FIRST ON THE LIST: SEO CONTESTS

AS AUTHENTIC LEARNING

Mark FrydenbergBentley University, Massachusetts, USA

John S. Miko

Saint Francis University, Pennsylvania, USA

Outline

• SEO (Teaching and Learning)• Search Engines and SEO• Research Questions• SEO Contest• Authentic Learning• Examples of Student Work• Conclusions

Research Questions

• What do students understand about SEO as part of an organization's online strategy?

• How is participating in an SEO contest an authentic learning experience?

• Does a competitive assignment provide an added incentive for learning about SEO?

• How does participating in an SEO Contest impact student learning about SEO?

SEO Techniques

provide frequentlyupdated content

encourage back links (links from other sites to yours)

promote a site using social media tools

select a relevant domain name

manually submit a site to search engines

create an XML Site Map

place key words in the title tag

place key words in meta-tags

include key words in HTML file names

place key words in headings and content

Demo

Authentic Learning (Harrington)

• Problem has real-world relevance

• Problem is open-ended• Task to be investigated

over a sustained period of time

• Allow for exploring a task from different perspectives

• Provide for Collaboration

• Provide opportunity to reflect on the experience

• Seamlessly integrate with assessment

• Create polished products in their own right

• Allow competing solutions and a diversity of outcomes

Prior Familiarity

• I learned that in order to achieve a good result your page must be continuously updated. Also, even if you buy a domain name which includes the keywords of the search, you may not come first in the search results. SEO is not always a precise science."

Competition

• I loved this assignment. I really enjoyed competing against my classmates. It was almost like we were organizations competing against one another

Understanding

• I learned that it's not easy to optimize your website. It takes a lot of time along with patience for it to work. You need to constantly be up-to-date with it, so that your website shows up on search engines. One minute it may be there, while the other it may lose its [higher] ranking.

Techniques and Effectiveness

• We learned that … no matter how good the product may be, if you cannot find it on the first couple pages of Google or any other search engine, then it probably will not be found and adopted by consumers.

Conclusions

• The topic is relevant• The learning is authentic• The skills are valuable