So you're all set up; parents and students find your site easy to navigate. Your team have written content that is well thought through and well laid out. The team at Schudio have completed all OFSTED checks and signed off your website. Your new site is responsive and easy to use on any device, so it really is ready to go. But are you missing a trick? Have you forgotten about a key part of your plans; have you forgotten 'SEO for School Websites'?

(Before we go any further, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and is the process of setting up, then tweaking and updating your site to rank higher in the search engines)

Schools have a brilliant opportunity to reach prospective students and parents through their websites. You have a power that most organisations only dream of because of your unique content.

The good news: Schools & Colleges are naturally good at SEO

This is a bit of a secret that some people would rather you didn't know! You see Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), is easier for some types of website than others. It's incredibly difficult for most types of organisation because Google is clever enough to know what makes good content, (most of the time), and writing good content that people want to read, really regularly, is hard work!

But if you work in a school or a college that simply isn't true of you. You have such amazing things going on in school all day, every day! If you tell those stories reliably and consistently you'll see huge improvements in your search engine rankings. You need to make sure there's a few fundamentals in place first but a good website partner will make sure you do when they set your site up.

The truth is that there's lots of companies offering SEO for school websites. While it's certainly worth getting some expert advice, it's not always worth investing in ongoing optimisation services if you have the right tools to begin with.

That's because you are in a position most of us would love to be in. The powerful stories you have to tell.

Key Tips

So now we've established that we all wish were in your shoes, what do you need to do to make your website really rank in the search engines. Here's a few top tips ...

1. Ensure your website structure is clear and easy to follow
2. Write your content in an easy to follow, well structured way (this is particularly true of your regular content; blogs, news etc)
3. Research keywords that you want to rank highly for and implement them strategically throughout your website
4. Write consistently and reliably. If you can, write your news & blog content around the same time, at least once a week. If time doesn't allow this, try to make the content releases as reliably timed as you can.
5. Use a sitemap - Google quite likes the idea and it makes it easy for search engine crawlers to find all your content

These truly are some of the most basic things you can follow but they will mean you're well set up. It will be a great starting point for you and get you ready for the next steps.

Strategic Planning

Getting a handle on exactly what you'd like your website to achieve for you is critical to it's success. Plan a whole year of strategic content. It will provide you with the possibility to really hone your message and will have a powerful, direct impact on your search engine rankings given time and careful thought.

A great website partner will be able to support with you the highest level of strategic planning for your website. That might include detailing and executing a year long campaign plan, helping with the rationalisation and careful structuring of your school website content, or encouraging and training your team to write highly effective content all year round.

Talk to us about what you're trying to achieve and our experts can provide the level of knowledge not found anywhere else.

While some of the technical aspects of SEO are really important, (we'll cover those another time), the main point to take away here is that your content has the biggest single impact on your search engine rankings. It's definitely worth the effort to get this right! Good habits are key!