Colleges and Universities Suck at SEO According to Wordstream Study
Whenever I get the whim to consider going back to school, I, of course, turn to search. I’m often completely appalled by the quality of websites associated with colleges and universities. There is little continuity of design and message and site search is generally terrible. Why go back to school when a university can’t even create a decent website?
That’s why I’m glad that Wordstream has released their list of top colleges and universities with regards to SEO. Optimization isn’t everything when it comes to web design and development, but it’s a start.
It should surprise no one that online-based higher education ranks high on Wordstream’s list. (Before you balk, consider that a recent study by the US Department of Education showed that online education beats classroom learning.)
Drexel University, a traditional university with a strong online offering, was the big winner with the most top 10 results. Two online schools, University of Phoenix and Capella University were the only other colleges to have strong top 10 showings.
Wordstream conducted the rankings by searching for popular higher-ed keywords such as “psychology degree,” “MBA,” and “nursing degree.”
Their conclusion that most schools aren’t conducting SEO or enough SEO didn’t surprise me. (It’s a bit ironic, since many link builders would love inbounds from a .edu.)
Of course, as I said above, this doesn’t even take into account design and most developmental issues. I’d argue that a nice chunk of incoming freshmen computer science geeks could team up with some design majors and probably code up a better website than most universities have.
Is it true that those who can’t do, teach? Sound off in the comments below.