Harper College will be closed on Monday, September 7, in observance of Labor Day.
This guide contains SEO recommendations to be considered when publishing news stories and blogs posts to the Harper College website. The following suggestions are intended to improve the search presence for Harper’s news and blogs by targeting technical optimizations (headlines, meta descriptions, and file formatting) and content optimizations (including video, post attribution, and readability).
For questions and other search-related considerations, please submit a Web Services Request.
Headlines should be clear, descriptive, and concise. Headlines should be 5–12 words in length. The goal is for titles to reflect the appropriate search intent of the piece, and to indicate to audiences and search engines what the content will be about. The target keyword, typically the article’s subject, should be featured in the headline.
Example:
Headline: Harper launches Mental Health Technician Certificate Program
Articles must also have a title tag that differs slightly from the headline, due to length restrictions. The title tag will most likely be a shortened version of the headline. Title tags must be 54 characters or less. Using “Harper” is generally not necessary, as our site will automatically add “: Harper College” to the end of each title tag.
Example:
Headline: Harper Radio named a finalist for Best of Chicago poll and IBS Awards
Title tag: WHCM Recognized as a Top Chicago Radio Station
To access the title tag field in the CMS, click the “Properties” tab on a post. The first section on this tab is “Title and Metadata” which displays the “Title” text box. This will have the post’s headline by default. Add the optimized title tag here and click Save.
Heading 2 will be the most used heading in articles after the headline. They provide an opportunity to indicate to search engines the more specific points of an article. H2s also help improve the readability of a post by creating visual anchor points that help the flow of content on the page. It is recommended to use H2s when shifting to a new focus or sub-topic in a piece. Not all posts will require H2s but include them where it feels relevant.
All articles should be attributed to a specific author, as opposed to a department label (i.e., Communications). Authority is an important ranking factor in search engines, and attaching an author’s name to a post helps establish credibility.
Meta descriptions (referred to as ‘snippet’ or ‘description’ in the CMS) should be short and include the most relevant information from the piece. The optimal meta description length is between 130–150 characters. The primary target keyword or phrase should appear once, which helps signal to search engines what the piece will discuss. Meta descriptions may appear in search results, news feeds, social media posts, and anywhere else the article may be linked.
Example:
Headline: Harper opens Emergency Services Training Center, expanding hands-on training for first responders
Snippet: The state-of-the-art center will be home to Harper College’s new Fire Academy, delivering immersive training for students and career firefighters.
When creating a new post, the filename determines the URL and affects its searchability. With that in mind, filenames should be descriptive and concise. They incorporate the most important keywords from the headline/title tag and generally should be no more than 3–4 words. Avoid using generic filenames, and do not use spaces, underscores, capital letters or special characters, including periods, question marks, etc.
Posts should have 3–5 links. Links should preferably be spaced to improve readability, but quality content and organically placed links are the top priority. Place links where they are most relevant and valuable. Avoid linking across punctuation, unless it is absolutely necessary. Avoid generic or vague anchor text. The anchor text for links should accurately reflect what is on the other side of the link.
Example:
Avoid: Learn more about Harper College’s Fast Track Program.
Good: For more information, please visit Harper College’s Fast Track Program.
Readability encompasses article length, paragraph length, reading level, text emphasis, and link placement.
Our users typically do not spend more than ten minutes viewing an article. For this reason, it is recommended to keep posts brief. Articles should aim to be 1,000 words or less. Articles that surpass this limit are okay, but will not necessarily offer increased returns in search performance.
Paragraphs should be around 45—80 words in length. If a paragraph is running long, consider breaking it up to allow more white space on the page.
Bold text should only be used to draw the reader’s eye, not necessarily to highlight keywords. This should be used sparingly. Not more than twice per paragraph. Avoid bolding entire sentences and punctuation. Italics should only be used when referring to other media. Avoid using italics to emphasize phrasing, keywords, etc. Underlined text should not be used.
Choosing a captivating lead image is vital to making the article appear interesting and worth clicking on. The lead image/thumbnail is often the first thing the audience will see and is a big reason they investigate an article or post further. Images should help convey the content and ideas presented in the article.
When selecting an image, consider if it helps communicate the main idea. Generalized images can easily express an article’s topic, but they do not always provide value to what the article is discussing. Specific and relevant images that are unique to the associated article will help it stand out to readers and search engines.
Simplicity is the best practice when selecting images. Generally, the best-performing images feature faces and people, have a unique color palette, and display the subject in or close to the center. Avoid overly stylized images that have overlays or filters, and avoid black and white images.
To add an image to a post, use the “Image” snippet. This ensures the image will display appropriately across devices and browsers. If an image appears stretched after using the snippet, please refer to Image Guidelines, or contact the Web Team for a tutorial.
Image considerations:
When uploading images to the CMS, please ensure that the file is less than 1MB and has a descriptive title. Avoid using generic filenames.
For social media posts, it is best to use images that are centered and draw the eye to a distinct focal point.
Only use high-resolution images. It is okay if they need to be scaled down, but never scale up an image, as this often leads to a pixelated and blurry image that is off-putting to readers and search engines.
Only use images we hold the rights to. Content from the Lytho DAM and our stock photo library is appropriate. Do not use Google Image Search or AI-generated media.
If an image gallery is suitable for a particular piece, it must contain at least 5 images.
To meet WCAG standards, all images must include alt text. Alt text describes the most important elements of the image (people, places, etc.). Keep alt text between 100–125 characters in length. For more detailed information and recommendations, please visit the Web Team’s Tips for Writing Alt Text.
While it is not necessary, including video in a post provides another opportunity to engage readers and improve the college’s search presence. Only include videos that are relevant to the piece and helpful to the reader. Generally, embedding the video toward the middle or end of a post provides the best page flow and reading experience.
The video should be mentioned and set up in the paragraphs preceding or immediately following the video embed. Videos should be included using the YouTube Embed component. Contact the Web Team for assistance with adding videos to posts.
Videos should primarily come from the Harper College YouTube channel or official social media accounts. In cases when using a video from another source, the article must feature a “Source” line after the final paragraph, indicating who created the video, where it came from, and a link to its original publication site.