list of keywordsNofinallistofkeywordphraseswasapproved.Thefollowinglistwastheinitiallistprovidedforreviewandapproval:
�� onlinemba
�� accreditedonlinembaprogram
�� ukuniversities
�� topbusinessschools
�� ukuniversity
�� universityinuk
�� internationalbusinessschool
�� topukuniversities
�� mbacourses
�� ukuniversityranking
�� ukuniversityrankings
�� ukmbaranking
�� ukmba
�� toprankingukuniversitiesinmba
�� listoftopmbauniversitiesinuk
�� ukmbauniversities
�� undergraduatecoursesuk
Website ranking trend reportSincenokeywordsphraseswereidentifiednotrackingofsearchenginerankwaspossible.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 14 Case Study Individual Results
Impact on organic search generated traffic – Swansea UniversityTheweeklywebsitetrafficduringthecasestudyperiodisasfollows:
Date Range Visits Bounce Rate Avg. Time On Site
Total Organic Search
% from Search
Overall Search Site Avg. Search Diff.
15–21Feb 133,988 63,029 47.04% 62.65% 58.22% 0:01:41 01:52 10.89%
Project kick-off
22–28Feb 139,478 65,722 47.12% 62.66% 58.37% 0:01:43 01:53 9.71%
1–7Mar 142,377 67,088 47.12% 63.12% 58.65% 01:39 01:50 11.11%
SEO recommendations provided
8–4Mar 142,558 67,886 47.62% 62.97% 58.19% 01:44 01:57 12.50%
XML site map implemented – minor website modifications made
15–21Mar 133,744 63,983 47.84% 62.93% 58.94% 01:44 01:52 7.69%
22–28Mar 104,408 50,711 48.57% 60.61% 56.04% 01:56 02:07 9.48%
28Mar–4Apr 97,010 45,624 47.03% 60.99% 56.15% 01:54 02:08 12.28%
4–11Apr 81,154 37,964 46.78% 61.85% 56.79% 01:52 02:04 10.71%
12–18Apr 83,752 39,112 46.70% 62.38% 58.00% 01:47 01:56 8.41%
19–25Apr 140,065 64,752 46.23% 63.70% 59.71% 01:46 01:54 7.55%
26Apr–2May 137,283 63,507 46.26% 62.85% 59.08% 01:56 02:06 8.62%
3–9May 134,545 62,375 46.36% 63.09% 59.44% 01:54 02:04 8.77%
10–16May 136,603 64,026 46.87% 63.44% 59.91% 01:48 02:01 12.04%
17–23May 129,528 59,505 45.94% 61.59% 58.13% 01:59 02:06 5.88%
24–30May 102,256 47,784 46.73% 61.94% 58.34% 01:54 02:01 6.14%
31May31–6June 100,738 47,619 47.27% 61.26% 58.57% 01:57 02:03 5.13%
7–13June 95,721 46,310 48.38% 59.06% 55.73% 02:07 02:15 6.30%
Fromtheabovetable,notethatthespikeintotalsearchgeneratedtraffic(expressedasapercentage)occurredtwoweeksaftersomeminorchangesweremadetothewebsite.Thereafter,itappearstobeindeclineuntilthelastweekofthecasestudy.Thechartalsoshowsthat,whiletherewasnosignificantchangeinthebouncerates(eithertotalororganicsearch),overalltherewasaslightincreaseinthequalityofthevisitsasmeasuredbyvisitdurationforbothorganicsearchandthesiteoverall.Thismayormaynotberelatedtosomeofthestructuralwebpagechangesthatwererecommendedandimplemented.
Whatisnotevidentinthedatagatheredduringthecasestudyisifseasonalityhasanyimpactonvisitscomingfromsearchengines.Toaccountforpossibleseasonality,wecomparedtrafficbetweenMay2008andMay2009.ThiscomparisonshowsthefollowingchangesinoveralltraffictotheSwanseawebsite.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 15
Comparison with same month of preceding year (2008–2009) – Swansea University
Overall website traffic
Visits
541,859Previous:541,203 (0.12%)
Pages/Visit
2.43Previous: 2.39 (1.84%)
Organic search generated traffic
Visits
251,466Previous:244,686 (2.77%)
Pages/Visit
2.76Previous:2.67 (3.69%)
Basedontheabovedata,itisevidentthatevenwithmoderatechangestothewebsite,Swanseawasabletoincreaseorganicsearchtraffictothewebsiteby2.77%,whiletheoveralltraffictothesiteonlyincreasedby0.12%.Furthermore,thequalityofthevisits(asmeasuredbypages/visit)increasedby3.69%,alsoout-pacingtheincreaseinqualityacrossalltrafficsources.
CETLD
Summary of evaluation findingsCETLDisalowtrafficwebsite,withhighlytargetedcontent.Thismadeitdifficulttoidentifykeywordphrasesthatwouldbelikelytobeactuallysearchedforbyusersduringthestudyperiodandyetalsorankhighinsearchengines.
Withsomeminoradjustments,CETLDwasabletorankinthetopteninGoogleUKformostofitstargetedphrasesduringthecasestudy.Whiletheidentifiedphrasesinthemselvesdidnotdeliversignificantincreasesintraffic,theimpactoftheoverallmodificationtothesiteincreasedthepercentageoftrafficfromorganicsearchtoahighof60.51%,whileatthesametimehavingnoimpactonthequalityoftraffic.
Duetotheassumedseasonalityofthissiteandthelackofwebanalyticdata,itwasnotpossibletodoacomparisonwiththesamemonthsfromthepreviousyear.
Website review and recommendationsBasedontheinitialwebsiteanalysisthefollowingtasklistwascompiledandprovidedtoCETLD.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 16 Case Study Individual Results
Task specifications Priority
CreateXMLsitemapandintegrateitintorobots.txtfile High
Reviewkeywordresearchandproviderequestedfeedback High
Revisepagetitleformattoplacebrandattheend High
Reviewpageswithduplicatetitlesandcorrectwithmeaningfultitles Medium
Reviewpageswithduplicatemetatagsandcorrectwhereappropriate Medium
CorrectXMLvalidationerrorsinpagetemplate Medium
Developlinkbuildingstrategy Medium
EnhanceWikipedialisting Medium
InvestigatereasonforslowingwebsiteresponsespeedtoGooglebot Low
Increasewordcountonpagestominimum300words Low
Implemented recommendationsThemajorityoftherecommendationswerecompletedbylateMarch2009.Thisincludes,toalimiteddegree:
�� Increasingwordcontentonimportantpages
�� Reformattingpagetitlestoputthebrandlast
�� Rewritingdescriptionmetatags
�� Creatingnewtargetedwebpages(whereapplicable)
Theexceptionwasthedevelopmentandimplementationofalinkbuildingstrategy(linksolicitationandsocialmediacolonisation).
Keyword evaluationCETLDprovidedauniquechallengeforselectingwhichkeywordphrasestotarget.Appropriatephrasesforthesitearegenerallysearchedonaninfrequentbasisandthereislittledataavailabletocorrectlyascertainiftherewouldbesufficientsearchvolumetomakeasignificantimpactonthesiteoveralltraffic.Regardless,selectingkeywordphrasesthathavenothingtodowiththesiteitself,butthatmerelyprovidehighvolumesofsearchtraffic,isinappropriate.BasedonareviewofavailabledataanddiscussionswithCETLD,akeywordphraselistwasdeveloped.Thefollowingaretheinitialkeywordsthatwereidentifiedbythemuseumandthefinallistofkeywordsthatwasutilisedforthestudy.
Initial keywords identified
�� learningSpaces
�� practice-basedlearning
�� objectscholarship
�� collections
�� student-centredlearning
�� pedagogicresearch
�� archives
�� design
�� museum
�� teaching&learning
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 17
Finalised list of keywords
�� studentcentredlearningstrategies
�� studentcentredlearningenvironment
�� studentcentredlearning
�� pedagogic
�� pedagogicaldefinition
�� practicebasedlearning
�� learningspaces
�� learningspacesdesign
�� learningspacesframework
�� studentcenteredlearning
�� studentcenteredlearningenvironment
�� studentcenteredlearningstrategies
Website ranking trend report – CETLDAbaselineoftrackingwasestablishedon26March2008,correspondingwiththeconfirmationofthekeywordphrases.
Advanced Web Ranking Report
Project: CETLD
12 June 2009 (Compared to 26 March 2009)
learning spaces http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 82 - + 9 32
GoogleUK(UK) 19 - + 2 13
YahooUK(UK) 18 25 +7 2 17
learning spaces design http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google - - ? - 42
GoogleUK(UK) 31 - + 4 31
YahooUK(UK) 17 21 +4 2 17
learning spaces framework http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 65 - + 7 13
GoogleUK(UK) 19 - + 2 5
YahooUK(UK) 4 - + 1 4
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 18 Case Study Individual Results
Pedagogic http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 80 - + 8 80
GoogleUK(UK) 33 94 +61 4 33
YahooUK(UK) 9 7 -2 1 5
pedagogical definition http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google - - ? - -
GoogleUK(UK) - - ? - -
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
practice based learning http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 15 - + 2 15
GoogleUK(UK) 8 - + 1 7
YahooUK(UK) 12 - + 2 10
student centred learning http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 7 - - 1 7
GoogleUK(UK) 3 - - 1 3
YahooUK(UK) 1 - - 1 1
student centred learning strategies http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 14 - - 2 14
GoogleUK(UK) 4 - - 1 4
YahooUK(UK) 2 - - 1 1
student centred learning environment http://cetld.brighton.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 12 - - 2 11
GoogleUK(UK) 1 - - 1 1
YahooUK(UK) 1 - - 1 1
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 19
Keywords in Google.co.ukThefollowingchartshowsthetrendlineofwhenspecifickeywordphrasesstartedtoappearinthetop100searchresultsinGoogle.co.uk,andtheirrankingbehaviour.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 20 Case Study Individual Results
Impact on organic search generated traffic – CETLDWeeklywebsitetrafficduringthecasestudyisasfollows:
Date Range Visits Bounce Rate Avg. Time On Site
Total Organic Search
% from Search
Overall Search Site Avg.
Search Diff.
15–21Feb
Project kick-off
22–28Feb
Google Analytics implemented 4 March
1–7Mar 114 65 57.02% 66.67% 67.69% 02:24 02:34 6.94%
SEO recommendations provided
8–14Mar 359 153 42.62% 62.67% 68.63% 01:37 01:08 -29.90%
15–21Mar 361 188 52.08% 65.37% 71.81% 01:59 01:18 -34.45%
XML site map implemented 18 March. Start of implementation of minor website changes over next 2 weeks
22–28Mar 368 204 55.43% 65.76% 70.59% 01:18 00:59 -24.36%
Keyword phrase list finalised 26 March
28Mar–4Apr 276 167 60.51% 63.77% 70.60% 02:36 02:02 -21.79%
Changes to meta tag description and optimisation of website content to target keyword phrases made
5–11Apr 260 147 56.54% 65.38% 69.39% 01:15 00:56 -25.33%
12–18Apr 307 171 55.70% 60.91% 68.42% 02:08 01:16 -40.63%
19–25Apr 359 172 47.91% 67.41% 68.60% 01:45 01:20 -23.81%
26Apr26–2May 403 199 49.38% 62.28% 67.34% 02:34 02:27 -4.55%
3–9May 292 150 51.37% 66.10% 70.67% 01:16 01:15 -1.32%
10–16May 365 213 58.36% 64.38% 67.61% 02:14 02:28 10.45%
17–23May 357 218 61.06% 60.78% 61.93% 02:14 02:44 22.39%
24–30May 332 188 56.63% 61.14% 66.49% 01:52 01:32 -17.86%
31May–6June 248 143 57.66% 55.65% 53.85% 02:47 03:30 25.75%
7–13June 314 175 55.73% 63.69% 66.86% 02:34 02:08 -16.88%
Ayear-over-yearanalysisoftrafficwouldhavebeenidealsincetraffictothesiteisassumedtobeseasonal.SinceCETLDdidnotalreadyhaveaqualityanalyticstoolinplacepriortoGoogleAnalyticsbeingimplementedon5March2009,thisyear-over-yearcomparisonwasnotpossible.However,thereisstillsufficientdatatoprovideaclearinsightintotheimpactoftheSEOeffortonthewebsite.
Fromtheabovetable,thereisacleartrendtoorganicsearchtrafficincreasingasapercentageoftotaltraffic.Itpeakedinmid-Mayat61.06%,sevenweeksafterchangestothesitestartedbeingmade.
Fromtheabovedata,itwouldalsoappearthatthequalityoforganicsearchenginetrafficisnotashighasthatofoveralltraffic,duetoahighbouncerateandanassociatedlowertimeonsite.Thismaynotbenecessarilytrue,however.Ifsearchwereworkingcorrectly,thensearcherswouldbetakendirectlyto(orperhapsjustoneclickawayfrom)theappropriatepageonthewebsite.Ifthisisinfactthecase,thenahigherbouncerateshouldbeexpected.Sitevisitorscomingtothesitedirectlywouldhavetonavigatethroughseveralpagesbeforefindingthedesiredcontent.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 21
Specific keyword trafficThecasestudyalsoexaminedgroupsofspecifickeywordsthatweretargetedthatshowedsignificantimprovementinsearchenginerankingsandwhichdidgeneratesmallamountsoftraffic.
Trafficfor:
�� ‘studentcentredlearning’
�− 0visitspriortoMay2009
�− 2visitsafterMay2009
�� ‘learningspaces’
�− 1visitpriortoMay2009
�− 2visitsafterMay2009
�� ‘practicebasedlearning’
�− 0visitspriortoMay2009
�− 2visitsafterMay2009
Thefollowingchartdisplaysthenumberofvisitsforthekeywordphrasethatcontainsthekeywordsstudent centred.
Fromthischart,acleargrowthinthevolumeoforganicsearchtrafficisseen,peakingduringthemonthofMay.
Thefollowingtrendlineshowsthenumberofvisitsfromorganictraffictothesite,whichpeakedinMayandcorrespondstotheperiodwiththehighestsearchenginerankingsforthetargetedkeywordphrases.Itisalsoassumedthatoveralltraffictothissiteshouldbelowestduringthesummermonths.
Whiletheabovedataissomewhatcircumstantial,itdoesindicatethatbyimplementingaSEOstrategy,measurableimprovementscanbeachieved.
WefurtherexaminedtotalorganicsearchtraffictotheCETLDsiteexcludingphrasesthatcontainedtheword‘CETLD’(becauseweassumethatthesiteshouldranknumberoneforthesewithouttheSEOeffort)andproducedthefollowingchart:
Fromthischart,acleargrowthinthevolumeoforganicsearchtrafficisseen,peakingduringthemonthofMay.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 22 Case Study Individual Results
Archives Hub
Summary of evaluation findingsTheArchivesHubstartedinanadvantageouspositioninthiscasestudy,withthousandsoflinkstothesite’shomepage.However,thewebsitewasinneedofimprovementtoupdateitsarchitectureandmakeitmoreuserfriendly.TheArchivesHubhadalreadyidentifiedthisproblemandwasplanningtheimprovements,butatthetimeofthecasestudyithadnotyetbeenabletoaddresstheseissues.
Duringtherecommendationphaseofthecasestudy,numerousrecommendationsweremadeaboutthecurrentdesign.Atthattime,therewasneitherbudgetnormanpoweravailabletocompletelyoverhaulthewebsitedesignanditwasdeemedbeyondthescopeofthisproject.Thereiscurrentlyaplaninplacetoaddresstheseissues,butthenewdesignwasnotimplementedintimetobeafactorinthiscasestudy.
Asacompromise,andtotestthetheoryoftheimpactofdesignonSEO,newpageswerecreatedthatmimictoacertaindegreetheproposednewlookandHTMLstructurethatisbeingplanned.
AnunexpectedserveroutageinMaycausedaminorsetbackintheSEOcasestudy.TheArchivesHubsitewasdownforfourdays.Duringthistime,wecanassumethatthesearchenginebotscametothesiteanddeterminedthatpageswerenolongeravailable.Thisresultedinmostpagesbeingdroppedfromthetopoftherankingsforseveralweeks,whichimpactedthepercentageoftraffictothesitefromorganicsearchresults.
ComplicatingtheabilitytomeasuretheimpactofSEOonthesiteitselfisthenatureoftheArchivesHubwebsite.TheArchivesHub,byitsmandate,highlightsspecificcollectionsatdifferenttimesthroughon-siteandoff-sitepromotions.Theeffectivenessoftheseexternalcampaigns(impactonnewscoverage,etc.),andpublicinterestinthesubject,affectthenumberofsearchesbeingdoneonspecificsubjectsatanygiventime.Thismakesitdifficulttoaccuratelydeterminethesuccessofspecificsearchengineoptimisationefforts.Throughtheeffortsofsearchengineoptimisationthegoalistomakesurethatthesearchenginescanfindandindexthevariouscollectionsandinturnrankthemhighinthesearchresults.Evenwiththeseissues,duringthecasestudy,thepercentageoftotaltraffictothesitefromorganicsearchincreasedfrom34.33%toahighof41.6%.Also,theArchivesHubsawpositiveeffectsonolderfeaturedcontentthatleaptupinpopularity.
Whilethesiteoverallhasasufficientnumberofexternalwebsiteslinkingtoit,oncethenewpageswerecreatedthattargetedtheidentifiedkeywordphrases,notenoughresourcesweredeployedtosolicitlinksandusesocialnetworkingorsocialbookmarkingsitestogenerateexternallinkstothespecificpages.TheArchivesHubwasabletopromotethesenewpagesonTwitter,Digg,StumbleUponandontheirblog.Ideally,withalongertimeframeforthecasestudy,theArchivesHubwouldalsohavebeenabletoundertakealink-buildingcampaignforthenewpagestorecruitlinksfromotherwebsites,andengageinawidercolonisationcampaignonsocialmedias.Despitethisissue,theSEOcasestudywasabletoachievesignificantimprovementsinsearchenginerankingforalltheidentifiedkeywordphrases.
Website review and recommendations – Archives HubBasedontheinitialwebsiteanalysis,thefollowingtasklistwascompiledandprovidedtotheArchivesHub.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 23
Task specifications Priority
CreateXMLsitemapandintegrateitintorobots.txtfile High
Reviewkeywordresearchandproviderequestedfeedback High
Reviewpageswithduplicatetitlesandcorrectwithmeaningfultitles Medium
Reviewpageswithduplicatemetatagsandcorrectwhereappropriate Medium
CorrectXMLvalidationerrorsinpagetemplate Medium
Investigatepossibilityofimplementingnewpagetemplatethatistablefree(tablefreedesignwillberequiredfortestpages)
Medium
InvestigatereasonforslowingwebsiteresponsespeedtoGooglebot Low
Investigatepossibilityofrenamingdirectoriestoincludemeaningfulterms Low
Implemented recommendationsThefollowingtaskswerecompletedaspartofthiscasestudy:
�� CreateandimplementaXMLsitemap
�� ResolveissuesonwhywebserverisrespondingslowlytotheGooglebot
�� Fix(whereappropriate)issuewithduplicatepagetitles
�� Improvethequalityofpagetitlesforcriticalpages
�� Fix(whereappropriate)issuewithduplicatedescriptionmetatags
Keyword evaluation
Initial keywords identified
�� universityarchives
�� collegearchives
�� archivedescriptions
�� primarysources
�� archivestandards
�� (uk)archives
�� researcharchives
�� eadtraining
�� archivecatalogues
�� archivesonline
Finalised list of keywords
�� fairgroundhistory
�� historyoffairgrounds
�� fairshistory
�� textileshistory
�� historyofthetextileindustry
�� historyoftextiles
�� historybritishrailways
�� railwayhistoryuk
�� britishrailwayhistory
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 24 Case Study Individual Results
Website ranking trend report – Archives HubWebsitetrackingbeganon6April2009,oneweekafterthefinalapprovalofkeywordphraselist.
Advanced Web Ranking Report
Project: Archives Hub
8 June 2009 (Compared to 6 April 2009)
british railway history www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 15 - + 2 14
GoogleUK(UK) 13 - + 2 10
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
fairground history www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 6 - + 1 5
GoogleUK(UK) 6 - + 1 6
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
fairs history www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 65 - + 7 65
GoogleUK(UK) 22 - + 3 19
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
history british railways www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 25 - + 3 25
GoogleUK(UK) 19 - + 2 19
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
history of fairgrounds www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 6 - + 1 5
GoogleUK(UK) 6 - + 1 5
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
history of textiles www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 25
Google 13 - + 2 13
GoogleUK(UK) 8 - + 1 8
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
history of the textile industry www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google - - ? - -
GoogleUK(UK) 59 - + 6 55
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
railway history uk www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 14 - + 2 13
GoogleUK(UK) 12 - + 2 11
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
textiles history www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Search Engine Position Previous Change Page Best
Google 11 - + 2 11
GoogleUK(UK) 5 - + 1 5
YahooUK(UK) - - ? - -
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 26 Case Study Individual Results
Keywords in Google.co.uk – Archives HubThefollowingchartshowsthetrendlineofwhenspecifickeywordphrasesstartedtoappearinthetop100searchresultsinGoogle.co.uk,andtheirrankingbehaviour.
Theabovechartdemonstratesthatsearchenginerankingresultsarenotalwaysconsistentandchangeregularly.Despitebeingdroppedfromthetop100forseveralweeks(duringearlyMay),allkeywordsreturnedtothetop100andweregenerallyrankedinthetop25positionsinGoogleUK.
Impact on organic search generated traffic – Archives HubWeeklywebsitetrafficduringthecasestudyisasfollows:
Date Range Visits Bounce Rate Avg. Time On Site
Total Organic Search
% from Search
Overall Search Site Avg.
Search Diff.
15–21Feb 2,686 949 35.33% 50.19% 63.12% 02:22 01:31 -35.92%
Project kick-off
22–28Feb 2,923 1,112 38.04% 52.82% 66.37% 02:07 01:38 -22.83%
1–7Mar 3,526 1,492 42.31% 50.26% 60.99% 02:01 01:52 -7.44%
SEO recommendations provided
8–14Mar 2,735 1,052 38.46% 50.86% 63.50% 02:05 01:29 -28.80%
15–21Mar 2,810 1,079 38.40% 52.17% 65.62% 03:36 01:49 -49.54%
22–28Mar 2,794 947 33.89% 49.68% 63.89% 02:02 01:25 -30.33%
XML site map created and implemented, started implementing site changes where possible, examined server load speed, HTML validation and cleanup of homepage, missing title tags, modified default page title tag form. Changes implemented over a two-week period
28Mar–4Apr 2,371 857 36.15% 53.02% 65.11% 01:53 01:47 -5.31%
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 27
Keyword phrases finalised
4–11Apr 2,063 826 40.04% 54.39% 62.71% 02:03 02:11 6.50%
1–-8Apr 2,219 888 40.02% 52.19% 62.16% 01:52 01:33 -16.96%
19–25Apr 2,437 868 35.62% 50.84% 62.90% 02:19 01:43 -25.90%
26Apr–2May 2,632 910 34.57% 52.58% 67.03% 02:17 01:11 -48.18%
Created keyword phrase targeted pages and published to website 29 April Minor changes to pages based on page review 1 May
3–9May 2,320 918 39.57% 54.18% 63.94% 01:50 01:29 -19.09%
Created new pages according to SEO best practices with internal links to new pages
10–16May 1,775 740 41.68% 54.98% 65.14% 01:55 01:28 -23.48%
17–23May 1,711 605 35.36% 53.89% 62.48% 01:56 01:18 -32.76%
24–30May 2,014 780 38.73% 54.72% 63.08% 01:53 01:34 -16.81%
31May–6
June
2,309 824 35.69% 54.57% 64.81% 02:03 01:31 -26.02%
Use of Digg and Twitter to promote new pages Drafting of blog post about pages, should be posted week of 21 June
7–13June 2,494 934 37.45% 54.01% 62.10% 02:06 01:58 -6.35%
ThenatureoftheArchivesHubwebsiterequiresittopromotespecificcollectionsatdifferenttimes.Also,thepublic’sdesiretosearchonspecificsubjectsmaybeimpactedbyexternalmarketingeffortsandnewsitems.Itisthereforeimpracticaltoderivespecificandirrefutabledatafromthelimitedtimeperiodofthiscasestudy.
However,whatisevidentintheabovedataisthat,witheachimplementationofchanges,therewereimprovementsinthepercentageoftotaltrafficcomingtotheArchivesHubfromorganictraffic.
DuringthemonthofMay(15–18May),theArchivesHubexperiencedatechnicalproblemthatrequiredthesitetobedownforfourdays.Thisexplainsthelowvolumeoftotaltrafficduringthisperiod.Theimpactofthesitenotbeingavailabletothesearchenginebotsisalsoevidentintheabovedata.Priortothistechnicalproblem,thepercentageoforganicsearchtraffictothesitewasslowlyincreasingandremainingsteadyatapproximately40%.Withintwoweeks,thispercentagedroppedto35.69%andstartedreboundingonlyafter7June.Thereasonwebsitedowntimecanhavethisimpact,isthatsearchenginebotswilltryseveraltimestoaccessspecificpages.Ifthispageisnotavailableafterseveralattempts,thesearchenginesarelikelytode-listit,oratleastreduceitspagerank.
TheArchivesHubstartedtopromotethenewpagesandbuildlinkstothemthroughTwitterandthesocialbookmarkingsiteDiggafter1June.Theimpactofthismayexplaintheslightincreaseinbothorganicsearchandoveralltrafficduringtheweekof7–13June.Twittertweetscontainlinksdirectlytothesite,whichcanincreasevisitortrafficandpageawareness.SocialbookmarkingsitessuchasDigg,ontheotherhand,helpwithsearchenginerankingsandhavethepotentialtogenerateotherreferrertraffic.
Referring Traffic from Twitter
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 28 Case Study Individual Results
Tominimisetheimpactoftheserverdowntimeandtoallowforpossibleseasonaldifferences,comparisonoftrafficbetweenMay2009andMay2008showsthefollowingchangesinoveralltraffictotheArchivesHubwebsite.
Comparison with Same Month of Preceding Year (2008–2009) – Archives Hub
Overall Website Traffic
Visits
8,689Previous:9,402 (-7.58%)
Pages/Visit
2.82Previous:2.95 (-4.51%)
Organic Search Engine Traffic
Visits
3,345Previous: 3,611 (-7.37%)
Pages/Visit
2.30Previous:2.26 (1.59%)
Itappearsthattherewasadecreaseinorganicsearchtraffic.However,aspreviouslystated,duringMay2009,theArchivesHubexperiencedatechnicalproblemthatrequiredthesitetobedownforfourdays.Iftheaveragenumberofvisitsperdayiscalculatedandcompared,therewouldbeanaverageof123.8duringMay2009,comparedto116.5duringMay2008.Thisequatestoanincreaseinorganicsearchenginetrafficof6.2%,whileoveralltrafficincreased6.1%.Amodestgainatbest,buttheimpactonorganicsearchtrafficofdowntimeisevidentfrom17–23May;thepercentageoftotaltrafficwasthesecondlowestobservedduringthecasestudy(35.36%).Onlythefirstweekpriortoanychangestothesitehadalowerpercentage.
Onefactoraffectingoverallsearchtrafficissubjectmatter.TheArchivesHubpromotesnewanddifferentsubjectmattersatdifferenttimes.Dependingontheoverallpublicinterestintheseitems,thismightaffecttheoverallnumberoftargetedsearchesappropriateforthecontentontheArchivesHub’swebsite.
Specific keyword trafficThefollowingchartsdisplaythenumberofvisitsbykeywordphrasesthatcontaingenerickeywords.Forthepurposeofthiscasestudy,thegenerickeywordsthatformedthekeypartoftheidentifiedkeywordphraseswereused.
Railway
Fairgrounds
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Case Study Individual Results PAGE 29
Textiles
History
PAGE 30 Conclusions
ConclusionsBasedonthedatagatheredduringthesecasestudies,thefollowingconclusionsregardingorganicsearchtrafficcanbegeneratedandappliedtoallwebsites.
1. Makingminoradjustmentstowebsitecopy–especiallypagetitlesanddescriptionmetatags–cananddoesimproveboththequantityandqualityofvisits
2. Selectingtheappropriatetwo-tothree-wordphrasethatreflectsthepage’scontentiscritical.Thisisnotaresourceintensiveexercise,butrequirescommitmentandtheunderstandingthatthephrasetotargetmightnotreflecttheorganisation’sinternallexicon.Itiscriticaltoselectphrasesthatarebothsearchedonfrequentlyandhaveastronglikelihoodofachievingatoptenresult
3. Resourcesmustbecommittedtodevelopalinkingstrategyfortheorganisationandtocontinuallyseekoutnewlinkstospecificpages.Merelycreatingasinglelinkinasocialbookmarkingsite,weeksafterapagehasbeenreleased,shouldnotbethenorm.Sitevisitorsshouldbeencouragedtoaddthesepagestotheirownsocialbookmarkingaccount.Thiscanbeaccomplishedbyplacingiconsonthebottomofpagesforthedifferentbookmarkingserviceswiththeappropriatelinks
4. EngaginginaSEOstrategyisnotasingleevent,butalong-termstrategyconsistingofaseriesofbestpractices.Thesebestpracticesmustbecomepartoftheentirewebteam’severydaywayofthinking
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 31
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 32 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
Ob
serv
atio
ns
Resp
onse
tim
e (S
peed
)
Serv
er
CSS
codi
ng v
alid
atio
n (
H
TML
codi
ng v
alid
atio
n (H
ome
page
=
Se
arch
Eng
ine
Site
map
Ro
bots
.txt
1 A
rchi
tect
ure
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
The
arch
itect
ure
of a
web
site
has
a c
onsi
dera
ble
inci
denc
e on
sea
rch
engi
ne
optim
izat
ion
effo
rts.
A p
oor
arch
itect
ure
will
lim
it th
e nu
mbe
r of p
ages
foun
d an
d in
dexe
d by
robo
ts, r
egar
dles
s of
all
the
optim
izat
ion
effo
rts
Resp
onse
tim
e (S
peed
)
Spe
ed is
mar
gina
lly a
ccep
tabl
e. A
vera
ge p
age
dow
nloa
d sp
eed
for
past
3 m
onth
s w
as 7
96 m
illis
econ
ds
and
a m
axim
um o
f 996
mill
isec
onds
was
exp
erie
nced
by
the
Goo
gle
bot.
Serv
er lo
cati
on
Ma
nche
ster
GB
CSS
codi
ng v
alid
atio
n ( 0
err
or)
No
err
ors
dete
cted
HTM
L co
ding
val
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ion
(Hom
e pa
ge= 7
err
ors)
Ho
me
page
faile
d W
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st: 7
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rs
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ch E
ngin
e Si
tem
ap
No
site
map
.xm
l
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ts.t
xt
Val
id r
obot
s.tx
t file
Arc
hiv
es H
ub
The
arch
itect
ure
of a
web
site
has
a c
onsi
dera
ble
inci
denc
e on
sea
rch
engi
ne
optim
izat
ion
effo
rts.
A p
oor
arch
itect
ure
will
lim
it th
e nu
mbe
r of p
ages
foun
d re
gard
less
of a
ll th
e op
timiz
atio
n ef
fort
s
mar
gina
lly a
ccep
tabl
e. A
vera
ge p
age
dow
nloa
d sp
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for
past
3 m
onth
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as 7
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and
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f 996
mill
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by
the
Goo
gle
bot.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 33
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
A
rch
ives
Hu
b
Page
des
ign
(Fra
me,
tab
le, C
SS)
Use
a g
loba
l lin
k CS
S
Usi
ng T
able
s: T
wo
leve
l of t
able
s in
use
on
hom
e pa
ge.
Use
Tab
le in
CSS
.
Usi
ng H
eade
r ele
men
ts o
n na
viga
tion
item
s (H
1 el
emen
t dup
licat
ion)
URL
Sim
ple,
cle
ar a
nd k
eyw
ord
rich
URL
– c
ould
be
impr
oved
by
not u
sing
con
trac
tions
No
ses
sion
ID
Para
met
er
No
Par
amet
er
Titl
e el
emen
t
The
Web
site
mai
nly
uses
uni
que
and
rele
vant
Titl
e el
emen
ts.
Bra
nd is
bef
ore
the
Them
e in
the
Title
ele
men
t: s
houl
d be
the
reve
rse
Du
plic
ate
title
s: 4
,897
pag
es h
ave
dupl
icat
e tit
les
with
at l
east
one
oth
er p
age
7 p
ages
mis
sing
title
tags
Inde
xati
on
All
page
s ar
e in
dexe
d: G
oogl
e in
dexe
d 32
,500
pag
es
Hea
der
elem
ents
(H1,
H2.
..)
Mo
st p
ages
cor
rect
ly u
sing
H1
and
H2
tags
with
goo
d us
e of
key
wor
ds w
ithin
tags
Met
a ta
gs
519
pag
es h
ave
a du
plic
ate
desc
ript
ion
met
a ta
g w
ith
at le
ast o
ne o
ther
pag
e
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 34 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
A
rch
ives
Hu
b
41
page
s ha
ve s
hort
or
blan
k de
scri
ptio
n m
eta
tags
No
pag
es h
ave
long
des
crip
tion
met
a ta
gs
File
and
fold
er n
ame
HT
ML
page
file
nam
e co
ntai
n ke
ywor
ds
Fol
der
nam
e do
not
hav
e ke
ywor
ds in
it –
use
con
trac
tion
(i.e.
arc
h fo
r A
rchi
vist
)
File
siz
e
File
siz
es a
re o
f app
ropr
iate
siz
e (u
nder
100
KB)
Java
scr
ipt
Inli
ne Ja
va s
crip
ts (b
ette
r if l
ink
file,
but
OK
for
Goo
gle
Ana
lytic
s)
- G
oogl
e an
alyt
ics
Pag
e di
spla
ys c
orre
ctly
whe
n ja
va s
crip
t is
disa
bled
Imag
e A
lt t
ext
Pic
ture
are
usi
ng a
ppro
pria
te A
lt te
xt
Imag
e Fi
le S
ize
Im
age
files
siz
e ar
e ap
prop
riat
e
Imag
e Fi
le N
ame
Mi
nim
um u
se o
f im
ages
on
site
– n
o be
nefit
or h
arm
to S
EO.
Inte
rnal
link
On
ave
rage
eve
ry p
age
has
less
than
9 in
tern
al li
nk (t
op n
avig
atio
n lin
k).
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 35
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
A
rch
ives
Hu
b
Im
port
ant p
ages
are
(1) H
ome,
(2) N
otic
es a
nd D
iscl
aim
ers
Exte
rnal
link
Re
leva
nt a
nd m
ainl
y gr
oup
in th
e fo
oter
or
in c
onte
xtua
l ref
eren
ces
Re
com
men
datio
ns
1.
In
vest
igat
e w
hy p
age
load
tim
es a
re lo
w fo
r bot
s 2.
Re
vise
pag
e tit
les
and
whe
re a
ppro
pria
te p
ut b
rand
ing
“Ad
Hub
” as
sec
onda
ry p
oint
3.
W
rite
uni
que
page
title
s 4.
W
rite
uni
que
desc
ript
ion
met
a ta
gs
5.
Mod
ify d
irec
tory
nam
es to
con
tain
mea
ning
ful w
ords
and
not
con
trac
tions
6.
Re
vise
HTM
L an
d CS
S co
de w
ith W
3C to
ol to
ens
ure
erro
r fr
ee
7.
Crea
te a
sea
rch
engi
ne s
item
ap
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 36 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
Ob
serv
atio
ns
Text
/cod
e ra
tio
Wor
d co
unt
Cont
extu
al li
nkin
g
Hea
der
Read
abili
ty
2 Co
nten
tSEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
A
rch
ives
Hu
b
Usi
ng s
peci
fic w
ritin
g te
chni
que
will
max
imiz
e th
e vi
sibi
lity
of
Web
and
the
ease
with
whi
ch In
tern
et u
sers
can
acc
ess
Text
/cod
e ra
tio
Hom
e pa
ge: 2
9.9%
: Web
Pag
e Si
ze :
1495
5 by
tes,
Wor
d co
unt
Pag
es h
ave
on a
vera
ge 3
00 w
ords
(sho
uld
be b
etw
een
250
and
500)
.
Hav
e so
me
page
s th
at h
ave
less
than
200
wor
ds.
Cont
extu
al li
nkin
g
Site
use
s of
con
text
ual l
inks
Hea
der M
ain
head
er (H
1) is
use
d m
ost o
f the
tim
e.
Hea
der
gene
rally
con
tain
s th
e th
eme
of th
e pa
ge k
eyw
ords
.
Hea
der
gene
rally
sum
mar
ize
the
page
(Jou
rnal
istic
sty
le)
Read
abili
ty
Doe
s us
e a
sub-
head
er (H
2 or
H3)
Par
agra
ph a
re m
ainl
y O
K (1
00 w
ords
per
par
agra
ph)
Ave
rage
wor
ds p
er p
hras
e is
als
o O
K (S
ente
nces
sho
uld
be a
roun
d 17
to 2
0
Man
y 4
sylla
bles
wor
d us
ed
Arc
hiv
es H
ub
spec
ific
wri
ting
tech
niqu
e w
ill m
axim
ize
the
visi
bilit
y of
you
r pa
ges
on th
e W
eb a
nd th
e ea
se w
ith w
hich
Inte
rnet
use
rs c
an a
cces
s an
d sc
an th
e co
nten
t.
Page
s ha
ve o
n av
erag
e 30
0 w
ords
(sho
uld
be b
etw
een
250
and
500)
.
houl
d be
aro
und
17 to
20
wor
ds)
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 37
SE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
Arc
hiv
es H
ub
Them
e
T
hem
e ke
ywor
d is
in th
e Ti
tle e
lem
ent,
mos
tly in
the
URL
, not
in th
e H
1 an
d m
ost o
f the
tim
e, n
ot in
the
first
sen
tenc
e.
T
hem
e ke
ywor
ds n
ot u
se e
noug
h w
ithin
the
pict
ure
Alt
ele
men
t.
Site
con
tain
s lim
ited
grap
hics
to ta
ke a
dvan
tage
of t
his
feat
ure
Curr
ent T
hem
e ke
ywor
ds (T
itle
ele
men
t)
Arc
hive
s H
ub –
Hom
e Pa
ge
Arc
hive
Hub
: Cre
atin
g an
d M
anag
ing
Spok
es –
An
intr
oduc
tion
to th
e H
ub D
istr
ibut
ed V
ersi
on
Re
com
men
datio
ns
1.
Mor
e cl
osel
y al
ign
page
title
with
pag
e he
adin
g (h
1)
2.
Rein
forc
e th
eme
page
s w
ith u
se o
f the
me
in h
2 ta
gs
3.
App
ly S
EO w
ritin
g on
the
curr
ent a
nd n
ew p
ages
(con
sist
ency
with
the
Title
, file
nam
e, m
eta
desc
ript
ion
elem
ent,
H1
elem
ent,
firs
t sen
tenc
e of
a p
arag
raph
…)
4.
Whe
re a
ppro
pria
te a
dd p
ictu
res
to p
ages
and
mak
e su
re it
sup
port
s th
e th
eme
cont
ent.
The
se p
ictu
res
shal
l all
have
Alt
text
ele
men
t with
the
keyw
ord
whe
n re
leva
nt.
5.
Cont
inue
to le
vera
ge th
e co
ntex
tual
link
. Su
b pa
ges
shou
ld li
nk b
ack
to th
eir u
pper
leve
l pag
e.
6.
Ensu
re th
at e
very
pag
e H
1 ar
e re
leva
nt a
nd fi
lled.
7.
Fa
cilit
ate
page
sca
nnin
g: p
arag
raph
of 1
00 w
ords
+ h
eade
r (H
2)
8.
Try
to in
crea
se th
e te
xt to
cod
e ra
tio to
abo
ve 3
0% w
ith a
goa
l of 3
5% o
r hi
gher
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 38 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
Ob
serv
atio
ns
Inbo
und
Link
s
Hom
e Pa
ge
http
://w
ww
.arc
hive
shub
.ac.
uk/b
log/
http
://w
ww
.arc
hive
shub
.ac.
uk/f
eb04
.sht
ml
http
://w
ww
.arc
hive
shub
.ac.
uk/m
ar04
.sht
ml
http
://w
ww
.arc
hive
shub
.ac.
uk/a
bout
.sht
ml
Link
s to
hom
e pa
ge a
ccor
ding
to L
inks
cape
Hom
e pa
ge
Page
ran
k
So
cial
med
ia
No
New
s lin
ks (G
oogl
e N
ews)
3 Po
pula
ritySE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
Arc
hiv
es H
ub
A li
nk le
adin
g to
you
r web
page
is a
lso
a vo
te fo
r you
r pa
ge a
nd fo
r you
r w
ebsi
te.
All
sear
ch e
ngin
es c
onsi
der t
he n
umbe
r of i
nbou
nd li
nks
to a
web
site
in th
eir
algo
rith
ms.
Sol
icita
tion,
col
oniz
atio
n an
d so
cial
izat
ion
will
incr
ease
you
r po
pula
rity
ther
efor
e yo
ur ra
nkin
g.
Inbo
und
Link
s
14,
715
links
rep
orte
d by
Goo
gle
Web
Mas
ter,
13,
100
Yaho
o,
Hom
e Pa
ge –
9,7
99
http
://w
ww
.arc
hive
shub
.ac.
uk/b
log/
- 1,
171
http
://w
ww
.arc
hive
shub
.ac.
uk/f
eb04
.sht
ml -
195
ht
tp:/
/ww
w.a
rchi
vesh
ub.a
c.uk
/mar
04.s
htm
l - 2
46
http
://w
ww
.arc
hive
shub
.ac.
uk/a
bout
.sht
ml
- 43
Link
s to
hom
e pa
ge a
ccor
ding
to L
inks
cape
Hom
e pa
ge –
2,0
81 fr
om 7
18 u
niqu
e do
mai
ns
Page
ran
k
Ho
me
Page
=8, B
log=
6, s
econ
dary
pag
e=7,
Ave
rage
inte
rnal
pag
e=5
Soci
al m
edia
Lin
ks o
n G
oogl
e bl
ogs
Lin
ks o
n Te
chno
rati
Lin
ks o
n W
ikip
edia
Som
e lin
ks o
n an
y m
ajor
soc
ial b
ookm
arki
ng s
ites
(dig
g, d
elic
ious
,Fur
l…)
No
New
s lin
ks (G
oogl
e N
ews)
Arc
hiv
es H
ub
A
link
lead
ing
to y
our w
ebpa
ge is
als
o a
vote
for y
our
page
and
for y
our
web
site
. A
ll se
arch
eng
ines
con
side
r the
num
ber o
f inb
ound
link
s to
a w
ebsi
te in
thei
r co
loni
zatio
n an
d so
cial
izat
ion
will
incr
ease
you
r
inte
rnal
pag
e=5
links
on
any
maj
or s
ocia
l boo
kmar
king
site
s (d
igg,
del
icio
us,F
url…
)
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 39
SE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
Arc
hiv
es H
ub
M
ost
Com
mon
Anc
hor
Text
in E
xter
nal l
inks
to s
ite
Arc
hive
s hu
b ab
out
sobr
e ac
erca
de
ar
achi
ves
hub
blog
Re
com
men
datio
ns
1.
Crea
te a
nav
igat
ion
link
from
the
Arc
hive
Hub
blo
g to
the
site
2.
En
cour
age
exte
rnal
site
s to
link
to th
e si
te u
sing
spe
cific
sub
ject
rel
ated
phr
ases
3.
Is
sue
a m
inim
um q
uart
erly
on-
line
(seo
targ
eted
) pre
ss r
elea
ses
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 40 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
Ob
serv
atio
ns
Resp
onse
tim
e (S
peed
)
Serv
er lo
cati
on
CS
S co
ding
val
idat
ion
(
H
TML
codi
ng v
alid
atio
n (H
ome
page
=
Se
arch
Eng
ine
Site
map
Ro
bots
.txt
1 A
rchi
tect
ure
SE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
The
arch
itect
ure
of a
web
site
has
a c
onsi
dera
ble
inci
denc
e on
sea
rch
engi
ne
optim
izat
ion
effo
rts.
A p
oor
arch
itect
ure
will
lim
it th
e nu
mbe
r of p
ages
foun
d an
d in
dexe
d by
robo
ts, r
egar
dles
s of
all
the
optim
izat
ion
effo
rts
Resp
onse
tim
e (S
peed
)
Spe
ed is
per
iodi
cally
slo
w. A
vera
ge p
age
dow
nloa
d sp
eed
for
past
3 m
onth
s w
as
max
imum
of 2
,138
mill
isec
onds
. The
dow
nloa
d tim
e fo
r th
e G
oogl
e Bo
t has
bee
nsi
nce
mid
.
Serv
er lo
cati
on
Bri
ghto
n G
B
CSS
codi
ng v
alid
atio
n ( 0
err
or)
0 e
rror
s de
tect
ed o
n th
e ho
me
page
HTM
L co
ding
val
idat
ion
(Hom
e pa
ge= 4
err
ors)
Err
ors
wer
e m
inor
, but
sho
uld
be a
ddre
ssed
Sear
ch E
ngin
e Si
tem
ap
No
site
map
.xm
l
Robo
ts.t
xt
Val
id r
obot
s.tx
t file
CE
TLD
The
arch
itect
ure
of a
web
site
has
a c
onsi
dera
ble
inci
denc
e on
sea
rch
engi
ne
optim
izat
ion
effo
rts.
A p
oor
arch
itect
ure
will
lim
it th
e nu
mbe
r of p
ages
foun
d re
gard
less
of a
ll th
e op
timiz
atio
n ef
fort
s
. Ave
rage
pag
e do
wnl
oad
spee
d fo
r pa
st 3
mon
ths
was
838
mill
isec
onds
and
a
2,13
8 m
illis
econ
ds. T
he d
ownl
oad
time
for
the
Goo
gle
Bot h
as b
een
incr
easi
ng s
tead
ily
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 41
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
CE
TLD
Pa
ge d
esig
n (F
ram
e, t
able
, CSS
)
Use
a g
loba
l lin
k CS
S
No
use
of t
able
s o
n ho
me
page
.
Usi
ng H
eade
r ele
men
ts o
n na
viga
tion
item
s (H
1 el
emen
t dup
licat
ion)
URL
Sim
ple,
cle
ar a
nd k
eyw
ord
rich
URL
– c
ould
be
impr
oved
by
not u
sing
con
trac
tions
No
ses
sion
ID
Para
met
er
No
Par
amet
er
Titl
e el
emen
t
The
Web
site
use
s un
ique
and
rel
evan
t Titl
e el
emen
ts.
Pag
e Th
eme
befo
re b
rand
ing
Du
plic
ate
title
s: 1
29 p
ages
hav
e du
plic
ate
title
s w
ith a
t lea
st o
ne o
ther
pag
e
Inde
xati
on
All
page
s ar
e in
dexe
d (w
ith e
xcep
tion
of th
ose
bloc
ked
by r
obot
s.tx
t) :
Goo
gle
inde
xed
1,70
0 pa
ges
Hea
der
elem
ents
(H1,
H2.
..)
Mo
st p
ages
cor
rect
ly u
sing
H1
and
H2
tags
with
goo
d us
e of
key
wor
ds w
ithin
tags
M
ost p
ages
con
tain
s m
ultip
le h
1
Met
a ta
gs
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 42 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
CE
TLD
129 p
ages
hav
e a
dupl
icat
e de
scri
ptio
n m
eta
tag
wit
h at
leas
t one
oth
er p
age
No
pag
es h
ave
long
des
crip
tion
met
a ta
gs
No
pag
es h
ave
shor
t des
crip
tion
met
a ta
gs
File
and
fold
er n
ame
HT
ML
page
file
nam
e co
ntai
n ke
ywor
ds
Fol
der
nam
e ha
ve k
eyw
ords
in it
File
siz
e
File
siz
es a
re o
f app
ropr
iate
siz
e (u
nder
100
KB)
Java
scr
ipt
Inli
ne Ja
va s
crip
ts (b
ette
r if l
ink
file,
but
OK
for
Goo
gle
Ana
lytic
s)
- G
oogl
e an
alyt
ics
Pag
e di
spla
ys c
orre
ctly
whe
n ja
va s
crip
t is
disa
bled
Imag
e A
lt t
ext
Pic
ture
are
usi
ng A
lt te
xt
Imag
e Fi
le S
ize
Im
age
files
siz
e ar
e ap
prop
riat
e
Imag
e Fi
le N
ame
Im
age
nam
es d
o no
t ref
lect
the
cont
ent o
f the
imag
e (L
istin
gIm
age_
smal
l for
Brid
ging
the
Gap
in M
ovin
g Im
age)
.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 43
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
CE
TLD
In
tern
al li
nk
On
ave
rage
eve
ry p
age
has
mor
e th
an 9
inte
rnal
link
s (t
op n
avig
atio
n lin
k).
Im
port
ant p
ages
are
(1) H
ome,
(2) I
s D
esig
n G
ood
for Y
ou
Exte
rnal
link
Ext
erna
l lin
ks a
re p
rese
nt in
con
tain
ed w
ithin
the
cont
ent
Re
com
men
datio
ns
1.
In
vest
igat
e an
d re
solv
e re
ason
pag
e do
wnl
oad
spee
d by
Goo
gle
bot i
s in
crea
sing
2.
M
odify
imag
e fil
e na
mes
to in
clud
e th
eme
and
keyw
ords
3.
W
rite
uni
que
page
title
s fo
r pa
ges
whe
re d
uplic
ate
title
s no
w e
xist
s 4.
W
rite
uni
que
desc
ript
ion
met
a ta
gs
5.
Corr
ect
HTM
L co
de w
ith W
3C to
ol to
ens
ure
erro
r fr
ee
6.
Crea
te a
n XM
L si
te m
ap to
ens
ure
impo
rtan
t pag
es a
re g
iven
app
ropr
iate
pri
ority
.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 44 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
Ob
serv
atio
ns
Text
/cod
e ra
tio
Wor
d co
unt
Cont
extu
al li
nkin
g
Hea
der
Read
abili
ty
2 Co
nten
t
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
Usi
ng s
peci
fic w
ritin
g te
chni
que
will
max
imiz
e th
e vi
sibi
lity
of
Web
and
the
ease
with
whi
ch In
tern
et u
sers
can
acc
ess
Text
/cod
e ra
tio
Hom
e pa
ge: 3
2.3%
: Web
Pag
e Si
ze :
13.9
KB,
M
useu
m R
esea
rch
28.3
%: W
eb P
age
Size
: 11K
B
Wor
d co
unt
Pag
es d
on’t
hav
e on
ave
rage
300
wor
ds (s
houl
d be
bet
wee
n 25
0 an
d 50
0).
Mos
t pag
es th
at h
ave
less
than
200
wor
ds.
Cont
extu
al li
nkin
g
Site
use
s of
con
text
ual l
inks
Hea
der M
ain
head
er (H
1) is
use
d m
ost o
f the
tim
e.
Hea
der
gene
rally
con
tain
s th
e th
eme
of th
e pa
ge k
eyw
ords
.
Hea
der
gene
rally
sum
mar
ize
the
page
(Jou
rnal
istic
sty
le)
Read
abili
ty
Doe
s us
e a
sub-
head
er (H
2 or
H3)
Par
agra
ph a
re m
ainl
y O
K (u
nder
100
wor
ds p
er p
arag
raph
)
Ave
rage
wor
ds p
er p
hras
e is
als
o O
K (S
ente
nces
sho
uld
be a
roun
d 17
to 2
0
CE
TLD
spec
ific
wri
ting
tech
niqu
e w
ill m
axim
ize
the
visi
bilit
y of
you
r pa
ges
on th
e W
eb a
nd th
e ea
se w
ith w
hich
Inte
rnet
use
rs c
an a
cces
s an
d sc
an th
e co
nten
t.
have
on
aver
age
300
wor
ds (s
houl
d be
bet
wee
n 25
0 an
d 50
0).
houl
d be
aro
und
17 to
20
wor
ds)
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 45
SE
O E
valu
atio
n R
epor
t
CE
TLD
Them
e
T
hem
e ke
ywor
d is
in th
e Ti
tle e
lem
ent,
mos
tly in
the
URL
, not
in th
e H
1 an
d m
ost o
f the
tim
e, n
ot in
the
first
sen
tenc
e.
The
me
keyw
ords
not
use
eno
ugh
with
in th
e pi
ctur
e A
lt e
lem
ent.
fr
eque
nt u
se o
f bla
nk A
lt ta
gs w
hen
used
des
crib
e im
age
Cu
rren
t The
me
keyw
ords
(Tit
le e
lem
ent)
CE
TLD
– H
ome
Page
Li
nks
to A
rchi
ves
& R
esou
rces
– R
esou
rces
pag
e D
ownl
oads
CET
LD –
Dow
nloa
ds P
age
Re
com
men
datio
ns
1.
Incr
ease
the
abou
t of d
escr
iptiv
e/th
emed
con
tent
on
page
s to
a to
tal w
ork
coun
t of o
ver 3
00
2.
Rew
rite
pag
e tit
les
to r
efle
ct th
eme
mor
e ac
cura
tely
3.
En
sure
all
alt t
ags
are
com
plet
ed fo
r al
l im
ages
incl
ude
“vis
ual c
ues”
- e
xcel
lent
opp
ortu
nity
to
emph
asiz
e th
e of
ass
ocia
ted
link.
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 46 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
Ob
serv
atio
ns
Inbo
und
Link
s
158 H
ome
Page
http
://w
ww
.sw
an.a
c.uk
/acc
omm
odat
ion/
http
://c
etld
.bri
ghto
n.ac
.uk/
even
ts/i
s Li
nks
to h
ome
page
acc
ordi
ng to
Lin
ksca
pe
Hom
e pa
ge
Page
ran
k
So
cial
med
ia
Lin
ks o
n
No
link
s co
uld
be fo
und
on a
ny m
ajor
soc
ial b
ookm
arki
ng s
ites
(dig
g, d
elic
ious
,Fur
l…)
3 Po
pula
rity
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
A li
nk le
adin
g to
you
r web
page
is a
lso
a vo
te fo
r you
r pa
ge a
nd fo
r you
r w
ebsi
te.
All
sear
ch e
ngin
es c
onsi
der t
he n
umbe
r of i
nbou
nd li
nks
to a
web
site
in th
eir
algo
rith
ms.
Sol
icita
tion,
col
oniz
atio
n an
d so
cial
izat
ion
will
incr
ease
you
r po
pula
rity
ther
efor
e yo
ur ra
nkin
g.
Inbo
und
Link
s
158
links
repo
rted
by
Goo
gle
Web
Mas
ter;
591
rep
orte
d by
Yah
oo
Hom
e Pa
ge –
84
http
://w
ww
.sw
an.a
c.uk
/acc
omm
odat
ion/
- 1,9
27
http
://c
etld
.bri
ghto
n.ac
.uk/
even
ts/i
s -de
sign
-goo
d-fo
r-yo
u - 3
3
Link
s to
hom
e pa
ge a
ccor
ding
to L
inks
cape
Hom
e pa
ge –
54
from
20
uniq
ue d
omai
ns
Page
ran
k
Ho
me
Page
=5, A
bout
Us=
N/A
, se
cond
ary
page
=N/A
, Ave
rage
inte
rnal
pag
e=
Soci
al m
edia
Lin
ks o
n G
oogl
e bl
ogs
Lin
ks o
n W
ikip
edia
New
s lin
ks (G
oogl
e N
ews)
Link
s on
Tec
hnor
ati
No
links
cou
ld b
e fo
und
on a
ny m
ajor
soc
ial b
ookm
arki
ng s
ites
(dig
g, d
elic
ious
,Fur
l…)
CET
LD
A li
nk le
adin
g to
you
r web
page
is a
lso
a vo
te fo
r you
r pa
ge a
nd fo
r you
r w
ebsi
te.
All
sear
ch e
ngin
es c
onsi
der t
he n
umbe
r of i
nbou
nd li
nks
to a
web
site
in th
eir
colo
niza
tion
and
soci
aliz
atio
n w
ill in
crea
se y
our
inte
rnal
pag
e=0
No
links
cou
ld b
e fo
und
on a
ny m
ajor
soc
ial b
ookm
arki
ng s
ites
(dig
g, d
elic
ious
,Fur
l…)
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 47
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
ort
CE
TLD
M
ost
Com
mon
Anc
hor
Text
in E
xter
nal l
inks
to s
ite
http
cet
ld b
righ
ton
ac u
k ev
ents
is d
esig
n
CETL
D
http
cet
ld b
righ
ton
ac u
k
view
the
web
site
H
ome
Re
com
men
datio
ns
1.
Dev
elop
a li
nk s
trat
egy
to o
btai
n lin
ks fo
r a
mor
e un
ique
dom
ains
(rat
io o
f lin
ks to
uni
que
dom
ains
is
low
) 2.
En
hanc
e W
ikip
edia
list
ing
and
have
war
ning
rem
oved
3.
A
ttem
pt to
obt
ain
links
from
pag
es w
ith a
PR
valu
e gr
eate
r tha
n 7
(site
’s P
R va
lue
is 6
des
pite
ove
r 10
0,00
0 in
boun
d lin
ks.
4.
Revi
ew s
ites
with
ext
erna
l lin
ks to
CET
LD a
nd tr
y to
enc
oura
ge th
em to
use
mor
e th
emed
phr
ases
in
thei
r lin
k te
xt
5.
Whe
n ap
prop
riat
e is
sue
SEO
’d p
ress
rele
ases
to o
btai
n lin
ks b
ack
to th
e si
te fr
om Y
ahoo
New
s an
d G
oogl
e N
ews.
A m
inim
um o
f one
mon
thly
pre
ss r
elea
se is
reco
mm
ende
d.
6.
Hav
e pe
rman
ent l
ink
back
to m
ain
site
from
the
CETL
D b
log
rew
ritt
en to
be
mor
e th
emed
then
“he
re”
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 48 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
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Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 53
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The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
PAGE 54 Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review
SEO
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Inbo
und
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The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Annex 1: Organisations’ websites review PAGE 55
SEO
Eva
luat
ion
Rep
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Sw
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a M
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Com
mon
Anc
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Text
in E
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to s
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Uni
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f Wal
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wan
sea
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Document No: 664Version 1.1, December 2009
The Impact of Search Engine Optimisation on Organisations’ WebsitesCanadian Heritage Information Network, November 2009
Further information about JISC:Web: www.jisc.ac.ukEmail: [email protected]: +44 (0)117 331 0789