Analysis of Assignment 2

In assignment 2 we were made a website for the Insignia initiative. When making this website we did
not yet possess the necessary SEO knowledge to make this website end up high in the SERP. So in
this analysis we will see what could be improved now that we do actually have access to this SEO
knowledge.

Keyword Search
The first major factor that we must consider is the conscious use of keywords for SEO. And when
doing so we have to keep in mind that websites don’t rank for keywords, pages do so. Hence, when
attempting to generate organic traffic to this website it would be very useful to use relevant
keywords on the respective page of this domain.

Relevant keywords can be more in depth than is often realised. When trying to optimize the use of
keywords it is also imperative that you put yourself in the shoes of the person searching for your
website. You must ask yourself which questions this person is asking himself to get to your website.

It can also be interesting to be aware of your niche as a website. In this case the website is for a
student organisation, but perhaps it would not be a great idea to try to optimise the word student as
this word already has a huge amount of representation. It might be a better idea to specifically
optimise for international student organisation of Leuven for example.

Another point this website could also improve on currently is the general lack of copy. Not having
many words makes it hard to have many keywords too. Furthermore, it would be very important for
this website to optimize the specific pages for their specific functions as is mentioned before, pages
rank for keywords, not websites.

On-site Optimisation
Here we will most importantly be looking at efficiency and performance, trying not to add
unnecessary content. When optimising a website, it very important to make use of the existing
content that is already present for two main reasons. First, to work efficiently and second, to make
sure you do not get rid of parts of the content that might have been pushing it up in the SERP.

Important aspects to consider here are also the effectivity of the webpages and their honesty. In the
past a great way of increasing your position on the SERP was to use “cheesy” tactics that now don’t
work anymore like hiding text in the code of a website or making it not visible to get extra mentions
of the keywords.

Now search engines like google have optimised their result algorithms that the best way to increase
your SEO is to be as effective and relevant for the person looking up the webpages.

Finally, it is also important to try to be credible and a good way to increase this is to have a HTTPS
website instead of a HTTP. HTTPS is secure and makes people more at ease when browsing your
website. Another way to increase credibility will be mentioned in the next paragraph.

Link building & Establishing authority

The last step to rising in the SERP is to make good use of links on your website. To do this it is
necessary to be aware of the intent of the webpage visitor. In this specific case the students coming
to this website can have a multitude of reasons to be visiting and many possible hyperlinks can be
used.
For example, in the activities page links can be added to the Facebook pages of these events. In the
guidance tab (that needs to be added) links to Toledo and the UCLL’s intranet can be added to bring
students to higher authorities. Not only will this help them, but it will also make the website more
trustworthy as students trust those platforms.

Conclusion
The webpage that was created in assignment 2 certainly has many points it could improve on, yet it
remains of utmost importance to not lose any good aspects it currently has.