SEO Widgets

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can make a big difference to how your website and newsletters are ranked and displayed in search results like Google’s. Our latest widgets help you put extra polish on your site and publications to drive more traffic.

For many schools, businesses and non-profits, making sure they rank well for specific keywords in search engines is incredibly important.

How can I rank well in Google?

As we move out of the pandemic, many schools are once again looking to attract international students and so naturally want to be high on the list when families overseas are searching for Kiwi schools.

The best way to do that is to consistently publish good quality content catering to an international audience which is rich in keywords that people are searching for. Eg.  international, school, students, New Zealand, enrolment, fees etc. By using Hail to regularly publish newsletters and news articles to the web and social media you are boosting your SEO for those topics by creating all-important backlinks to your website.

And if your website also contains articles covering the same topics, then Google will recognise that you’ve got it well covered and rank you higher for those specific keyword searches.

With our SEO Widgets, you can help make your mark even stronger.

What do the SEO Widgets provide?

The SEO widget gives you full control over your website’s and publications'  Title and Description, which is what’s displayed in search results and helps Google understand what you do and which keywords to add you to.

By default, your website’s title will simply be your organisation's name and the description taken from your site’s  Main Text Block. But now you can edit those in the SEO Widget to whatever represents you best and most accurately.

Similarly, your publication's title will default to the newsletter's name and use the lead from its featured article for the description.

What should I use for my Title & Description?

• Your website title should be less than 60 characters to fit Google results. Make it short and informative. Start with the name of your school, business or non-profit and add important keywords if there’s room.
• Your website description should be between 150 and 160 characters for optimal length, including spaces. It should briefly and accurately describe your website and include important keywords that can be found within the website’s content.
• Your publication title should also be less than 60 characters and accurate to its purpose. For example, Simone’s Beauty School Newsletter 26 May 2022.
• Your publication description should be between 150 and 160 characters and also briefly describe your publication and include important keywords that can be found within the articles’ content.

The SEO Widgets will ensure you stay within those recommended lengths.

Should I stretch the truth in my SEO?

No, it’s important not to try and  game the system. What we mean by that is only add valid info to the Title and Description and not details or keywords that you think will drive extra traffic to your site but which aren't strictly correct.

Google is very smart at spotting inaccurate details and if you say you’re  the biggest primary school catering to international students in the North Island but that’s not backed up by content on your site and elsewhere on the web, then Google’s algorithm is likely to punish your attempts instead of ranking you higher.

Who gets the SEO Widgets?

The website SEO widget is available to all and can be found in the Widgets submenu, as well as at the top of the website edit screen.

The publication SEO widget is a power feature that's unlocked for our Plus Plan customers and added to the bottom of all publication edit screens.

And don't worry if you're not confident with SEO concepts. This release also includes optimisations to your website's default SEO factors. So even if you leave the Title and Description as is, you'll still have enhanced SEO.

When will I see improvements in Google?

Tweaking the Titles and Descriptions won't produce instant changes to the display and ranking in Google or other search engines. That's because it'll take Google days, weeks or sometimes even months to check your website for any changes. So when it comes to SEO, it's most definitely a long-game and we recommend patience. The best thing you can do is just keep publishing great content that's rich in keywords important to your community and get the word out on as many channels as possible.