Ranking in the top results on the first page of Google results in the highest click-through rates. The first organic search result in Google receives a 39.8% organic click-through rate – so having a robust SEO strategy for your School is crucial.
What does SEO stand for?
One of the most important strategies to help your School thrive online is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). It’s like giving your School’s content a makeover, making it not only look good but also appear at the top of search results.
It’s the process of getting high rankings for key phrases, relevant keywords, and addressing all the questions that users commonly search for. This process involves crafting, organising and structuring your School’s content to align with the preferences of search engines and user queries.
If you’re aiming high this year for your School to be on the first pages of Google results, we’ve created our SEO starter guide for 2024 to help you make small but impactful steps to boost your school marketing and online presence.
Having SEO-friendly URLs
According to Google, your URL must be simple. A shorter URL tends to rank higher. You must aim to create URLs no more than 65 characters long.
Add 1-2 of the keywords that you’re aiming to rank for. Make your URLs human-readable.
For example, a good option for the URL would be www.yourschoolname.org/openday, instead of www.yourschoolname.org//events/opendays/spring/2024/welcome.
Meta-descriptions
An engaging meta description with a clear CTA combined with a keyword-driven title can increase your click-through rates. There are no limits on the length of your meta description but it is recommended to keep them to 105 characters long so that they won’t be truncated in the search results.
Keyword research for Schools Keywords using seo tools
You can utilise keyword research tools to find keywords with high search volume. Some of the latest SEO tools are Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Ads Keyword Planner for finding keywords for your PPC ads for your School.
Focus on long-tail keywords that are more specific than nuanced and will drive highly targeted traffic to your School’s website.
Consider placing your keywords in the title tag of your page, meta descriptions, URL, Headings 1 and 2, content body, image Alt text.
Generate Content for your School
Try to answer the questions that prospective parents and students might have.
A good example here is St Peter’s blog post which ranks on the top of the results explaining “What’s the Difference Between State, Public and Private Schools?”.
Backlinks
A backlink is when another website adds links from your website to their website. Having high-quality backlinks can help you increase your School’s website visibility. Want to learn more about backlink research? A SEO tool that can help is Link Explorer which can give you an oversight of the domains linked to your website.
Add internal links
Internal links are important as they can enhance crawling and indexing. They help search engines discover new pages and understand the context and importance of each page.
Also, they improve your user experience. When visitors find it easy to move between pages, it reduces bounce rates and encourages longer sessions.
Reduce image size
Reducing image size is important for SEO because it helps improve website loading speed, which is a significant factor in search engine rankings.
Save your images as smaller jpeg formats. Consider also using image compression tools like TinyPNG.
Give your School’s pages compelling titles
A compelling title can lead to an increased Click-through rate (CTR). Inclusion of relevant keywords in your title aligns with search intent which improves your search engine ranking.
Having a great title increases user engagement and makes them spend more time on your website.
Aim to maintain a local and school-specific focus while adding a touch of uniqueness to capture attention. Some examples include: YOUR SCHOOL NAME | Elevating Education Standards in YOUR TOWN or Exceptional Learning Starts Here | YOUR SCHOOL NAME in YOUR TOWN.
Having a clear SEO strategy is part of a well-defined overall digital marketing strategy for your School. If you follow these simple steps from our SEO starter guide for 2024 you will be able to attract new students and increase your enrolment rates.
If you would like more professional tips on marketing your School or to learn more about our SEO services for schools do get in touch with the Digithrive For School’s team who are always happy to help. contact us here