Search-engine optimised (SEO) content can make a big difference to your sales and downloads, so what is it exactly? We share some advice on how to make your teaching materials SEO-friendly when uploading your resources.
So, what is it?
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of making improvements to your online resources to improve their visibility on Google or other search browsers. If your resource is SEO optimised, you have more of a chance of ranking on Google and seeing your resource appear for some search results. Increasing your resources visibility on search engines can lead to more traffic to your resources and with more traffic, more opportunities to make a sale.
Where do I start?
Resource titles
Resource title is the first thing to consider when trying to optimise your content to make sure people who may be searching for it can find it. Your resource title also forms part of your URL which would also appear in search results. Here are some top resource title tips:
- Think about what someone else would be searching for and how you would search for your resource, include these keywords in your title.
- Make your resources as easy to identify from the title as possible.
- Aim for around 55-65 characters (including spaces) as anything over that will truncate.
Example of good resource titles:
“3D shapes activity sheet for KS2 maths”
“Macbeth act 3, scene 1 analysis lesson”
“Tutor-time European Day of Languages quiz for KS3 and KS4”
Resource descriptions
- The more information the better – Resources with longer descriptions rank better, so we recommend making your description around 200-300 words.
- The first two sentences are key - The first 25 words (or 155 characters including spaces, to be precise) should clearly describe what the resource is about, elaborating on the title, as this will appear under your resource title in Google’s search results. It’s also important to grab a teacher’s attention when they’re scanning lots of resources.
- Don’t keyword ‘stuff’ – Google will penalise content that looks like spam, so don’t cram your title or description full of your chosen keyword; this is known as keyword stuffing. Two or three mentions in a description is plenty, just once is best in a title.
- Provide a definition of your chosen topic - For example, if your resource is a 3D shapes worksheet, briefly explain what a 3D shape is and how your resource will help students be able to identify them (see example).
- It’s a good idea to add when the resource was last updated into the description and make a note of any changes/additions to the resource itself, google reads this information and it’s great for user experience.
- Google likes links, it’s a good idea to hyperlink any related Tes resources in your description – this is not only good for SEO but for your potential customers too! Take a look at the simple steps below to help you hyperlink text:
1. Write down a title for the link you want to include in your description, if you’re linking to related resources, it’s a good idea to use the title of the related resource. You’ll need to follow these steps for each individual link you want to include.
“European Day of Languages activity for KS3”
2. Highlight the text you want to hyperlink and push CTRL+K, alternatively, use the chain button at the top of the description box to create a link. Brackets should have now appeared on the right of the text you highlighted.
[European Day of Languages activity for KS3](http://)
3. In the brackets, paste a link to your related resource including the https://
[European Day of Languages activity for KS3](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/example-european-day-languages-activity-ks3)
4. That’s it! The text in your description should now be clickable.
Images and PDFs
- Optimise your file names – By including your keyword in the file name of both your resource and the accompanying image, you’re telling Google that those things are also relevant to the search (remember though, your file names should still make sense, try not to keyword stuff)
Sharing your content
- Google likes links – If you use social media, have a blog or even send out a department email, including your Tes resource links are a great way to highlight your new content to search engine robots. The more you can share and link to your Tes resources from other sites the better.
Responding to reviews
- Google and other search engines classify reviews on resources as ‘content’. Put simply, this means google can read the content of the reviews, including the ‘rating’ and use this as a factor to decide how much expertise the resource could offer a customer. Responding to reviews is a great way to build authority as it provides a good user experience and can contribute to another customers decision on whether to purchase a resource.
Example resource and description:
Title: Tutor-time European Day of Languages quiz for KS3 and KS4
Description: A 25-minute editable tutor-time European Day of Languages quiz with answers. European Day of Languages is observed and celebrated on the 26 September every year with the aim of raising awareness of Europe's diverse mix of languages.
This resource, last updated on 24th August 2023 with a ‘bonus round’, features 4 rounds each with 8 questions (multiple choice, picture round, quick-fire, anagrams) is suitable for students in years 7-11 but it could also be used for post-16 students in year 12 and year 13.
How I use this resource: Get your students into teams of no more than 4, give them a pen and a piece of scrap paper and put the quiz up on the board (you can either have a student come to the front to control the quiz or you can). I find leaving the questions up (not including the quick-fire round) for around 20-25 seconds is enough time for the students to read the question and write an answer down.
Looking for more tutor-time quizzes? Take a look at this selection of tutor time quizzes including general knowledge quizzes and key event quizzes:
[Hyperlink to any of your related Tes resources]