If you use the search function within a subsite of a research group, faculty, programme, centre ... the search function will initially search only this subsite. However, at the top of the search results you will always find the option to expand your search to the entire website:
Garbage in = garbage out
The search function on a website can only work well if the content on that website is well managed.
- Complete the metadata such as page titles in the back-end properly. This way, it's immediately clear in the search results to which entity a web page belongs, as page titles are shown in the results, both in external search engines and in the search function on our website.
- Make sure your website is up to date, and remove outdated content! Don't just unpublish old pages, you may not see them on your website anymore, but they will still come up in search results.
- Avoid duplicate content. Do not duplicate information from central pages on a faculty or research group website.
No PDF or Word files
Documents (downloads) are not screened by the search function. Crucial information should be featured on web pages and not be ‘hidden’ in downloads. Downloads only serve as additional information (a report, an abstract ...).
Click rate
The internal search function learns every day. The more often a search result is clicked on after a search using a certain term, the better it will be ranked in the search results for that term.
English or Dutch
On the Dutch website, you get search results from both the English and the Dutch website.
On the English website, you will only see English search results.
Creating key matches
By creating a key match for a specific search term and a specific page, we ensure that page appears at the top of the search results when the matched search term is used.
An example: we have created a key match for the keyword ‘mission’ and the page Mission and vision. The link to our university's mission statement will appear at the top of the search results when you search for the keyword ‘mission’. Test it out for yourself!
However, these key matches have no effect on search results in external search engines, so it is always better to fully optimise your pages. Take a look at our 6 tips for SEO to learn more.
Would you like to request a key match? Contact webredactie.