Early last year, Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) in Michigan prioritized an assessment of how its website appeared in organic search results. The findings were eye-opening: The college ranked for internal human resources topics and employee wellness initiatives, but not for academic programs or workforce training opportunities.
In essence, the institution was hiding in plain sight.
This disconnect between what the college offers and how it shows up online has real implications. While the college ranked number one for branded searches — including the full name and acronym — those results most likely reached people already familiar with the college. To attract prospective students searching for program-specific content like “nursing programs near me” or “welding certificates Grand Rapids,” the college needed to make a strategic shift.
Why SEO matters at the executive level
An institution’s visibility in search results reflects its brand clarity, audience alignment and market competitiveness. Without a focused search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, you miss prospective students (or customers) who are actively searching for services you offer, but they don’t associate with your name; and you lose market share to competitors who invest in aligning digital presence with search behavior.
This article is part of a monthly series provided by the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR), an affiliated council of the American Association of Community Colleges.
This is not merely a marketing issue. It is a business development opportunity and requires institutional commitment and cross-functional collaboration.
“Good leaders think in the form of issue, impact, solution,” Nick LeRoy shared on his website. LeRoy is an SEO consultant who has worked with companies such as Keurig Dr Pepper and Apartments.com. “If you can’t talk to them in this manner, you won’t get results.”
Aligning SEO with strategic priorities
Throughout 2024, GRCC aligned SEO efforts with the marketing and communications strategy, which is aligned with the institutional goals. The marketing and communications team developed a tiered list of academic and workforce programs, then started auditing and optimizing those program pages based on how people search.
For example, a college may offer an associate degree in nursing, but prospective students may not be searching specifically for “AND.” They may use terms like “nursing schools” or “RN programs near me.” Updating web content to reflect the phrases people are using helps improve search ranking and meet prospective students (or customers) where they are.
“In SEO agencies, we get too caught up in the SEO and forget that there’s a client,” Anthony Barone, with SEO specialist agency Studio Hawk, shared on the weekly video series Whiteboard Friday, created by the SEO software company Moz. “Understand what they want in order to align your SEO strategy with their goals.”
The GRCC team also migrated internal employee content behind a login and phased out a public-facing blog that competed with the main website in search results. This streamlined the college’s online presence and improved clarity for search engines and users alike.
Measuring what matters
GRCC’s SEO strategy, like most everything the college does, is grounded in performance metrics, not vanity numbers. The strategy tracks:
- Total indexed keywords and keywords ranking on page one of Google, which increased from 1,800 to 4,159 in less than a year after implementing SEO.
- Top keywords by position (non-branded), which indicates what keywords GRCC is showing up for that are unrelated to our brand name. For example, “welding classes near me,” “medical assistant programs” or “culinary education.”
- Top keywords by volume, which shows the high traffic keywords GRCC shows up for.
- Local pack (location-based phrases) and “People Also Ask” results, which provide insight into local search behavior and related content needs, which is crucial for a community college.
SEO as a reflection of strategy
At its core, SEO is about listening and understanding. Creating an SEO strategy helps organizations understand what their target audiences need, how they search for it and whether or not they find you. It is a brand strategy tool as much as it is a digital one.
To senior leaders, here is the takeaway: SEO is not a side project or something the intern does. It deserves leadership attention, strategic investment (some money, but mostly time) and alignment with institutional goals. Visibility is not just a marketing win — it’s a competitive advantage.
