{"id":632,"date":"2015-05-21T14:36:50","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T13:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/?p=632"},"modified":"2015-05-21T09:41:30","modified_gmt":"2015-05-21T08:41:30","slug":"top-5-tips-search-engine-optimisation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/web\/2015\/05\/21\/top-5-tips-search-engine-optimisation\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 5 Tips: Search Engine Optimisation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our recent Planning and Writing Web Content training there were a few questions about how to improve your website\u2019s position in search results. So we thought it timely to share our top 5 tips for search engine optimisation<\/strong> (SEO).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no mystery to it – writing content that will be highly ranked by search engines<\/strong> is the same as writing effective web content for your users<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

1. Use the language of your readers<\/h1>\n

It\u2019s important to think about the\u00a0terms your readers might use<\/strong> to search\u00a0for your site, and then to use these words in your content<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

You should also identify keywords and phrases that you want to rank highly for<\/strong>. Keep these narrow; it\u2019s unrealistic to compete with general terms like \u2018student experience\u2019.<\/p>\n

2. Keep your content up to date<\/h1>\n

When a page was last updated matters to search engines as well as your users. It\u2019s essential to check for, edit and delete out-dated content<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

3. Highlight important content<\/h1>\n

Highlight key words<\/strong> to make sure that the search engine can work out which content is most important. You can do this by:<\/p>\n