We prefer to cover stories where Cambridge is beating Oxford, but apparently our city trails the Other Place when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO).
Cambridge-based Andrew Cock-Starkey, founder of new networking and learning group, Optimisey, has been looking at how the rival cities compare when it comes to SEO, and the results do not make great reading.
“It started out as a fun idea,” he explained. “My wife, Claire, is from Oxford and we always have some friendly rivalry about the Boat Race but they’re both great cities.
“SEO is all about things you can do to your website to help search engines – like Google – discover and rank your pages when people are looking for what you do or sell. I wanted to see which city ‘does’ SEO better.”
The SEO Showdown pitted seven similar institutions or groups from each city against one another comparing factors key to SEO such as links, site speed and use of meta data.
“Some sites are doing this stuff pretty well but others are missing even quite basic things,” Cock-Starkey said.
“Most business haven’t claimed their free listing on Bing – Microsoft’s search engine. A ten minute job that can make a big difference.
“Oxford Punting’s website made poor use of meta data and their page headings were messy too. During my tests it was also painfully slow on a mobile phone which, considering many of their potential customers are on the move, looking for things to do, is a real shame for them.
“Good SEO doesn’t have to be complicated. ‘SEO’ tends to conjure ideas of spotty nerds, on a laptop in the basement but – as this study shows – if you can just get the basics right you can elevate yourself above a lot of your competition.”
The study compared search terms including Cambridge and Oxford Universities, City Rowing Clubs, Cambridge and Oxford United football teams and even Cambridge’s Pink Floyd against Oxford’s Radiohead.
Oxford came out on top in four of the seven pairings, Cambridge won two and one was tied.
– Andrew is aiming to help Cambridge businesses improve their understanding of SEO and connect with SEO specialists during a series of free networking and learning events in the city – the first of which is in October. Find out more at optimisey.com . technology