Part 2: Deep Dive: SEO Elements and Best Practices

Importance

This section provides detailed guidance on key SEO components — titles, meta descriptions, headings, alt text, internal linking and schema with examples and action items.

Target Audience

Content Creators/Writers
Design
Web Dev/IT

2.1 Understanding Keywords

Keyword research is the foundation of SEO. It identifies the search terms people use to find information and connects those terms to your unit’s content.
There are two main types of keywords to use strategically:

Short-tail keywords are one to three words long and have broad reach.
Examples: “Illinois engineering,” “college admissions,” “graduate programs.”
These are competitive but important for brand visibility and high-level topics.
Long-tail keywords are phrases or questions that reflect specific intent.
Examples: “How to apply to the University of Illinois,” “best data science master’s programs in Illinois,” “Illinois alumni giving opportunities.”
These attract users who are closer to taking action, such as applying, registering or visiting campus.

Best Practices

Identify keywords using tools such as Google Search Console (current traffic), Google Trends (seasonal interest) and AI-assisted keyword tools.
Focus on user intent: what someone wants to do with their search. For instance, “apply,” “visit,” “schedule,” “compare” or “learn.”
Combine short- and long-tail keywords throughout your site for both breadth and precision.
Include branded keywords like “Illinois,” “University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign” or “[College Name] at Illinois” naturally in copy.
Review and refresh keyword lists every semester or when major content updates occur.

Unit Action Steps

Identify three to five primary keywords for each flagship page.
Build keyword briefs that list short-tail, long-tail and branded variants.
Incorporate those terms into titles, headings, intro paragraphs and image captions where relevant.
Use keyword data from Google Search Console monthly to see what users are actually searching.

Example: Web Page Intro

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a leader in climate science innovation, empowering students and researchers to discover sustainable solutions for a changing world.

Embedded Keyword Targets:

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Illinois climate science
sustainable research
environmental discovery

2.2 Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Title Tag Best Practices

Use pattern: Page Title | [Unit or Section] | Illinois
Keep length to ~50–60 characters (to avoid truncation).
Place the most specific/unique phrase first, then unit, then “Illinois.”
Avoid duplicate titles across pages.
Use “Department of” or “Office of” for the homepage of your departmental site.

Example

Department of Physics| LAS | Illinois
Undergrad Application | Office of Admissions | Illinois
AI Innovations | Grainger College of Engineering | Illinois
Alumni Spotlight: Alma Doe | Alumni Relations | Illinois

Meta Description Best Practices

~140–155 characters, compelling, outcome or benefit focused.
Include “Illinois” once (unless awkward).
Use active voice and a call to action if relevant (e.g. “Learn,” “Explore,” “Discover”).
Avoid stuffing keywords; make it human-friendly.

Example

“Explore how Illinois brings world-class engineering education to life — learn admission steps, deadlines and student support.”

Unit Action Steps

Audit your 5–10 priority pages: check titles and metas and rewrite those missing the pattern or poor in CTR performance.
In your SEO plugin, set default “suffix | Illinois” to reduce errors.

2.3 Headings, Content Structure and Readability

Use semantic headings: one <h1> per page, then <h2>, <h3> etc., reflecting content structure.
Incorporate keywords and brand in headings when natural.
Use short paragraphs, lists or subheads to improve scanability and increase the chance of being excerpted into answer boxes.
At the top of the page, include a concise summary (1–2 sentences) that could be pulled as a snippet/answer.
- If you’re using the toolkit, you have the option to use an introduction block (<ilw-content type=”introduction”) for this. This is wrapped in an <em> block to ensure it is emphasized.
- This should NOT be a heading because headings denote hierarchy of the page.
- Generate the toolkit intro block html in the builder.
Use bolding, bullets and tables to break dense text and make “answerable chunks.”

Unit Action Steps

For each flagship page, outline the heading hierarchy and confirm each subtopic is properly nested.
Add or refine a summary paragraph at the top, which could act as an answer to a common question.

Example

<h1>Solar Farm 2.0 at Illinois </h1>
  <p>Solar Farm 2.0 is a 12.32-megawatt on-campus solar array generating clean energy for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Completed in 2021, the project expands renewable energy capacity and supports Illinois’ sustainability goals.</p>
<h2>Project Overview</h2>
  <p>Located north of Curtis Road near Savoy, Solar Farm 2.0 produces about   20,000 MWh of electricity per year — tripling the university’s on-site   renewable generation. The array was designed and built by Sol Systems under a   20-year agreement with Prairieland Energy Inc.</p>
<h3>Innovative Design</h3>
<ul>
  <li>Uses bifacial solar panels that capture sunlight from both sides.</li>
  <li>Employs a tracking system that follows the sun east to west.</li>
  <li>Built with zero-waste construction recycling over 90% of materials.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Environmental and Academic Impact</h3>
  <p>The farm supports pollinator habitats with native plants that attract bees and butterflies and contributes to agricultural research through collaborations with Illinois faculty.</p>
<h2>Project History</h2>
  <p>The concept for Solar Farm 2.0 originated in 2017 when the campus Sustainability Council approved expansion of solar energy generation. After extensive planning and vendor review, construction began in 2019 and the farm was energized in January 2021.</p>
<h2>Economic Benefits</h2>
  <p>The $20.1 million project is expected to save the university more than $300,000 in its first year compared with wholesale electricity costs, while securing Renewable Energy Certificates for campus sustainability tracking.</p>

2.4 Alt Text and Images

University of Illinois alt text best practices.
Decorative images: alt=”” so screen readers skip them.
Contextual/informational images: provide meaningful alt text (≤ ~125 characters), describe why the image is there. What context would be missing without it (not just listing objects).
- For example: “Students at Illinois experimenting with CRISPR in the genomics lab.”
Do not add keywords without context (called keyword stuffing) in alt text; only include brand or keywords if natural and relevant.
Ensure image file names are descriptive (e.g., illinois-campus-quad.jpg) instead of generic (e.g,. IMG_1234.jpg).
Always include captions (body text style) where relevant, which can reinforce context and keywords. Alt text describes an image’s content and purpose for accessibility and search engines, while a caption appears on the page to give visible context to all users.
- Example:
  - Alt text: “Students working with 3D printers in the Illinois Makerspace.”
  - Caption: “Illinois engineering students create prototypes using 3D printers in the campus Makerspace.”

Unit Action Steps

Audit 10–20 of your images across pages; assign proper alt or alt=””.
Update file names of key images if needed and retag them.

2.5 URL Structure Best Practices

A clear, descriptive URL improves both usability and ranking potential.

Keep URLs short, readable and keyword-rich:
- Example: https://www.admissions.illinois.edu/myillini-apply rather than illinois.edu/page?id=12345.
Use hyphens to separate words, not underscores.
Avoid unnecessary parameters or session IDs.
Keep all lowercase letters for consistency and accessibility.
Include one primary keyword in the URL path when possible.
Follow the university’s domain standards: use your approved subdomain and avoid creating new subdomains for temporary content.
- When you are considering adding a subdomain, please refer to this written training on Pages vs. Subdomains first.

2.6 Canonical URLs

If similar content exists in more than one place (for example, college- and campus-level program descriptions), use canonical tags to indicate which page is the official version.

Example

This tells search engines that this URL should be prioritized in rankings, preventing duplicate-content penalties.

Unit Action Steps

Review page URLs for clarity and relevance.
Update any outdated or nondescriptive links.
Add canonical tags on duplicate or syndicated pages that originate from central Illinois.edu content.
Coordinate with StratCom before creating new subdomains or microsites.

2.7 XML Sitemaps

A sitemap is a file that lists every important page on your website, helping search engines understand your site’s structure and discover new or updated content efficiently. It acts like a roadmap for crawlers, guiding them to the information you want indexed and ensuring that no valuable content is missed.

Check whether a sitemap already exists at https://yourcollege.illinois.edu/sitemap.xml. If you don’t have one, generate an XML sitemap using an SEO plugin or use your CMS. The file should be named sitemap.xml and live at the root of your domain, for example https://yourcollege.illinois.edu/sitemap.xml.

Once your sitemap is generated:

Upload it to your domain’s root folder so it’s publicly accessible.
Submit the sitemap URL in Google Search Console under “Indexing > Sitemaps.” This helps Google quickly detect your pages, monitor indexing status, and identify any crawl errors.
Update or resubmit your sitemap whenever you make major site changes, such as adding new sections, removing pages, or redesigning navigation.

Keeping your sitemap current supports better visibility in search results, ensures that new Illinois content is indexed promptly, and reinforces a consistent user experience across the Illinois digital ecosystem.

2.8 Internal Linking and Navigation

Use descriptive anchor text (e.g. “Illinois engineering program details”) not “click here”.
Ensure each priority page is linked to at least one other page (no orphans).
Within news, awards or alumni stories, link to Admissions, Research or related pages to pass link equity.
Use “Related links” or “See also” sections on hub pages to crosslink content.
Maintain shallow site structure (Three levels max, where possible), so pages are reachable within 2–3 clicks.
Links should open in the same window/tab. Do not open links automatically in a new window

Unit Action Steps

Map existing internal links among your flagship pages; add links where missing.
Add “Related content” sections in pages that lack crosslinks.

2.9 Making Your Page Findable through structured data

The internal search on Illinois.edu is powered by SearchStax, which indexes and categorizes campus webpages so users can easily find relevant information. Adding standardized meta tags helps SearchStax and all other search engines recognize your content type (events,tech, services, etc.) and promotes your page in onsite search results.

Pages without these tags are harder to classify and may not appear under the correct category filters — meaning your content could miss visibility on the university’s most visited digital property.

Tag	Purpose	Example Value
modifieddate	Tells the crawler when the page was last updated (improves freshness ranking)	2025-11-19T12:00:00Z
category	Identifies your page type for internal search filters	List of Categories – technology, events, safety, service, admissions. Use comma between two categories if your page pertains to two categories.

Example:

Category	Description	Example URLs	Tag Example
Technology	Pages that offer support or information on campus technology services, systems, or IT help.	https://techservices.illinois.edu/ https://it.engineering.illinois.edu/	<meta name=”category” content=”technology”>
Events	Pages promoting universitywide or high-visibility events such as conferences, lectures, and celebrations.	https://homecoming.illinois.edu/ https://commencement.illinois.edu/	<meta name=”category” content=”events”>
Safety	Pages focused on campus security, emergency preparedness, public safety, or wellness alerts.	https://police.illinois.edu/ https://www.besafe.illinois.edu/	<meta name=”category” content=”safety”>
Services	Pages offering essential campuswide services for students, faculty, staff, and visitors.	https://housing.illinois.edu/ https://parking.illinois.edu/	<meta name=”category” content=”services”>
Admissions	Pages providing information and application steps for undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs.	https://admissions.illinois.edu/apply https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/graduate-hub	<meta name=”category” content=”admissions”>
Event + Admissions	Pages that promote admissions-related events for prospective students.	https://www.admissions.illinois.edu/illinifest	<meta name=”category” content=”events, admissions”>

Contact

Rashmi Tenneti, Director of Analytics and Alignment, rtenneti@illinois.edu
Maggie Evenson, Analytics Coordinator, evenson@illinois.edu