You’ve probably heard about search engine optimization (SEO) as the primary way to enhance your school’s website visibility and ranking on search engines. But did you realize that having authoritative backlinks is crucial for this process? Despite the changes in the industry, SEO backlinks for Higher Education remain significant for schools aiming to improve their search visibility and ranking. Acquiring more high-quality backlinks enhances your overall SEO efforts.
When school websites have numerous high-quality backlinks, search engines trust them more, resulting in higher rankings on the search engine results page (SERP). To make your school more accessible to your desired audience, it’s essential to focus on your link-building strategy. Here’s what you should keep in mind as you begin this journey.
How to do SEO for higher education?
An effective search engine optimization (SEO) plan for your college website involves careful attention to on-page and off-page content and technical elements. Let’s explore some fundamental principles to consider when shaping your higher education SEO strategy:
Perform Keyword Research and Align with Your Students’ Search Intent
Search intent reveals the purpose behind a search query. It’s about understanding what someone sought when they typed specific keywords – a critical insight for knowing your audience.
You can discover the ideal keywords that resonate with prospective students by delving into keyword research. You anticipate their needs and provide answers even before they realize it. Utilize SEO tools to identify pertinent keywords for your target audience and give priority to those that define your institution uniquely.
Incorporating these high-quality keywords into your articles, blog posts, or course descriptions can elevate your website’s ranking. This, in turn, helps you draw in a broader audience and outperform competitors. The organic traffic you garner from search engine results can surpass even paid advertising, attracting students for years after publication.
Conduct a Technical SEO Audit and Fix Identified Issues
Technical SEO is vital for keeping your college or university website in good shape. It involves numerous technical elements that form the foundation of your SEO plan. These elements ensure search engines can find your site and offer users a great experience, ultimately boosting organic traffic and conversions for higher education institutions.
To enhance your website’s search engine ranking, consider securing it with HTTPS, creating unique content, having an XML sitemap, and ensuring it’s mobile-friendly. These technical aspects play a significant role in improving your site’s visibility on search engines.
Develop a Content Strategy and Refresh Your Existing Articles before getting SEO backlinks for Higher Education
Producing top-notch content stands as the most effective means to elevate your SEO. Interestingly, it aligns perfectly with meeting the needs of prospective students by offering them valuable information.
To achieve this, it’s essential to consistently enhance your website with compelling content, including text, images, and videos. Such content tends to secure better search rankings because it captivates users. Strive to make your content as engaging as possible and refresh it regularly.
Consider academic program pages, which often contain relatively unchanging basic information. Keep these pages up-to-date by incorporating new photos, showcasing faculty, sharing student success stories, or adding other engaging elements to maintain their freshness.
Craft Compelling Visual Assets to Enhance Your School’s Content will even get you free quality SEO backlinks for Higher Education
Visual content has been on the rise for some time now, and it’s no surprise why. It grabs attention, simplifies complex information, and often looks pleasing. This content category gives birth to visual assets, spanning images, videos, charts, and infographics.
Studies indicate that 88% of marketers use visual content in half of their published articles. Besides being eye-catching, these visual assets are incredibly link-friendly, making them valuable to higher education SEO. You can easily gain backlinks by posting an image on your school website or blog, which others can share on their platforms. Adding share buttons simplifies the process.
For instance, Medix College shares an infographic on its blog that presents information in an easily digestible and attractive format. This infographic can swiftly earn links and shares from medical lab technicians or those interested in the field.
Source: Medix College
Use students’ reviews and testimonials to your advantage
Just like customers tend to trust peer reviews more than a business’s claims, the same goes for students. Student testimonials provide social proof and are among the most valuable assets for your website.
To make the most of these testimonials, collect and carefully categorize them, then feature them on your website. This way, you can effectively reach your intended audience. An essential aspect of ensuring the success of your testimonial page is optimizing it for SEO.
Follow a good link-building strategy to get the best SEO backlinks for Higher Education
Backlinks, which are links from one website to another, are the heart of off-page SEO strategies.
Backlinks leading to high-quality websites are a sign of a reputable and authoritative site. To establish quality backlinks for your higher education website, consider creating thought-provoking content, leveraging your alumni and faculty connections, and collaborating with respected websites in your industry.
So, if you are looking to improve your school or college website’s visibility, our SEO backlinks service could be the solution you need. Reach out to us with your questions and let’s explore how we can and will optimize your online presence together.
