Sneak peek: E-expectations of college-bound adult students

The E-expectations research program is in its 11^th year with new data about prospective students’ perceptions of and preferences for digital recruitment resources as they conduct their college research. These studies have been largely focused on first-time college-bound students and occasionally their parents. We are pleased to announce that, through a partnership with Campus Explorer, we are able to expand the E-expectations research series to adults seeking higher education options.

Look for opportunities to download the full report through our opt-in communications.

Our latest web-based survey was facilitated through Campus Explorer in April 2016, and the results provide some great insights into social media use by college-bound adults along with their views on text messages, email habits and preferences, and use of paid advertisements.

For this post, I’m focusing on results related to the ways that adult prospects find college websites and the implications for search engine optimization strategies.  Like high school students, search engines lead the way to your website (88% of bachelor’s degree-seekers, 86% of certificate-seekers and 81% of associate’s degree-seekers).

How do you find a college website?

• More than four in five respondents seeking certificates, associate’s, and bachelor’s degrees use search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing when finding college websites.
• Statistically significant differences at the .05 level were observed in terms of linking to websites from email between associate’s and bachelor’s as well as between associate’s and certificate.

We followed up with a question probing the specific ways by which they approach the search engine process. Branded search (using some or all of the name of the school) is the leading method for each of our segments. Adult learners are also likely to use the name of the school in combination with a specific program. This implies that they may be seeking to get directly to program content and bypass site navigation through the home page.

Adult learners are also using the name of a specific program (e.g., nursing program), the location where they wish to attend schools (e.g., universities in Colorado) or a combination of program name and location (e.g., nursing programs in Colorado).

Which of these options reflects the ways you would use a search engine to find college websites?

• Half or more of the respondents across intended degree level search for institutions by name when using search engines to find college websites.
• There was a significant difference (at the .01 level) between adults seeking bachelor’s degree and those seeking a certificate regarding their use of the name of the school when using a search engines to find college websites.

This information provides important clues to college and university web development and marketing teams as they develop content strategies for their websites, especially academic program pages. Working to ensure that the content is rich with keywords that highlight the full name of the institution and location are basic strategies that will help elevate organic search results. More importantly, creating effective pages that not only inform users, but also inspire and direct them to take action should be priority goals in terms of ongoing site development and measurement.

If your institution serves traditional student markets as well as adult learners, it would be wise to include images and testimonials from current adult students to reassure them that they’ll fit into the campus culture.

Take a look through my previous posts to see additional information on search engine optimization strategies and look to our partners at Campus Explorer for their take on the survey results. As always, I’m happy to talk with you directly about your markets, website, and content strategies.

In addition, I hope you will register for our free webinar on July 12:

How to Reach Prospective Adult Students: Insights From 2016 E-Expectations Research
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
2:00-3:00 p.m. Eastern
We’ll talk about these research findings and new ways to connect with college-bound adults. Learn more and register.