'Most US universities need to work on their SEO'

Universities in the US are not using search engine optimisation to increase their visibility on natural searches, says an industry commentator

The majority of US colleges are not practising search engine optimisation (SEO) and are losing out as a result, according to an industry commentator.

In a study conducted by Ken Lyons for his Word Stream Internet Marketing blog, it was discovered that very few educational establishments figured in the top 100 rankings when sample searches for degrees were carried out.

He claimed that many colleges are relying on brand or paid searches for their online visibility, which means that the few institutions that are practising SEO well are achieving significant results in organic searches.

"This, to me, presents a clear opportunity to ramp up your SEO and take advantage of the lack of competition in the SERPs, because they're pretty much wide open," wrote Mr Lyons.

From the results of his study, he concluded that the top three colleges, in terms of SERP presence, were Drexel University, the University of Phoenix and Capella University.

MarketingSherpa recently reported that an effective way of improving your organic search ranking is to ensure that your Google Maps entry is accurate.

http://www.weboptimiser.com/