This document outlines steps for increasing traffic to a research networking site called UCSF Profiles using search engine optimization techniques. It begins by establishing baselines using web analytics to understand traffic patterns. It recommends focusing efforts on researcher profile pages rather than the home page. Next it provides actions to ensure search engines can access pages through the robots.txt file and sitemaps. Further steps include optimizing page titles, descriptions and URLs to attract searchers. The document concludes by recommending ways to build inbound links from other university websites and through APIs to establish reputation.

1. Clinical
and
Transla,onal
Science
Ins,tute
/
CTSI
at
the
University
of
California,
San
Francisco
Growth
Hacking
101
for
Research
Networking
for
the
VIVO
Implementa0on
and
Development
Call
·∙
Oct
16,
2014
Anirvan
Cha7erjee,
CTSI
at
UC
San
Francisco

5. h7p://profiles.ucsf.edu/

6. UCSF
Profiles
• Beta
launched
Dec
2009
– ~300
visits
a
month,
or
~10
visits
a
day
• First
month
post-­‐launch
Oct
2010
– ~5,000
visits
a
month,
or
~160
visits
a
day
• Most
recent
month
September
2014
– ~100,000
visits
a
month,
or
~3,300
visits
a
day

7. Visits
per
month
to
UCSF
Profiles
-
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
90,000
100,000
Dec-09
Feb-10
Apr-10
Jun-10
Aug-10
Oct-10
Dec-10
Feb-11
Apr-11
Jun-11
Aug-11
Oct-11
Dec-11
Feb-12
Apr-12
Jun-12
Aug-12
Oct-12
Dec-12
Feb-13
Apr-13
Jun-13
Aug-13
Oct-13
Dec-13
Feb-14
Apr-14
Jun-14
Aug-14

8. UCSF
Profiles
traffic,
by
geographic
locaLon
UCSF
campus
13%
California
International
20%
USA 37%
30%

9. UCSF
Profiles
traffic,
by
medium
Search
engines
83%
UCSF
Referrals
7%
External
Referrals
2%
Direct/
Unknown
8%

10. Growth
Hacking
101
for
Research
Networking
1. Use
web
analy,cs
to
measure
baselines
2. Put
researcher
profile
pages
front
and
center
3. Get
indexed
by
search
engines
4. Tweak
URLs,
metadata
to
a7ract
searchers
5. Build
inbound
links
to
establish
reputa,on

11. STEP
1.
WEB
ANALYTICS
TO
MEASURE
BASELINES
Photo:
Tim
Ellis,
h7p://flic.kr/p/849hSN,
used
under
CC
BY-­‐NC

12. ✓ACTION
ITEM
1A:
Install
Google
AnalyLcs,
set
up
on
every
page

13. ✓ACTION
ITEM
1B:
Learn
how
to
use
it
• Online
help
at
google.com/analy,cs/learn
• Read
“Web
Analy,cs
2.0”
by
Kaushik

14. Segment
on-­‐campus
vs.
off-­‐campus
traffic
Visits
by
Type,
Sep
2014
Returning
Visitors
15%
New
Visitors
85%

15. Segment
on-­‐campus
vs.
off-­‐campus
traffic
Visits
by
Type,
within
UCSF
Campus
New
Visitor
28%
Returning
Visitors
72%
Visits
by
Type,
outside
UCSF
Campus
New
Visitor
80%
Returning
Visitors
20%

16. ✓ACTION
ITEM
1C:
Create
“on-­‐campus”
&
“off-­‐campus”
segments
1. Figure
out
the
relevant
network
names
by
going
to
Audience
>
Technology
>
Network
2. Create
an
advanced
segment
that
includes
that
service
provider,
and
one
that
excludes
it
3. Use
segments
to
understand
traffic
pa7erns

17. ✓ACTION
ITEM
1D:
Register
with
Google
Webmaster
Tools
1. Go
to
google.com/webmasters/tools
2. Follow
the
direc,ons
to
register
your
site
3. See
how
your
site’s
indexed
on
Google

18. STEP
2.
IF
YOU
CARE
ABOUT
TRAFFIC,
IGNORE
YOUR
HOME
PAGE

21. What
%
of
UCSF
Profiles
visits
begin
on
the
home
page?
2.1%
(as
of
September
2014)

22. What
%
of
2+
minute
on-­‐campus
UCSF
Profiles
visits
begin
on
the
home
page?
21.6%
(as
of
September
2014)

23. Where
do
visits
start?
(Red
=
Visits
star0ng
on
home
page)
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
-
Visits that start in on home page

24. Where
do
visits
start?
(Green
=
visits
NOT
star0ng
on
home
page)
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
-
Visits that start in on home page Visits that DON'T start on home page

25. So
where
ARE
visitors
going,
if
not
to
the
home
page?

26. So
where
ARE
visitors
going,
if
not
to
the
home
page?

27. So
where
ARE
visitors
going,
if
not
to
the
home
page?

28. So
where
ARE
visitors
going,
if
not
to
the
home
page?

29. Focus
on
what
people
actually
see
Photo:
Toms
Bauģis,
h7p://flic.kr/p/ai1nc,
used
under
CC
BY

32. ✓ACTION
ITEM
2:
Ignore
your
home
page
(focus
on
profile
pages)

33. STEP
3.
GET
INDEXED
BY
SEARCH
ENGINES
Photo:
Catherine
Roy,
h7p://flic.kr/p/aW72h4,
used
under
CC
BY-­‐NC-­‐ND

34. First,
can
search
engines
see
your
pages?
Photo:
Michael
Keith,
h7p://flic.kr/p/ccqVcf,
used
under
CC
BY-­‐NC-­‐SA

35. ✓ACTION
ITEM
3:
Make
sure
search
engines
can
see
your
pages
1. Tweak
your
robots.txt
so
search
engines
can
see
all
your
pages
(www.robotstxt.org)
2. Create
a
dynamically-­‐generated
sitemap
of
all
your
profile
pages
(www.sitemaps.org)
3. Men,on
your
sitemap
in
your
robots.txt,
and
add
it
to
Google
Webmaster
Tools
4. Wait
a
day,
validate
that
this
all
works
via
Google
Webmaster
Tools

36. STEP
4.
TWEAK
URLS,
METADATA
TO
ATTRACT
SEARCHERS

37. Google
search
results
title
URL
description/snippet

38. Which
search
result
would
you
rather
click
on?
Profiles
2
(with
custom
URLs)
Profiles
1:
VIVO
at
Cornell:

39. ✓ACTION
ITEM
4A:
Improve
the
copy
on
your
page
Ltles
&
descripLons
1. Make
the
page
<,tle>
on
profile
pages
short
and
globally
unique
2. Make
<meta
name="descrip,on”>
on
profile
pages
readable
and
descrip,ve
(e.g.
“Jane
Doe’s
profile,
publica,ons,
research
topics,
and
co-­‐authors”)

40. Bonus
professional
metadata
on
Google

41. ✓ACTION
ITEM
4B:
Add
extra
professional
metadata
• Follow
the
direc,ons
at
schema.org
and
schema.org/Person
to
add
people-­‐oriented
HTML
metadata
to
your
pages
• Use
google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets
to
test
to
see
if
you
got
your
syntax
right

42. Which
URL
do
you
trust
more?
profiles.ucsf.edu/eric.meeks
scholars.duke.edu/display/per085776

43. ✓ACTION
ITEM
4C:
Use
beker
URLs.
Include
people’s
names.
• Pre7y
URL
should
be
the
“real”
URL,
not
just
a
redirect
• All
old
or
alterna,ve
profile
URLs
should
do
a
301
redirect
to
the
pre7y
URL

44. MulLple
versions
of
the
same
URL?
• yoursite.edu/display/n1234
• yoursite.edu/display/n1234?blah-­‐blah-­‐blah
• yoursite.edu/en,ty?ne,d=ac12
• yoursite.edu/print/n1234

45. ✓ACTION
ITEM
4D:
Prevent
indexing
of
mulLple
versions
of
your
page
• If
you
have
mul,ple
versions
of
your
page
getng
indexed,
tell
search
engines
which
version
is
the
main
one
by
using
the
rel=canonical
canonical
link
element

46. STEP
5.
GET
INBOUND
LINKS
Photo:
Blake
Pa7erson,
h7p://flic.kr/p/5w4pn9,
used
under
CC
BY

47. Campus
news
stories

48. Campus
directory

49. Campus
resource
lists
and
guides

50. Departmental
profiles

51. NarraLve
bios

53. APIs
enable
data
reuse,
encourage
adopLon
• Built-­‐in
APIs
let
users
reuse
your
data
• How
to
publicize/support
APIs
– Document
API
on
a
developer-­‐centric
website
– Online
discussion
group
– Outreach
to
campus
groups
• Reusing
data
=
more
incen,ve
to
have
clean
data
• Ask
for
a
link
back
from
API-­‐enhanced
pages

56. Profiles
data
is
syndicated
by
websites
and
apps
across
campus
• UCSF
Mobile
App
for
iOS
and
Android
• UCSF
Mobile
Website
• Advance
• UCSF
Cardiology
• UCSF
Center
for
AIDS
Research
• UCSF
Division
of
Gastroenterology
• UCSF
Division
of
Geriatrics
• UCSF
Helen
Diller
Comprehensive
Cancer
Center
• UCSF
Division
of
HIV/AIDS
• UCSF
Division
of
Hospital
Medicine,
SFGH
• UCSF
Division
of
Nephrology
• UCSF
Occupa,onal
&
Environmental
Medicine
• UCSF
Dept.
of
Otolaryngology
• UCSF
Division
of
Rheumatology
• UCSF
Benioff
Children's
Hospital
• UCSF
Directory
• UCSF
Dept.
of
Emergency
Medicine
• UCSF
Dept.
of
Epidemiology
&
Biosta,s,cs
• UCSF
Medical
Center
• UCSF
Dept.
of
Medicine

57. ✓ACTION
ITEM
4:
Get
websites
at
your
insLtuLon
to
link
to
you
• Get
campus
sites
to
link
to
your
homepage
as
a
trusted
campus
resource
• Get
campus
sites
to
link
to
individual
profiles
from
departmental
profiles,
news
stories,
directory,
etc.
• Encourage
reuse
of
your
data
via
APIs,
and
ask
for
a
link
back
as
a7ribu,on
(they
save
@me
and
money,
you
get
links)
• These
links
may
not
send
traffic,
but
will
help
SEO

58. Virtuous
Circle:
SEO
—>
Media
menLons
—>
SEO

59. Growth
Hacking
101
for
Research
Networking
1. Use
web
analy,cs
to
measure
baselines
2. Put
researcher
profile
pages
front
and
center
3. Get
indexed
by
search
engines
4. Tweak
URLs,
metadata
to
a7ract
searchers
5. Build
inbound
links
to
establish
reputa,on
Anirvan
Chakerjee,
CTSI
at
UCSF
anirvan.cha7erjee@ucsf.edu
@anirvan