Optimizing Library Websites for Better Visibility

Optimizing Library Websites for Better Visibility

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  Erin E. Rushton [email_address] Binghamton University Libraries Optimizing Library Websites for Better Visibility College and Research Libraries New England Chapter 2010 Spring Conference May 14 2010
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  Acknowledgements I wouldlike to acknowledge the work Marcy Strong who helped develop an earlier version of this presentation and who participated in Binghamton University Libraries’ SEO Pilot Project. I would also like to acknowledge Martha Kelehan who worked on the Pilot Project.
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  Agenda How webecame interested in optimization Search engines and search engine optimization SEO and the relationship to libraries Our experiment in optimization…. Challenges SEO tools and resources
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  Conference series forwebmasters, digital agencies, online marketers and corporate decision makers. Presentations about: designing search engine-friendly web pages building links and their importance to rankings building analytics package into websites and interpreting the results Where it began…. A trip to NYC
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  Where it began….
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  Search consultants andadvertising agencies
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  ‘ Ad Age’Search Marketing Fact Pack Charts from 'Ad Age' Search Marketing Fact Pack
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  Why the competition?Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skwishy/2048677231/
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  Search is popularPew Internet “Search Engine Use” August 6, 2008 http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/pip_search_aug08.pdf
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  Competing for primereal estate
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  Paid Results OrganicResults How to make this happen?
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  Search Engine Optimization Activities that improve search engine visibility and increase targeted traffic to a website. Results in websites that: are search engine (robot) friendly are highly ranked have successful conversions
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  How search engineswork
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  Search Engine OptimizationTechniques Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonpow/252312738/
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  Disclaimer Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marciookabe/3102556540/
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  Optimize with Keywords Frequency of keywords Weight of keywords Keyword proximity
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  Optimize with keywordsUnderstand what users are looking for and understand how they look for this information. Incorporating these words into the site Paradigm shift in how we provide access to our services and resources
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  Look for opportunitiesto use keywords Slide from “Search Engine Guide” http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/seo-101-part-12-everything-you-need-to-k.php
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  Keyword prominence andlocation
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  metaDATA
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  Popularity Qualityand authority of incoming and out coming links (not quantity) Number of visits AND time spent on site Number of repeat visitors
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  Indexing of webpagesPages not indexed by spider will not appear in the search engine results
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  Why optimize thelibrary? Image of Bartle Libraries from: http://www.hermanmiller.com/DotCom/jsp/research/caseStudiesDetail.jsp?csId=15
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  Are we evenrelevant anymore?
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  We are but….We can accomplish this through Search Engine Optimization … we need to make our services and resources more visible on the web because that is where are users are
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  Promote Library Contentand Resources Library Guides Subject Expertise Ask a Librarian Services Special Collections Digitized Collections Exhibits Databases Newsletters Library Catalogues
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  Other reasons tooptimize Better understanding of information seeking behaviours and needs As users become independent searchers our role shifts to that of guide and educator Good practice to have an optimized site Knowledge gained from web analytics
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  Pilot Project Mission: Optimize selected pages on the Libraries’ web site with the goal of improving the ranking of these pages on major search engines. Pages included “Ask a Librarian” and pages related to Edwin A. Link (Special Collections)
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  Increase: # ofsuccessful conversions # of referrals from search engines # of page views # of unique visitors Page linkability with non-commercial sites Achieve higher page rank than competitors Identify problem areas with website in general Objectives
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  Phase 1: Pre-Optimization Track web traffic and website activity Set conversion goals Reviewed keywords, metadata, html tags Calculated number of indexed pages and inbound pages Tested pages used free analyzers
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  Phase II: Optimization Ask a Librarian link added to homepage Added links to Wikipedia and other popular and quality websites Title tags and html were rewritten to be more descriptive and include keywords Broken links were repaired
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  Phase 2 (cont.)Metadata title, description and keyword tags were added to webpages:
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  Phase 2 (cont.)Text was rewritten when possible to include optimized keywords and phrases Pages were validated using W3C Alt text was added to several images Images were resized Robots.txt file configured for crawling Sitemap.xml file created
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  Phase III: Post-optimization Testing and results Some pages had increase visits after optimization Some pages had a decrease in visits Overall, refers from website and search engines went up Keywords helped improve the ranking of the Special Collection pages (Edwin A. Link) More pages indexed (pre optimization Google only indexed 2 of our pages)
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  Our activitymay have distorted results Only few pages optimized More time spent ensuring good keywords Issues with Google Analytics Challanges
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  Next Steps
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  Continue with SEONew website launched last year with some SEO “built in” Produce a fully optimized Library website and to share SEO best practices with other BU departments. Won a grant from the University which will help fund this project
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  Goals of SEOfor Binghamton Improved ROI on the millions of dollars spent annually on specialized research literature databases, journals and books. Provide greater visibility of unique digital collections to students, faculty, the local community, alumni, prospective students and donors. Better understand information seeking behaviours and needs of students, faculty and staff.
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  Goals Create aSearch Engine Optimization Task Force composed of library and university faculty and staff, utilizing skills in information technology, reference, instruction, public relations, marketing and web usability. Establish baseline levels of typical web activity for the libraries’ website using Google Analytics.
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  More challenges… Notexperts Lack of time Measuring success
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  Websites about SEODelicious.com/novascotia32/seo Search Engine Guide: The small business guide to search marketi ng SEOmoz.org - http://www.seomoz.org/ : serves as a hub for search marketers worldwide by providing education, tools, resources and paid services to help make every SEO the best they can be.  SEO tips index - http://www.seoconsultants.com/seo/tips/ ClickZ - http://www.clickz.com/ : News and expert advice for the digital marketer   Google Webmaster Central Blog - http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ : Official news on crawling and indexing sites for the Google index  Search engine optimization tips for libraries, from The Other Librarian - http://otherlibrarian.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/search-engine-optimization-seo-tips-for-libraries/ Is SEO evil? http://www.slideshare.net/gleddy/is-seo-evil-web-directions-2007
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  SEO Tools GoogleAdWords - https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal : Keyword tool generates keyword ideas 30 SEO Bookmarklets to Save You Time Learn SEO in 30 Minutes a Day 69 Free (or low cost) Tools to Improve Your Website
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  Bibliography Beel, J.,Gipp, B., & Eilde, E. (2010). Academic Search Engine Optimization (. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 41 (2), 176-190. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lxh&AN=47198480&site=ehost-live Black, E. L. (2009). Web Analytics: A Picture of the Academic Library Web Site User. Journal of Web Librarianship, 3 (1), 3-14. doi: 10.1080/19322900802660292 Cahill, K., & Chalut, R. (2009). Optimal Results: What Libraries Need to Know About Google and Search Engine Optimization. Reference Librarian, 50 (3), 234. doi: 10.1080/02763870902961969 Griffiths, J. R., & Brophy, P. (2005). Student Searching Behavior and the Web: Use of Academic Resources and Google. Library Trends, 53 (4), 539-554. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=16811207&site=ehost-live Houghton-Jan, S. (2007). Twenty Steps to Marketing Your Library Online. Journal of Web Librarianship, 1 (4), 89-90. doi: 10.1080/19322900802111445 Hsieh-Yee, I. (2001). Research on Web search behavior. Library & Information Science Research, 23 (2), 167-185. doi:DOI: 10.1016/S0740-8188(01)00069-X Jansen, B. J., & Spink, A. (2006). How are we searching the World Wide Web? A comparison of nine search engine transaction logs. Information Processing & Management, 42 (1), 248-263. doi:DOI: 10.1016/j.ipm.2004.10.007 Kim, J. (2009). Describing and predicting information-seeking behavior on the Web. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60 (4), 679-693. doi: 10.1002/asi.21035 Liaw, S., & Huang, H. (2003). An investigation of user attitudes toward search engines as an information retrieval tool. Computers in Human Behavior, 19 (6), 751-765. doi:DOI: 10.1016/S0747-5632(03)00009-8 Liu, S. (2008). Engaging Users: The Future of Academic Library Web Sites. College & Research Libraries, 69 (1), 6-27. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=28789040&site=ehost-live Malaga, R. A. (2009). Web 2.0 Techniques for Search Engine Optimization: Two Case Studies. Review of Business Research, 9 (1), 132-139. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=44231928&site=ehost-live Riley-Huff, D. A. (2009). Web Services As Public Services: Are We Supporting Our Busiest Service Point? The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35 (1), 65-74. doi:DOI: 10.1016/j.acalib.2008.10.004
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  Bibliography cont… Rushton,E. E., Kelehan, M. D., & Strong, M. A. (2008). Searching for a New Way to Reach Patrons: A Search Engine Optimization Pilot Project at Binghamton University Libraries. Journal of Web Librarianship, 2 (4), 525-547. doi: 10.1080/19322900802484248 Smith, J. A., & Nelson, M. L. (2008). Site Design Impact on Robots. D-Lib Magazine, 14 (3/4), 1082-9873 . Sorensen, C., & Dahl, C. (2008). Google in the Research and Teaching of Instruction Librarians. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34 (6), 482-488. doi: 10.1016/j.acalib.2008.09.015 Sweeny, M. (2007). Information Architecture and Search Optimization: Beginning a Beautiful Friendship. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 34 (1), 36-38. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=28742079&site=ehost-live Watry, M. (2006). Increasing awareness and access to special collections and archives at the University of Liverpool. SCONUL Focus, (38), 93-94. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=23593229&site=ehost-live Welch, J. M. (2005). The Electronic Welcome Mat: The Academic Library Web Site as a Marketing and Public Relations Tool. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31 (3), 225-228. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=17319878&site=ehost-live Whang, M. (2007). Measuring the Success of the Academic Library Website Using Banner Advertisements and Web Conversion Rates: A Case Study. Journal of Web Librarianship, 1 (1), 93. doi: 10.1300/J502v01n01•07 Zhang, J., & Dimitroff, A. (2005). The impact of webpage content characteristics on webpage visibility in search engine results (Part I). Information Processing & Management, 41 (3), 665-690. doi:DOI: 10.1016/j.ipm.2003.12.001