Academic Affairs Web Alliance

Attendees

Joe Butts, Jahcqui Guardiola, Sachae Soso, Bryant Tonkin

Topics

Google Search Appliance

USF recently purchased a Google Search Appliance (GSA) which will replace the current SharePoint-powered solution. Please review the guidelines and suggestions created by University Relations, which is overseeing the GSA administration/configuration.

A number of other items to consider when focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO):

• Re-use keywords (appropriately) throughout the document/site
• meta keyword tags are virtually obsolete
• be sure to include jargon/domain specific/colloquial terms (as appropriate) within the document/site
• search engines do not archive/crawl links within JavaScript

With respect to your specific department, contact the University Webmaster to configure/access:

• KeyMatch (best guess for results)
• usage reports

Changes in Technology at USF

USF has likely entered one of the greatest periods of tech-related change in the University’s history, largely due to budget reduction activities and changes in organizational structure. In the coming months we should expect to see:

• consolidation of technology equipment purchases
• benefits from economies of scale
• combined efforts between silos/discrete units

Miscellaneous Topics

Webmaster Resources

UWebD began as a mailing list for University Webmasters to collaborate and discuss relevant topics. The members have since split between the original mailing list and a social network; good content can be found on both:

• UWebD mailing list
• UWebD network on Ning

Web Page Speed Analysis

Although it does not give a perfect estimate, the Web Page Analyzer does a reasonable job of pulling down all content (HTML, CSS, JS, images, IFRAMEs) and calculating an approximate download time for a single web page.