SEO Partnership Produces Strong Results for Ohio University

Ohio University, one of the highest-rated public colleges in the state, wanted to draw new students to its programs through a series of website value propositions.

The goal of the value propositions was threefold:

• To complement existing program pages and drive traffic to them
• To inspire interest in prospective students and convince them to apply
• To highlight the best aspects of Ohio University

To achieve all of these goals simultaneously, Ohio approached Infinity Marketing for a collaborative SEO effort that would maximize Google search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive applications to the university.

To ensure that the value proposition SEO partnership was as successful as possible, our team worked closely with the marketing professionals at Ohio University, collaborating with them in a two-step process for each piece:

• First, our SEO experts performed keyword research for a specific program’s relevant terms and phrases. Then, the SEO team reviewed the keywords with Ohio.
• Second, after each value proposition was completed, the SEO team partnered with Ohio University’s web team to implement on-page optimization for the copy by tweaking words, adding links, and ensuring that the right keywords were represented in the right areas

There were several unique challenges to overcome through our collaborative efforts! For example, some programs at Ohio University had names that were slightly different from popular search terms. The university’s Sport Management program – one of its most popular, and the first of its kind in the nation – was named unlike the most searched for term: “sports management.”

To cross this particular hurdle and others like it, the SEO team had regular conversations with Ohio University to find the right balance between keeping the school’s unique program names intact while also lacing high-value keywords throughout page headers and body copy.

Furthermore, it was vital to prevent “keyword cannibalization” between similar pages. If two or more pages had the same valuable keywords, our SEO team and Ohio had to work together to decide:

• Which keywords would be present on which pages
• How to find unique keywords to differentiate pages for strong SERP performance

Overall, the ongoing communication, regular meetings, and flexibility of both our staff and Ohio University enabled a successful SEO partnership for over two dozen value propositions.

Ohio University’s first adjusted page was for the school’s Sociology major. Thanks to the SEO strategy, it quickly rose in rankings for 72 keywords, making major gains across commonly searched terms like, “bachelor’s in sociology” and “sociology degrees.”

The SEO strategy that our team and Ohio collaborated on led to a rise in organic search traffic for the Sociology page, as well. Smart keyword targeting and implementation led to a whopping 229% increase in impressions, along with a 206% increase in page clicks!

Overall, these results show the power of strong SEO partnerships and collaboration, particularly for projects with a variety of distinct pages to optimize! Whether you’re interested in creating an SEO keyword strategy for universities or a company, contact Infinity Marketing today to learn more about our SEO partnerships.