Writing for Search Algorithms: Changing Students' Composing Literacies for Online Findability

Type of Presentation

Individual paper/presentation (20 minute presentation)

Target Audience

Higher Education

Location

PARB 127

Abstract

This presentation will discuss how students learned to develop and analyze writing at the intersection of algorithmic functions, rhetorical constructs in digital spaces, and engagement as measured through basic analytics on their personal capstone websites. Specifically, the presentation makes explicit how students developed competencies situating writing as a digital business asset that could be measured through the data generated by analytics. This presentation will discuss the methods students used to write, analyze, and measure the success of their content; additionally, this presentation will discuss best practices and outcomes of writing, SEO, analytics, and measurement

Presentation Description

In this presentation, attendees will learn about how search engine have become the first "reader" an online content producer must attract. With this in mind, the session covers the basics of search engine algorithms and explains how student writing practices and digital literacies were transformed to create content that better drives traffic to their portfolio websites.

Session Goals

This presentation will:

  • demonstrate the changing nature of how content is found
  • discuss what students need to know to increase their findability on the web
  • frame ideas for faculty on how to include writing for search engines in classes

Keywords

search engine optimization, online content development, algorithms, website analytics

Publication Type and Release Option

Presentation (Open Access)

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Feb 21st, 3:15 PM Feb 21st, 4:30 PM

Writing for Search Algorithms: Changing Students' Composing Literacies for Online Findability

PARB 127

This presentation will discuss how students learned to develop and analyze writing at the intersection of algorithmic functions, rhetorical constructs in digital spaces, and engagement as measured through basic analytics on their personal capstone websites. Specifically, the presentation makes explicit how students developed competencies situating writing as a digital business asset that could be measured through the data generated by analytics. This presentation will discuss the methods students used to write, analyze, and measure the success of their content; additionally, this presentation will discuss best practices and outcomes of writing, SEO, analytics, and measurement