Guide to writing for search engine optimisation (SEO)

SEO-optimised content uses a number of different methods and tactics to climb the search engine results. And it’s incredibly important that we do our best to rank well for relevant searches as less than one per-cent of people look at the second page of Google search results.

Nobody expects you to be an expert in SEO, but it’s worth having an understanding of the basics. These go a long way to helping CCCU to rank well in search. This guide offers a few pointers.

On this page

Page setup

It may sound obvious, but ensuring that web pages have a relevant title, introduction, and meta description is often overlooked.

• Give your page a title that essentially tells a user what is on the page. Google will look at page titles as a fundamental part of creating its results.
• Keep your title as punchy as possible; long titles don’t help.
• Your introductory paragraph should fill out a bit more detail of what’s on the page.
• Google uses context when generating results, so it’s important that you give your page context in the intro.

The meta description is another chance to explain what’s on a page. It is up to 156 characters long and is the content that Google will pull through and display beneath a page’s listing on its results pages.

• Always add a meta description to your page.
• Explain what’s on the page in a concise way.
• Try to open with a verb to make the description action-based as this promotes click-through.

The final thing to think about when setting up your page is the URL – the unique web address where your page sits.

• Firstly, ensure your page is located in the right folder within the site structure.
• Secondly, Contensis will automatically assign a URL based on the page title. If this is long or contains unnecessary linking words (e.g. ‘and’), edit it for brevity whilst keeping the meaning of the URL.
• Finally, if you relocate or replace a page, set up a redirect so that an old URL still leads to the correct content.

Page structure

Contensis uses templated content types so you don’t have to think too hard about what content goes where. Our developers have already done this which is a benefit over our previous content management system (CMS).

However, structuring your content by using headings is incredibly important. They give content a hierarchy, which is good for user experience. Google will look at headings (also known as ‘H tags’) to better understand what’s within a page’s content and potentially rank it higher. You should use headings as follows:

• Your page title is automatically formatted as the ‘H1’ tag – the most important heading for a search engine understanding what’s on a page.
  • From there (and where relevant), split your content out into major sections and give these ‘H2’ headings.
  • If these sections need to be further split out, use ‘H3’, ‘H4’ etc. headings. 
• Do not use heading types as a ‘hack’ to change font size.

Using keywords

Keywords are specific words or phrases that we use within web content to improve SEO. They are generally directly related to the subject(s) about which you will be writing.

For instance, if you're writing about how to become a teacher you would want to include words like ‘PGCE’, ‘trainee teacher’, ‘primary’, ‘secondary’ etc. You would also want to include phrases such as ‘becoming a qualified teacher’, ‘placement within a school’ etc. as these are the kinds of things people search for.

Think about what a user for search for in the Google search box to find your content - these are the keywords you want to include in your content. 

Google has a Keyword Planner tool which is free to use and will help you work out keywords and phrases to include in your copy. Other free keyword tools available are: 

• Answerthepublic
• ChatGPT 
• Moz Keyword Explorer

A few things to remember with keywords:

• Use keywords in the following locations where possible:
  • Page title
  • URL
  • Headings
  • Introduction text
  • Meta description
• Pick the most relevant keywords and intersperse them within the body content.
• Do not overuse keywords or phrases; SEO should not be at the expense of user experience. Google will penalise pages where ‘keyword stuffing’ is present.
• If you're unsure, think about what you might search for to find your content.

Links, images, and video

Links

Linking to other relevant content is an important part of writing for web. It allows users to explore more of our website and gain more information. There is a correct way of doing it which you should be aware of.

• Always add a link description which tells the user where the link is taking them.
• Don’t use phrases like ‘click here’ – e.g. Click here to read about accommodation at CCCU.
• Do add links to phrases which explain what you’re linking to – e.g. We offer a range of accommodation at CCCU.
• Don’t overload content with links; focus on what is most relevant to improve a user’s experience on our website.
• If you’re providing supplementary information via a link within our site, ensure it is set to open in a new window. This makes it easier for a user to get back to their main journey by simply closing a tab rather than using the back button.
• All external links should open in a new window, otherwise we are just sending people away from our website.

Images

Imagery can help SEO when it’s set up correctly.

• When uploading a new image to use on a page, give the image a relevant title.
• Always give your image an alt description where possible within Contensis. This is a basic description of what’s shown in the image and is not only good for SEO, it’s imperative for accessibility. For example:
  • when using the CCCU logo, the title would be ‘Canterbury Christ Church University logo’
  • the alt description would also be ‘The Canterbury Christ Church University logo’.

Videos

Using one of our videos can improve user experience as well as enhancing SEO by adding further context to a page, and increasing user dwell time. The embed component in Contensis enables you to display videos from our YouTube channel, or alternatively, you can use a feature panel. In either case, introduce the video in the text or with a heading.

Some other pointers when using video on your page:

• Use CCCU-owned videos wherever possible. These can be found on our YouTube channel.
• Don’t use third party videos from rival or unaffiliated organisations.
• Assess the quality of a video; we have a house style which is slick and fully branded so if a video looks substandard, the user will think it is too.
• If you want to produce your own video, consult the central marketing team first.

For more information

The CCCU writing for web guidance offers supplementary information around creating content for our website. If you want more guidance or have any queries, drop the content team a line through our request form.