Search Engine Optimisation

The process of getting your site listed in search engines is hard to define as Search engines use different algorithms for assigning priority. These algorithms are often kept secret and regularly changed. In the past they were usually driven by commercial pressure ie: the client payed to be higher up the list.

Getting listed

Modern Search Engines such as Google use software known as "spiders" or "crawlers" to survey the entire public web space. It may take a month before your new site is "crawled". This process can be hastened by submitting your site to the major search engines.

There are many auto-submit sites that claim to submit a site to hundreds of search engine. Some popular search engines actually ban sites that are automatically submitted.

A list of links for the submission of your website to search engines is available through the ICT Communities Knowledge Base.

If using Joomla! enter the name of your school several times on the front page (site title - page title - page content). This will assist an engine in its search ranking process.

Ranking criteria

Implementing the following tips should improve your sites rank in the search results:

Add Meta "keywords"
Add Meta "description"
Ensure all images have alt tags
Link your site to other quality sites.(eg: Education Queensland or other QLD government sites)
Include your main keywords throughout the site. (eg: Your school name and locality)
Create a site map and submit it to search engines
Enter the name of your school several times on the front page eg: in the metadata, site title, page title and content

Some behaviour may detract from your status or even result in your site being "banned" by search engine. Where possible avoid:

Over-submitting your site to search engines (once should be enough)
Hidden links or other such tricks
Automated tools for submitting your site to multiple search engines
Frames
Redirections (these are sometimes used with the WCMSS. strategies are being developed to alleviate this problem)

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