Binghamton University Librarians have attempted to employ search engine optimization strategies to make their website more visible on search engine result pages. Search engine optimization is the practice of improving ranking on search engine result pages and also increasing targeted traffic to a website. The presenter will discuss the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of developing a “do it yourself” optimization strategy for library websites.

1. Optimizing Library
Websites for Better
Visibility
Erin E. Rushton
erushton@binghamton.edu
Binghamton University
Libraries
College and Research Libraries
New England Chapter
2010 Spring Conference
May 14 2010
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2. Acknowledgements
• I would like to acknowledge the
work Marcy Strong who helped
develop an earlier version of this
presentation and who participated
in Binghamton University Libraries’
SEO Pilot Project.
• I would also like to acknowledge
Martha Kelehan who worked on the
Pilot Project.
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3. Agenda
• How we became interested in
optimization
• Search engines and search engine
optimization
• SEO and the relationship to
libraries
• Our experiment in optimization….
• Challenges
• SEO tools and resources
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4. Where it began…. A trip
to NYC
• Conference series for webmasters, digital
agencies, online marketers and corporate
decision makers.
• Presentations about:
– designing search engine-friendly web pages
– building links and their importance to rankings
– building analytics package into websites and
interpreting the results
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5. Where it began….
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6. Search consultants and
advertising agencies
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7. ‘Ad Age’ Search Marketing
Fact Pack
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Charts from 'Ad Age' Search Marketing Fact Pack

8. Why the competition?
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/skwishy/2048677231/ Page 8

9. Search is popular
Pew Internet “Search Engine Use” August 6, 2008
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http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/pip_search_aug08.pdf

10. Competing for prime real estate
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11. Paid Results
Organic
Results
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12. Search Engine Optimization
Activities that improve
search engine visibility
and increase targeted
traffic to a website.
Results in websites that:
•are search engine (robot)
friendly
•are highly ranked
•have successful conversions
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13. How search engines work
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14. Search Engine Optimization
Techniques
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonpow/252312738/ Page 14

15. Disclaimer
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marciookabe/3102556540/
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16. Optimize with Keywords
•Frequency of keywords
•Weight of keywords
•Keyword proximity
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17. Optimize with keywords
Understand what users are
looking for and understand how
they look for this information.
Incorporating these words into
the site
Paradigm shift in how we
provide
access to our services and
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18. Look for opportunities to use
keywords
Slide from “Search Engine Guide” http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-
degeyter/seo-101-part-12-everything-you-need-to-k.php Page 18

19. Keyword prominence and
location
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20. metaDATA
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21. Popularity
• Quality and authority of incoming
and out coming links (not
quantity)
• Number of visits AND time spent
on site
• Number of
repeat visitors
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22. Indexing of webpages
Pages not indexed by spider will
not appear in the search engine
results
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23. Why optimize the
library?
Image of Bartle Libraries from:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/DotCom/jsp/research/caseStudiesDetail.jsp?csId=15 Page 23

24. Page 24

25. Page 25

26. Page 26

27. Page 27

28. Are we even relevant
anymore?
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29. We are but….
…we need to make our services
and resources more visible on
the web because that is where
are users are
We can accomplish this through Search
Engine Optimization
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30. Page 30

31. Promote Library Content and
Resources
Special Library Guides
Collections
Ask a Librarian Subject
Services Expertise
Library Digitized
Exhibits Collection
Catalogues
Newsletters s
Databases
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32. Other reasons to optimize
• Better understanding of information
seeking behaviours and needs
• As users become independent
searchers our role shifts to that of
guide and educator
• Good practice to have an optimized
site
• Knowledge gained from web analytics
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33. Pilot Project
Mission: Optimize selected pages on the
Libraries’ web site with the goal of
improving the ranking of these pages on
major search engines.
Pages included “Ask a Librarian” and
pages related to Edwin A. Link (Special
Collections)
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34. Objectives
• Increase:
– # of successful conversions
– # of referrals from search engines
– # of page views
– # of unique visitors
– Page linkability with non-commercial sites
• Achieve higher page rank than
competitors
• Identify problem areas with website in
general
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35. Phase 1: Pre-Optimization
• Track web traffic and website activity
• Set conversion goals
• Reviewed keywords, metadata, html
tags
• Calculated number of indexed pages
and inbound pages
• Tested pages used free analyzers
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36. Phase II: Optimization
• Ask a Librarian link added to homepage
• Added links to Wikipedia and other
popular and quality websites
• Title tags and html were rewritten to be
more descriptive and include keywords
• Broken links were repaired
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37. Phase 2 (cont.)
• Metadata title, description and keyword
tags were added to webpages:
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38. Phase 2 (cont.)
• Text was rewritten when possible to
include optimized keywords and phrases
• Pages were validated using W3C
• Alt text was added to several images
• Images were resized
• Robots.txt file configured for crawling
• Sitemap.xml file created
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39. Phase III: Post-optimization
Testing and results
• Some pages had increase visits after
optimization
• Some pages had a decrease in visits
• Overall, refers from website and search
engines went up
• Keywords helped improve the ranking of
the Special Collection pages (Edwin A.
Link)
• More pages indexed (pre optimization
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40. Challanges
• Our activity may have distorted
results
• Only few pages optimized
• More time spent ensuring good
keywords
• Issues with Google Analytics
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41. Next Steps
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42. Continue with SEO
• New website launched last year with some
SEO “built in”
• Produce a fully optimized Library website
and to share SEO best practices with
other BU departments.
• Won a grant from the University which will
help fund this project
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43. Goals of SEO for Binghamton
• Improved ROI on the millions of dollars
spent annually on specialized research
literature databases, journals and books.
• Provide greater visibility of unique digital
collections to students, faculty, the local
community, alumni, prospective students
and donors.
• Better understand information seeking
behaviours and needs of students, faculty
and staff. Page 43

44. Goals
• Create a Search Engine Optimization Task
Force composed of library and university
faculty and staff, utilizing skills in
information technology, reference,
instruction, public relations, marketing and
web usability.
• Establish baseline levels of typical web
activity for the libraries’ website using
Google Analytics.
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45. More challenges…
• Not experts
• Lack of time
• Measuring success
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46. Websites about SEO
• Delicious.com/novascotia32/seo
• Search Engine Guide: The small business guide to search marketing
• SEOmoz.org - http://www.seomoz.org/: serves as a hub for search
marketers worldwide by providing education, tools, resources and
paid services to help make every SEO the best they can be.
• SEO tips index - http://www.seoconsultants.com/seo/tips/
• ClickZ - http://www.clickz.com/: News and expert advice for the digital
marketer
• Google Webmaster Central Blog -
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/: Official news on
crawling and indexing sites for the Google index
• Search engine optimization tips for libraries, from The Other Librarian
- http://otherlibrarian.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/search-engine-
optimization-seo-tips-for-libraries/
• Is SEO evil? http://www.slideshare.net/gleddy/is-seo-evil-web-
directions-2007
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47. SEO Tools
• Google AdWords -
https://adwords.google.com/select/K
eywordToolExternal: Keyword tool
generates keyword ideas
• 30 SEO Bookmarklets to Save You
Time
• Learn SEO in 30 Minutes a Day
• 69 Free (or low cost) Tools to
Improve Your Website
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48. Bibliography
• Beel, J., Gipp, B., & Eilde, E. (2010). Academic Search Engine Optimization (. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 41(2), 176-
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• Black, E. L. (2009). Web Analytics: A Picture of the Academic Library Web Site User. Journal of Web Librarianship, 3(1), 3-
14. doi:10.1080/19322900802660292
• Cahill, K., & Chalut, R. (2009). Optimal Results: What Libraries Need to Know About Google and Search Engine
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10.1016/S0740-8188(01)00069-X
• Jansen, B. J., & Spink, A. (2006). How are we searching the World Wide Web? A comparison of nine search engine
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49. Bibliography cont…
• Rushton, E. E., Kelehan, M. D., & Strong, M. A. (2008). Searching for a New Way to Reach
Patrons: A Search Engine Optimization Pilot Project at Binghamton University Libraries.
Journal of Web Librarianship, 2(4), 525-547. doi:10.1080/19322900802484248
• Smith, J. A., & Nelson, M. L. (2008). Site Design Impact on Robots. D-Lib Magazine, 14(3/4),
1082-9873.
• Sorensen, C., & Dahl, C. (2008). Google in the Research and Teaching of Instruction
Librarians. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 34(6), 482-488. doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2008.09.015
• Sweeny, M. (2007). Information Architecture and Search Optimization: Beginning a Beautiful
Friendship. Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, 34(1), 36-
38. Retrieved from
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2079&site=ehost-live
• Watry, M. (2006). Increasing awareness and access to special collections and archives at the
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29&site=ehost-live
• Welch, J. M. (2005). The Electronic Welcome Mat: The Academic Library Web Site as a
Marketing and Public Relations Tool. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31(3), 225-228.
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78&site=ehost-live
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Advertisements and Web Conversion Rates: A Case Study. Journal of Web Librarianship, 1(1),
93. doi:10.1300/J502v01n01• 07
• Zhang, J., & Dimitroff, A. (2005). The impact of webpage content characteristics on webpage
visibility in search engine results (Part I). Information Processing & Management, 41(3), 665-
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