Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a Digital Marketing technique for internationalization in higher education : The case of Oulu University of Applied Sciences
Norrgård, Isadora (2018)
Norrgård, Isadora
Oulun ammattikorkeakoulu
2018
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201803273860
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201803273860
Tiivistelmä
This thesis project is a case study about Search Engine Optimization in the international website of Oulu University of Applied Sciences (Oamk), a Finnish higher education institution that has the vision of being the leading, multidisciplinary and international University of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Finland. The key objective of this thesis is to set a plan for Search Engine Optimization in Oamk’s international website (www.oamk.fi/en), in order to improve its online visibility and ranking positions on the search engine (Google), with the aim to bring more international traffic and potential international students to the website. As the organization’s website has a wide range of potential users from all over the globe, it is extremely important that the website’s contents are accessible and easy to find by potential international users, especially prospective foreign students.
SEO is a Digital Marketing technique that contributes to improving web accessibility. In the globalized world, people use Search Engines, such as Google, to find or know more about many different topics in a fast and visual manner. Through bibliographic review, quantitative and qualitative analysis, this thesis focuses on understanding what Search Engine Optimization is and how it can be implemented appropriately for the commissioner’s international website www.oamk.fi/en. The Search Engine Optimization plan provided by this work is built with the intention to provide the commissioner a reference document to use in their future digital marketing strategies for internationalization.
The results of this thesis show that the most important fact of making an SEO plan for increasing internationalization in a higher education institution is to develop web content that takes search intent and semantics in to an account, using the technology available to build the international website coherent with the keywords chosen, and to gain the most relevant international traffic. It was shown by this work, that higher education institutions need not only to be on the top of search engines for their targeted international search queries, but also to have relevant and meaningful snippets, URLs, keywords, heading tags, titles & descriptions, backlinks, internal linking, images file name & alternative text, and actual web content, for the purpose of attracting more clicks and ultimately more international students.
The future of SEO is uncertain and there is only one thing to be sure about search engine and everything related to it: it changes constantly. Thus, search engine marketing and search engine optimization will continue to be a high priority for higher education institutions who desire to highlight among competitors, remain on top, and develop competitively in the global market.
SEO is a Digital Marketing technique that contributes to improving web accessibility. In the globalized world, people use Search Engines, such as Google, to find or know more about many different topics in a fast and visual manner. Through bibliographic review, quantitative and qualitative analysis, this thesis focuses on understanding what Search Engine Optimization is and how it can be implemented appropriately for the commissioner’s international website www.oamk.fi/en. The Search Engine Optimization plan provided by this work is built with the intention to provide the commissioner a reference document to use in their future digital marketing strategies for internationalization.
The results of this thesis show that the most important fact of making an SEO plan for increasing internationalization in a higher education institution is to develop web content that takes search intent and semantics in to an account, using the technology available to build the international website coherent with the keywords chosen, and to gain the most relevant international traffic. It was shown by this work, that higher education institutions need not only to be on the top of search engines for their targeted international search queries, but also to have relevant and meaningful snippets, URLs, keywords, heading tags, titles & descriptions, backlinks, internal linking, images file name & alternative text, and actual web content, for the purpose of attracting more clicks and ultimately more international students.
The future of SEO is uncertain and there is only one thing to be sure about search engine and everything related to it: it changes constantly. Thus, search engine marketing and search engine optimization will continue to be a high priority for higher education institutions who desire to highlight among competitors, remain on top, and develop competitively in the global market.