How are higher education institutions defining their meta-description tags?

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of meta-tags by the leading higher educational institutions (HEIs). It explores the various kinds of messages conveyed by HEIs in the meta-description tags of their website homepage. It further examines that whether the messages conveyed by HEIs are in accordance with the prospective students’ perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

A list of leading 200 universities was procured from the website of The Times Higher Education. Meta-keywords and meta-description tags of the HEIs websites’ homepage were drawn using online software. Descriptive analysis of the meta-tags was conducted to analyze their use by HEIs. Quantitative content analysis tool was applied to understand the messages conveyed by HEIs.

Findings

Meta-description tags are defined by more than half (58.79 percent), whereas meta-keywords are written by approximately a quarter (27.47 percent) of HEIs on their homepage. While defining their meta-description tags, HEIs frequently used words related to the themes such as institution, focus area, academic programs, image building, geography, student group and environment.

Practical implications

It will help the HEIs to understand the importance of meta-tags. Moreover, HEIs will be able to define their meta-description tags better.

Originality/value

This is the first research paper to explore and analyze the meta-tags of the HEIs websites.

Citation

Taneja, G. (2018), "How are higher education institutions defining their meta-description tags?", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 32 No. 7, pp. 1293-1306. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-08-2017-0201