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Webpage Best Practices

  • Avoid using heading 1 <h1> for titles.  This is already designated for the page title.
  • Do not add color or special html to text on the page.  Use the appropriate text format (paragraph, heading 2, heading 3, heading 4, etc.).  Also, use the appropriate format in how it breaks down in the page flow.  An example - an <h4> tag shouldn’t come after a <h2> tag.

  • Text should only be underlined when linking to an item (this is done automatically when you create a link).  If you need to highlight or bring attention to the text, please bold the text.
  • When linking to pages or documents, don’t use the text “Click Here” as it is not truly descriptive or accessible in describing the link.  Use engaging verbiage that describes what the user is doing and where they are going.  Example usage of text in links:
  • Break up paragraphs and try to not be too wordy in content.  Users tend to scroll through looking for information and may be discouraged in reading further if there is a sea of unneeded text.  Furthermore - if there is a need for an abundance of information, highly consider breaking this information down into accordions or pages depending on the length of content.  Accordions can provide a simple solution, whereas multiple pages can provide greater SEO if the length of content warrants additional pages. 
  • When using photographs, please provide credits in the caption field.  This includes photos from Virginia Tech.
    • If a newer photo from Virginia Tech (post 2019) use: Photo by <name of person> for Virginia Tech.
    • If older photo from Virginia Tech, use: Photo by Virginia Tech.
    • If from external source (and you have the rights to use), use the following caption style: Photo courtesy of <source name>.
  • It is best to consult with the Research Communications team when new pages are needed so that the proper page names can be designated.   Due to microsites fall under the main Research and Innovation site, page names show up in the following format in Google Search Results:
    1. Page Name | Research and Innovation
    2. Page Name | Microsite Name | Research and Innovation

    Due to this, we need to keep in mind some page names would be the same across websites, thus causing confusion in search results.  An example is “Contact Us”.  It is always a best practice for SEO to name the page “Contacts for <Department Name/ Division Name>”.

Search Engine Optimization Do’s and Don’ts

  • Search Engines only focus on the first 70 characters of a web page title. Optimize headlines/titles to be easy to read, but powerful enough to optimize for a search engine.
  • Fix all broken links within a page. Working links not only increase the user experience, it also increases credibility for your page/content.
  • Focus on web content to be clear, concise, and to use appropriate keywords where needed, but do not overfill content with keywords.
  • Do not spam page content with links to the same item over and over. Google will penalize this by decreasing your ranking in search, moving you further down in results. It is more user friendly to have one link to the item.
  • Keep in mind not to use underscores or spaces in web URLs. Dashes are preferred because Google doesn't recognize underscores.  For example, the URL /this_is_a_page_name.html would be recognized by Google as “thisisapagename.html”.  The URL /this-is-a-file.html would be recognized by Google as “/this is a page name.html”

    Spaces are considered a special character and browsers convert those to their respective HTML entity (&20;).

    Example:     /this is a page name.html would be converted to /this&20;is&20;a&20;page&20;name.html. 

    This could break when copy and pasted into a  browser and produce a bad link.

Best Practices that are not as Strict

  • Only use one <h1> tag for a page.  This is reserved normally for the title of the page that the user sees in the design.  

Things To Keep In Mind

  • If a page has under 500 views for the period reported, consider the value of the page.  The Research Communications team will provide monthly reports on traffic for this.  Should it be completely retired? If not, then it will need to be revamped. Does it need to be promoted (such as through the Research and Innovation newsletter)? Should the content be combined with another page?  This data can be provided to the unit at their request from the Research Communications Team.
  • Think of your website as a marketing tool. Think of your audience and this is the first time they are learning about what you do, what you’re involved with, etc. Educate them. Don’t expect they already know every acronym, phrase, etc.
  • Refrain from using a first-person viewpoint in web writing. 
  • Writing should be in AP/University style. Please refer to the university style guide for writing best practices.
  • End of sentences require a period followed by one space. This is a standard for web writing and print.
  • Limit the use of PDFs.  If the material is text, it can go on a webpage.  Exceptions include fill-able forms that need to be printed or emailed.
  • Per the university style guide on abbreviations:
    “While abbreviations or acronyms are appropriate in some situations, particularly when dealing with a long college name or title, please refrain from turning your press release, feature article, or publication into something that resembles alphabet soup. Attempt to find other ways to identify the subject rather than repeatedly using an acronym. When they are used, you should usually spell out names first followed by the acronym in parentheses, although sometimes using the acronym first reads better or makes sense. If you do use the acronym first, use the full name or title shortly after. Try to avoid using an acronym or initialism in your lede.

Remember - it doesn’t have to be perfect.  As long as the communications team has a base, they can add-on and/or improve upon the content.

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