Without search engine optimization (SEO), fewer people see your content.  

SEO is about creating high-quality, discoverable content that meets user needs. When done well, it builds trust, boosts site authority, and helps people find our services. While some factors — like site speed or mobile performance — are out of your control, you can still make a big impact. Follow this checklist to quickly strengthen your SEO:

SEO Checklist

  • Write a clear, keyword-rich page title
  • Craft a compelling meta description
  • Use descriptive, structured page headings
  • Add internal links to related pages
  • Optimize images with alt text and proper sizing
  • Make sure your content is as helpful and useable as possible. 
  • Submit the page in Google Search Console for rank tracking

For a more in-depth look at these steps and additional SEO guidelines, view the content below. 

Optimizing Key Page Elements

Page Title (H1) & SEO Title

The page title (or H1) appears on your page, while the SEO title appears on Google’s results page. Most of the time these titles are the same or similar, but if they do differ in some way, SEO best practices for each are the same. Keep these titles under 60 characters and include your primary keyword and align it with what people are searching for. Avoid generic titles or titles that don’t tell the user about what’s on the page, such as “home page.”

  • If your primary keyword is “Nursing DNP Program,” your page title should be the same.  
  • If you use “Nursing DNP Program” in your SEO title,  it will look like this: Nursing DNP Program | Loma Linda University 

Meta Description

A meta description is a short summary of your page content that can show up in search results under the page title. All of your text needs to fit on the search results page, so write the most compelling summary you can in about 150 characters. Include the primary keyword and highlight what users will gain, such as how the page content can benefit or help users.

Meta Description Example

Write web-friendly meta descriptions with our quick guide.

Page Headings (H2, H3, H4, Etc.)

Page headings create a clear content hierarchy that helps users and search engines understand how your content is organized. To best support readability and ensure you’re telling Google or other search engines how your page is constructed, break up content with clear H2s, H3s, etc. that mirror the user’s journey. 

Keyword Choice and Placement

Choosing Keywords

Identify keywords that can be used for internal search on our websites. These are keywords that can help everyone who uses our sites find your page, including providers, staff, and patients. When identifying you keywords, be sure to:

  • Limit the total number of keywords you want to target. One is great, five is unfocused, and any more is going to make your page sound spammy (which hurts search rank).
  • Use your keywords naturally in the page’s title, URL, meta description, headings, and content. 
  • Use a research tool like Google Trends or SEMRush to find the keywords people are using.

Adding Keywords to Content

Include target keywords naturally in:

  • The first paragraph
  • At least one subheading (H2, H3, etc.)
  • Alt text for images
  • The page title and meta description

For example, if your search term is “Doctor of Physical Therapy program,” naturally mention it in the first paragraph and again in the H2, “Why Choose Our Doctor of Physical Therapy Program.” Since this search term is a key point of your page’s narrative, it makes sense to give it its own heading — both to highlight for readability and to tell Google it’s an important topic on your page. 

Internal Linking

Link to other relevant pages using descriptive, keyword-rich anchor text. For example, “explore all our graduate health programs for more options” is more helpful than “click here for more programs” and includes the key term "graduate health programs."  Writing links as such does three things: Tells the user exactly where they’re going when they click, contributes to creating keyword-rich content, and signals other highly relevant pages for the search term.

When linking to external sources, choose high-authority, trustworthy websites. For example, .gov sites or national organizations. 

Image Optimization

Alt tags are short descriptions of images that display if an image fails to load. They help screen readers convey image content to visually impaired users and give search engines context about the image, enhancing accessibility and search engine visibility. It’s also important to write short descriptive file names to help web admins find images when searching the backend of our content management systems.  

Here’s an example of an optimized image tag file name and alt text  

  • File name: llu-nursing-students-lab.jpg
  • Alt text: “LLU Nursing DNP students practicing in simulation lab” 


Compress images for faster load times using tools like TinyPNG. 

Submit to Google Search Console

After publishing or updating a page, submit the URL to Google Search Console to prompt faster indexing. This helps Google recognize changes faster and improves search visibility, especially for high-priority content like program pages, admissions updates, or event info.  

To submit to Google Search Console, create a support ticket.

What to Include in Your Ticket

  • Subject: Request to Index New/Updated Page in Google Search Console
  • Page URL: [Insert URL]
  • Update type: Please indicate if this is a new page, a major update, etc. 

Writing for the Web  

The SEO checklist above can help with the basic to-dos of SEO. But there are larger, more strategic moves you should consider when working on your content. There’s more to SEO than clean headings and keywords — SEO is about quality content that helps people.  

Select a Topic that Meets User Needs

Before you start writing a page, it’s important to understand the reasoning behind your topic. This ensures alignment with user needs and business objectives.

Consider these aspects of your topic: 

  • Competition: Is the space saturated or is there room to stand out? If competitors dominate the topic, consider how your angle, expertise, or offerings will differentiate the article.

  • Strategic gap: Does the topic fill a content gap for your service or address an underserved need? Providing a resource, perspective, or service not offered elsewhere will help your article be successful. 

  • Demand: Are users actively searching for your topic? Submit a ticket to DX and we’ll research how often users search for your topic. We can assess how difficult it will be for your article to rank and stand out from similar articles.

  • Call to action: What action, if any, should the reader take after consuming this content? If there’s something specific you want the user to do on your page, make it extremely easy to do so by providing an obvious opportunity to act. 

  • Existing content on LLUH: Do we already have content that can be updated or expanded instead of starting from scratch? If you’re working with the Digital Experience content team to develop your article, provide any existing references you’re aware of. 

Have an idea but unsure where to start? Submit a ticket to DX for help. 

Create Useful Content

  • Ensure your content is as useful as possible to the users you’re targeting. Be as straightforward and helpful as possible.
  • Answer user questions and help them take action (like contact us). 

Write Credibly

Creating really strong content comes from how credible and helpful it is. These four principles can help you write credibility into your work:

  • Experience: Use first‑hand insights, practical examples, and real observations that show you’ve genuinely engaged with the subject.
  • Expertise: Share accurate, well‑informed explanations that reflect deep knowledge and help readers understand complex topics clearly.
  • Authoritativeness: Support your claims with reputable sources, established research, or recognized industry voices to reinforce reliability.
  • Trustworthiness: Prioritize accuracy, transparency, and consistency across your content so readers feel confident relying on it.

Incorporate Keywords Naturally

  • Before adding any keywords, understand what the user is trying to accomplish. Your primary goal is to provide helpful, clear, and actionable information.

  • If a keyword aligns with the topic and flows well in a sentence or heading, include it. Avoid forcing keywords into places where they sound awkward or disrupt readability.

  • Search engines reward content that genuinely answers questions and solves problems. Keyword density matters far less than delivering useful, well-structured information. Remember, your goal is to create human content — not content created for robots and algorithms. 

Make Your Page Easy to Read

  • Limit a page to a main topic or purpose to avoid over complicating your content.
  • Write the page content to fulfill that purpose for a user.
  • Use clear headings to outline distinct sections of content.
  • Don’t overstuff a page with keywords (this can negatively impact search rank).

Keep Content Updated

  • Refresh old pages with new insights to maintain their value and visibility, such as stats, dates, links, and references. It can be helpful to set an expiration date for the page to help you remember when to update.  
  • Remove or consolidate outdated content that no longer serves a clear purpose. 

Learn More About SEO

SEO is far too vast a subject to explain briefly. While we’ve included some easy, impactful tips on this page, there’s still much more to learn. Moz is renowned for their SEO knowledge — their Beginner’s Guide to SEO is a great place to start.

Feel free to reach out to Digital Experience to discuss SEO. Or open a ticket and we’ll address your request ASAP.