Why SEO for Schools Isn’t Just About Rankings: The Power of Link Building & Content

For schools, it is vital that you have a strong online presence. You need to be discoverable by prospective families and students, which means having a strong ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). You can improve your ranking through search engine optimisation (SEO), which will enhance visibility and increase organic traffic to your website. SEO for schools is not just about rankings, though, as improving your visibility can bring a range of other benefits for higher educational institutions. This post will explore why digital marketing for schools is so valuable and offer advice on how to improve your visibility through the power of link-building and content marketing for education. Interested? Let’s get started.

How SEO Enhances Visibility

First, it is helpful to outline exactly how SEO enhances visibility. SEO is a digital marketing practice that involves optimising websites and content to improve search engine ranking. In turn, this improves visibility and increases organic traffic to your website. There are a few SEO strategies that can deliver powerful and long-term results:

Keyword optimisation: Identify and naturally incorporate the search terms that your target audience uses when searching for local schools.

Link building: Acquire backlinks (links to your website) from reputable and relevant external websites to improve your own credibility.

Content creation: Create high-quality, engaging content for your target audience that will attract backlinks and improve your website’s credibility in the eyes of search engines.

The Benefits of SEO for Schools

SEO has been one of the most popular digital marketing methods in recent times, as it can be beneficial for organisations in every sector. Improving your search engine ranking is a great way to improve brand awareness and increase organic traffic, but it can do a lot more for schools than this.

SEO for schools is effective because it can help improve your reputation and build trust. In the education sector, it is vital that you have a strong reputation as an institution that will provide the best educational experience, which will set alumni up for success in their careers and life. Prospective families and students also want to know that the school is credible and trustworthy. Websites that appear at or near the top of SERPs are deemed as credible, relevant, and authoritative in the eyes of both search engines and search engine users. Therefore, SEO for schools can help build trust and develop a positive reputation that will make it easier to attract new students and rise above the competition.

The Most Effective SEO Strategies

So, what are some of the most effective SEO strategies that will improve your ranking while also enhancing your reputation and building trust? These are the key areas to focus on:

Organic Backlinks

Link building is a cornerstone of SEO that can help you build a strong presence online while improving your credibility. Acquiring organic backlinks from relevant and trustworthy external websites will improve your own credibility in the eyes of both search engines and search engine users.

The key is to form relationships with the right publishers, which means performing outreach and building and maintaining relationships. This can be challenging and time-consuming, which is why it is a good idea to partner with a digital marketing agency with experience in education marketing. They will already have a network of publishers they can use to help you acquire contextual and quality backlinks that will improve your ranking and build trust.

Partner with Educational Platforms

Educational platforms can also be useful for link-building while demonstrating your expertise. You can create guest posts, case studies, and resource submissions to popular platforms like Edutopia, TeachThought, and Education Corner.  These are platforms that are used extensively, so they are trusted and an effective way to improve visibility and reputation.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a key element of SEO. It is important to create engaging content that answers the questions and concerns that parents and students have. A few examples of content that could be effective include:

• A Parent’s Guide to Choosing the Right School

• First-Day Tips for New Students

• Questions to Ask During a School Tour

Useful content like this will attract organic backlinks to improve your ranking while also being a valuable resource for prospective students and families.

SEO can be an incredibly useful digital marketing strategy for schools, and not just because it will improve your search engine ranking and increase organic traffic. SEO helps build trust, authority, and reputation - critical factors that prospective students and parents take into consideration when making a hugely important life decision.