This is my Personal Learning Artefact composed of various pieces of supporting data, and my interpretation of how and why universities must start investing in search marketing and specifically the aspect of findability and co-locating user tasks, not organizational silos.

1. Finding Hope
In a Forest of Content
The case for more investment in Findability and advanced SEO
analysis for Universities, particularly for prospective students.

2. Presentation
 Defining Findability
 The State of SEO/Findability in Higher Ed
 The case for investment
 Solutions
 Conclusion

3. Defining Findability
Peter Morville
”…the ability of users to identify an
appropriate Web site and navigate
the pages of the site to discover and
retrieve relevant information
resources.”
- Circa 2005

4. Findability vs. SEO
 SEO – Search Engine Optimization are techniques to help
your website and pages get found.
 Findability includes the content can be found through
search, but “it also indicates how easily content is found
from within the site.”
- John Curtis
basykes

5. Why does it matter?
Universities often have:
 Poor findability.
 Lots of content, some of it outdated or unmanaged.
 Often based on organizational structure, not user tasks.
This leads to…

6. Her First Impression
of Unfindable U.
Scalywagstudio

7. How Bad is It?
Really bad.
 40% of tasks not being able to be completed on a set of 10
university websites.
Other startling findings:
 Scholarships (60% uncompleted task by users), Fees
(50%) and where the school is located (~45%)
 “Often, course-related content was not co-located within
the site” (3.2.1)
Source: How usable are University Websites? A report on a study of prospective
student experience

8. But why is it so bad?
 “Marketing departments at many colleges are slow to
evolve, and are still focused on old school, outbound
"interruptive" marketing techniques…”
 “The critically important admissions pages of higher
education web sites are informal and often not well
designed.”
via wordstream
via McCoy, 2011

9. Users are confused
 "What's the exact difference between programs and
courses?” < Organizationally structured
 "What the hell is compulsory non-academic fee?” <
Complicated language
 "I don't know if it's some of the lingo they use on
these kind of websites.” < Jargon
 "There's a lot of information here, that isn't
necessarily a good thing all the time.” < Too much
text
Source: How usable are University Websites? A report on a study of prospective
student experience

10. It’s a top task
Search and Email are the only two types of tasks that are consistent
across demographics of age for web users – Pew Internet Research

11. Prospective Students
 90 per cent of prospective students report the web
played a somewhat to significant role.
 67% use search engines for researching colleges.
The institution’s
reputation
Is damaged if
students struggle
To find
information.
3playmedia

12. How do we fix it?
kaptainkobold

13. Analytics Review
Universities must establish KPIs
 Search data
 Task completions
 Offer best bets and structure content to support
content
pekadad

14. Investigate in Search
Marketing
As the industry continues to grow, it’s only going to become
increasingly important due to the growth of mobile,
Generation Z students entering the higher education
ecosystem, and the increased connectivity of our society as a
whole. – HighEdMarketingJournal
- The unknowns as well as no pressure to increase
student numbers for some have made search
marketing and findability invisible to University
Marketing teams.

15. Conclusion
 Universities will be pressured to address a generation through
mobile web and search.
 Content and Information Architecture will need to be
examined and restructured.
 Students who can’t find information could go somewhere else
or begin their years with a decreased image of the university.
 Findability research and projects are not glamorous. They will
not win awards. They will, however:
 Increase a university’s reputation
 Secure more students and potential students
 Provide a better experience to potential students

16. Books to Learn More

17. Books (cont.)

18. Books (cont.)

19. Resources and People
 A link to Storify housing books,
people and sources around the
subject of Findability.