Edit State/System Landing Pages: SEO Optimization

States/systems can create a customized, branded Transferology® landing page to help promote colleges and universities to prospective students. When navigating to Transferology through the system's referral link or badge, students will see the customized page (assuming it is published) instead of the CollegeSource-branded homepage.

States and systems must work with CollegeSource to collaboratively create the initial landing page. Once the landing page is in place, it will be maintained by users at the participating institutions with the State Coordinator role in the Lab and any other State Coordinators given access to edit the page. This article within Edit State/System Landing Pages: An Overview Guide explains how State Coordinators can make adjustments to SEO Optimization fields.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a configuration process aimed at improving a website's presence within search engines. It is designed to help individuals find a website more efficiently by supplying search engines with words and phrases that people may use to locate the site.

Transferology supplies search engines with default page descriptions and keywords to help direct users to state/system landing pages. State Coordinators can customize this information within the State/System Template to supply different or additional content by entering text into the blank fields.

To update the page description or keywords:

  1. Go to the School Profile menu.
  2. Select Promote Your School.

Users can also navigate to Promote Your School via the How to promote your school hyperlink within the Profile Preview.

  1. Select the State/System Template tab.
  2. Users will be presented with a message asking for affirmation that the content of the landing page is not the responsibility of CollegeSource. Images, color, and text added to this page are the responsibility of the institution, state, or system to which the page belongs.
    • Mark the checkbox in front of I agree and select Agree to continue.
  3. Scroll down to the section labeled SEO Optimization.
SEO Optimization settings with the Institution Template.
Select to see a larger version

SEO Page Description

A page description is a short piece of text explaining a website's content. It is designed to give search engine users an idea of the page's focus so a person can decide whether to visit it. The more users that visit the page after searching for particular phrases, the higher a search engine may prioritize the page in its results.

If the SEO Page Description field is blank, the below text will be supplied to the landing page (if published).

Transferology shows how courses you have taken or plan to take transfer to (State/System Name) for credit. It's a free transfer tool for students!

To adjust the SEO Page Description:

  1. Use the keyword to remove any text from the SEO Page Description box.
  2. Enter a description between 120-155 characters into the field.
    • If the field is blank, adding text will override the default page description above.

Text reads SEO Page Description. Aim to keep this between 120 and 155 characters.

  1. Select Save Changes to save adjustments to the landing page.
    • A pop-up will appear noting that the user is about to make changes to the landing page for the system. Doing so will make these changes visible to the public if the landing page has been published. Make sure to review changes via the Preview Changes button.
      • Select Yes to proceed with saving changes.
      • A confirmation will appear indicating that changes have been saved.

The updated page description will be available for search engines to gather if the page is published (or upon republication). Search engine crawlers may take anywhere from several days to weeks to locate and index this information.

SEO Keywords

Keywords are important terms and phrases within a website that help the search engine (and thus the search engine user) locate sites meeting the search criteria. The more users that visit the page after searching for particular keywords, the higher a search engine may prioritize the page in its results.

If the SEO Keywords field is blank, the below text is being supplied to the landing page (if published):

courses, transfer, credits, transferology

To adjust the SEO Keywords:

  1. Use the keyword to remove any text from the SEO Keywords box.
  2. Enter key phrases into the field in a comma-separated list of no more than 250 characters.
    • If the field is blank, adding text will override the default keywords above.

CollegeSource recommends that State Coordinators use the default keywords in addition to any supplied by the state/system. It may also be helpful to use popular nicknames for state/system colleges and universities or their abbreviations.

  1. Select Save Changes to save adjustments to the landing page.
    • A pop-up will appear noting that the user is about to make changes to the landing page for the system. Doing so will make these changes visible to the public if the landing page has been published. Make sure to review changes via the Preview Changes button.
      • Select Yes to proceed with saving changes.
      • A confirmation will appear indicating that changes have been saved.

The updated keywords will be available for search engines to gather if the page is published (or upon republication). Search engine crawlers may take anywhere from several days to weeks to locate and index this information.

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