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With Google’s latest SERP algorithm and email updates, higher education marketers face new challenges in optimizing their online presence and ensuring their message reaches future students. Understanding these updates and their implications is essential for maintaining your visibility and relevance in search results.
Continue reading for a rundown of what every higher ed marketer needs to know about the recent changes, as well as tips for updating your email and content strategies.
Gmail’s and Yahoo’s Email Rules Update
With AI allowing companies to create and send promotional emails at a higher volume, Google and Yahoo have changed their email policy in favor of a stricter evaluation of email content, sender reputation, and engagement metrics.
This measure aims to preserve the user experience and reduce unwanted messages.
Now, Gmail authentication measures such as DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) are vital in establishing your sender’s legitimacy. The introduction of Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) allows the inclusion of brand logos and enhances your credibility within authenticated emails.
Yahoo’s changes are similar, prioritizing user engagement and sender authentication, improving user experience, and ensuring that emails from authenticated sources successfully reach their intended recipients.
Essential Tips for Updating Your Email Strategy
To navigate the recent email changes effectively, follow these four considerations in creating your email campaigns:
While the new regulations primarily target bulk senders– that is, accounts that send over 5.000 emails per day– all professional accounts will benefit from complying with the updates.
By adhering to these regulations, your marketing and sales teams can improve email deliverability and avoid potential performance issues associated with non-compliance.
Ultimately, all you need then to optimize your emails’ deliverability is to create relevant and engaging content that resonates with your target audience and follows Google’s and Yahoo’s new guidelines.
Understanding Google’s Core Algorithm Update... and How it Applies to Higher Ed Institutions
In addition to its new email measures, Google has also changed its core algorithm, marking a shift in the search engine’s approach to ranking content. Like with the email updates, the new algorithm aims to enhance the user experience and provide more valuable search results by prioritizing firsthand experience and relevant and informative content.
The updated core algorithm emphasizes high-quality content, assessing how it demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (EEAT)– concepts that every higher education marketer should understand to ensure their content reaches the highest number of prospective students. According to Google, EEAT stands for:
The update emphasizes firsthand accounts and credible sources, making user-generated content more important than ever. Now, users can filter search results by personal accounts, such as social media posts and forum entries.
Finally, in addition to the changes in SERP ranking, users now have the option to follow specific topics, which influences the content displayed on their Google mobile homepage.
How You Can Create High-Ranking Content for Your Institution
To ensure your university continues to rank highly in the face of the latest algorithm changes, you can implement several strategies to optimize your content:
In sum, prioritize high-quality content and continuously optimize your on-page SEO elements, and you should have no major issues with the latest core algorithm update from Google.
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