Search Engine Optimization

Often the first thing that people do after they make a website is search to see if it pops to the top of their search results, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help with this. It can take some time for google to add your site to the search results (indexed), sometimes up to 4 months. If after that time your site is still not getting indexed and you have taken some of the steps listed below please contact HITS so we can help.

If you have a website one of the easiest things you can do to help your SEO is to get a good custom url. If your website is a lab site the convention of putting the principal investigator’s name in the url will help. Also being part of a trusted domain like (medicine.umich.edu) is pure SEO gold.

Another thing that helps, is cross linking. If you are affiliated with other sites it is a good idea to link to them from your site & have them link back to your site. For example at U-M faculty are listed on uofmhealth.org. It is a good idea to link directly to your faculty listing & work with the Department of Communications (Cathy Helmlin chelmlin@med.umich.edu) to put a link to your site from your faculty profile.

• Site Content
  • On the homepage have an H1 header (Title) that includes your name
  • Have a minimum of 200-word site description with your name in the first sentence. Make sure that it is unique text so you don’t take a hit for plagiarism
• SEO Tools
  • Get your website on Google - About Google Search Console
  • Submit the site URL - Google Search Console
  • If you want to go further down the rabbit hole of SEO here is a good checklist
    • A Simple (But Effective) 31‐Point SEOChecklist

These are good ideas to consider when working on your site's SEO, but please note Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a black box that Google keeps secret. These suggestions should help improve your site’s performance, but there is no guarantee on how quickly the site will move up the rankings in the Google Search results. If you have tried some of the suggestions and are still not getting results please contact HITS, we will be happy to help.