USU OU Campus Quality Control Messages
Page Title
The page title element of your webpage shows up in your browser tab and in search engine results. It helps your webpage rank higher than competitors when it appropriately describes relevant content on your page. This is considered a metadata element, which means it is used for discovery and identification, and though it won't show up on your actual webpage, it is being cataloged by search engines.
Page Title Shows in Web Browser Tabs
Page Title & Description Show in Search Results
You should never use Home as your page title, unless your web page is about homes. Even then, you'll probably want to be more descriptive and include a brand of some sort. Searchers use key words and phrases to look for information, and search engines want to help their users find what they're looking as quickly as possible. A generic name like "home" doesn't appear to the search engine as relevant to the searchers question, and therefore ranks much lower in the results.
For brand consistency, the IT Web Team has already appended " | USU" to the end of every page title. You'll see it on your published pages, but can't remove it and don't need to add it in the page title section of your OU Campus page parameters. Please note that Google will add " - Utah State University" to your website's main home page title in their results.
Page Titles Can be Added & Edited In OU Campus Page Parameters
Page Description
Like your page title, your page description is very important metadata for your web page. It doesn't show up in your page text, but shows up under your page title in search engine results. It is essentially the first impression you give to searchers, and allows them to see how well your page matches their search criteria.
You have 320 characters (maximum) to describe your page content and help searchers find what they're looking for on your page. Pages that do not include a description are left in the hands of the search engine to discern your purpose, and they are not very good mind-readers. Instead of sharing what you have to offer, they will often take the first few characters of the text they can find, or report on links and images rather than the content you are providing. You can take control of the message you share by creating an appropriate page description.
An appropriate page description should be no less than 75 characters and no more than the maximum of 320 characters. Be concise and precise and include key words that help your desired audience find your content.
To add or edit your page description in OU Campus, check out your page (make sure the lightbulb icon is yellow), and go to Properties --> Parameters.
Page Descriptions Can be Added & Edited In OU Campus Page Parameters
Accessible Link Text
To help all website visitors have a positive experience with your web content, it is important to include appropriate link text. Not only does it make the site more usable for everyone, it also protects you from providing links that are inaccessible for some website visitors. Using "click here" or "read more" for links don't provide direction to someone using a screen reader. You can learn more about the best way to create accessible and usable link text by reviewing our Web Accessibility page under the Quick Tips tab.
Image Descriptions
If you are including images on your web pages, you need to know their purpose. Are they simply decorative, or do they provide information to your visitors. If you include any text on an image, whether it's a flyer or brochure image, or just an image that gives the date of an imporant event or activity, you must include that as "alt text" for your image in order for all website visitors to gather the information you are providing.
You can learn more about the best way to create accessible and usable alt text (descriptions) for your images by reviewing our Web Accessibility page under the Quick Tips tab.
Missing Page Properties
Page parameters are behind-the-scenes ways to organize your webpage data. Two key parameters are Title and Description. To see your page parameters, click Properties and < > Parameters. A complete list of your existing page parameters will appear. If your page is missing the Title and Description parameters, you are not able to fully help interested people find your page. Adding missing parameters involves getting help from the IT Web Team. Email itweb@usu.edu your URL (website address) and let us know you need missing parameters added to your page.
Essential Page Parameters Can Be Added if Currently Missing
