Do schools really need to invest in SEO?

There is a misconception among school, college and university leaders that their institutions do not need to engage in SEO. The rules and principles of getting noticed online somehow don’t apply to them because they are not a commercial business. But this is a mistake.

In today’s newsletter, we will tackle SEO and discuss how it does, and should, be applied to education providers. And if you want an SEO audit for your school website or any other type of SEO service, speak with the WEBPRO Education SEO department now!

First, what is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation and is an umbrella term for skills and techniques that help websites get more traction online.

It’s all about making your website appeal to the big search engines like Google and getting them to place your website before others on results pages. There are different ways of sufficing search engine demands, such as:

• Using key phrases (the same words and phrases people use to search for things)
• Fresh content (blogs, videos)
• Making your website work on mobile devices (Google has a mobile-first initiative)
• Making links between your web pages and from other high-authority websites

What are the benefits of SEO?

The main objective of SEO is to get the website on the first page of the search engine results, and preferably, at the very top. Sometimes the #1 position is not achievable for different reasons, but getting in the top three positions is the prime target.

The benefit of this is that your website is in the prime position to get more clicks and visits. For commercial businesses selling services and products, increasing the web traffic to their site inevitably leads to more sales and bigger profits.

But what about public service providers like educational establishments…

Do education providers need to use SEO marketing?

Of course, not all education providers are part of the public sector. Private establishments may wish to engage with SEO to sell their places and make bigger profits. But why would public schools bother with SEO?

This is where the conflict lies. Some think that the public sector doesn’t need to use SEO services because they aren’t commercially motivated (to some degree). This may have been true decades ago – if the internet existed then - when there were fewer schools around catering to a smaller population.

But now, with multiple schools in small geographical areas, specifically built-up inner cities and towns, the competition for students has never been greater. Using SEO services can make sure your prospective students and their parents know about you. It could even help teachers seeking new jobs find you too!

And it’s not just about student or staff recruitment. Just by featuring high on search engines gets your name out there and your brand known.

“But parents already know we’re here!”

Another argument is that parents already know the school exists so SEO is not needed.

That’s true for people who have lived in the area for years or even generations. Yet, it’s not the same for people who have just moved to the area or are planning to move close to you from afar.

Families now move around more than ever and it is likely more of the local population don’t know as much about you as you might think.

SEO marketing for schools and colleges

WEBPRO Education offers a wide range of SEO services to improve your search engine potential. We can even help you get started on Google My Business (GMB), a tool to help local businesses and groups get found by nearby website users.

Speak with our team to get started!

Recap: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an array of skills and techniques to increase a website’s ranking on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Most schools and colleges believe they don’t need to get involved with this because they are not commercially motivated or think the whole local community already know about them. But that’s not true. SEO is especially useful to attract the attention of local people who are planning to move to your area.

P.S. Good SEO starts with a solid website that works fast on all screen sizes. Improve your SEO by speaking with our team first!