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A computer science degree is among the most popular programs right now. Still, due to the high number of competitors, reaching potential students and persuading them to pursue an advanced degree in Computer Science can be challenging. Most students find out about educational programs online, which means there are several ways of attracting potential students and optimizing the university’s website.
This can be a challenging task that demands a dedicated digital marketer and a thoroughly planned marketing strategy. Marketers need to ensure that the web page dedicated to the Computer Science program has all the relevant and necessary information, is easy and intuitive to navigate, and follows all the latest website optimization rules.
Let’s look at how digital marketers can help encourage students to choose the Computer Science program with the help of SEO.
Create the website to present the computer science program
First and foremost, it is essential to create a website to present the Computer Science program. Most students these days start out by looking for information regarding educational opportunities, applying for a program, and getting feedback, all online. Thus, if you want to promote the educational program and attract students, focus on creating an online presence first.
Let’s assume that you already have a website for the educational program. The next step of your marketing plan would be to work on website SEO. You need to ensure that when students are searching for Computer Science programs, they see the web page at the top of the search results in Google. This can be achieved by working on the website’s on-page, off-page, and technical SEO, as well as working on its design. It may sound a bit complicated at first sight, but there are many special tools that help with organizing and automating SEO routines, as well as with SEO tracking to see whether the website performs well.
On-page SEO
The initial step in making the program more recognizable is working on the website's on-page SEO. This includes working on the content, internal links, keywords, images, headers, and many other elements. In other words, everything that is present on the page is dedicated to the Computer Science program.
When students search for programs in Computer Science, they want to learn as much as possible about the program without having to ask any additional questions. That is why it is essential for every digital marketer to work on content. Make sure to include as many details as possible: academic requirements, an overview of the program, and what a person will learn by the end of the program.
The goal here is to ensure that the content is relevant, unique, and responds to students’ search intents. Start with keyword research. That way, you will learn what people are looking for online when searching for Computer Science programs, what they want to know about the degree, and what keywords are likely to attract more people to the web page.
You can do it manually by analyzing Google results and suggestions or with the help of automated tools for digital marketers available online. Once you’ve selected all the keywords, you can move on to creating content around them or integrating the keywords into existing content.
You can’t place keywords just anywhere in the text. They should be placed strategically. Once you have a list of target keywords, place them in H1, the first paragraph, and subheaders. This way, Google and other search engines will learn more about your page and will know who to recommend it to.
The content on the page should be structured, contain illustrations with relevant images that have descriptive alt text that provides context for Google, and have links to other pages of the school’s website.
Technical SEO
With on-page SEO, you focus on people’s interests and needs. With technical SEO, however, the goal of a marketer is to make sure that Google and other search engines can find, understand, and index the website easily.
That is why you must create a website with technical SEO in mind: making it faster, more understandable for search engines, and easier to crawl (find and scan). Google robots evaluate web pages based on their loading speed, content, meta tags, links, and security. If you improve the technical aspects of the web page dedicated to the educational program, Google will rank it as secure and reward it with a higher ranking. As a result, more students will see it in their search results.
First, you need to make sure that the web page loads fast. The loading speed will influence both Google and people’s impressions of the web page. For example, the probability that a person will close the tab increases by 32% as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds. Google also prefers pages that are fast, and slower pages end up further down in search results.
Off-page SEO
Another website optimization strategy is working on off-page SEO. This is all about the marketing actions taken off the website. It includes link building, content marketing, reviews, and social media presence. It is the same as building the website’s reputation. If the website has great reviews, is present on social media, and other authoritative websites link to their pages, search engines will be more likely to consider your page as reputable and show it to people.
The first step of working on off-page SEO is link building. This means getting other websites to link to your web pages. These links are also called backlinks. Your goal should be to have as many backlinks from reputable and relevant websites as possible, as it will make your page more authoritative for Google.
If you want the CSE school to get more attention, you should also use social media channels to share learning and development content. Almost everyone now uses social media channels like Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, so if you want to attract a young audience, it is a great idea to talk about the CSE school online and help students make more informed decisions.
UX Design
UX design and usability are also essential parts of SEO for websites. The school’s web page should be easy to navigate, have SEO-friendly layouts, and a mobile responsive design. In other words, it should provide a flawless user experience.
First, ensure that when students open the CSE school page, they aren't confused about where to click next to find the information they need. All answers to their questions should be easy to find, and the simpler the design is – the better.
Next, the layout of the page should be SEO-friendly. This means that the page should not be too overloaded with text, you should use headers to structure the data, infuse images and videos, and use CTAs (call-to-actions).
Finally, keep in mind that a huge percentage of students will open the website on their mobile phones, so the page should be responsive to any mobile device or browser. The experience of using the website should be equally great no matter what kind of device the person is using to view it.
Promote the computer science program
Apart from focusing on the SEO part, a great way for marketers to promote the computer science program is to launch an awareness campaign. You need to tell your target audience about the benefits of the educational program and why they should choose it among others, and support your arguments with factual data.
Let’s look at some ways to raise awareness about the computer science program:
Invite influential speakers from the field.
Let professors tell more about the program.
Demonstrate students’ achievements.
The potential students will definitely value this extra effort and be more likely to trust the school if they listen to professionals working in computer science talk about your program share their experience working at the school, and see the actual achievements of former students.
Summary
It may seem like people interested in pursuing a computer science degree will only be able to find the program by themselves. However, thanks to modern search engine optimization practices, digital marketers can drastically increase the chances of students finding the CSE school online. If you invest in SEO and follow website optimization strategies, students will discover the computer science program, and you can help them make more informed decisions.
