Growth Hacking 101 for Research Networking (for VIVO Implementation & Dev call)

Clinical and Transla,onal Science Ins,tute / CTSI at the University of California, San Francisco

Growth Hacking 101 for Research Networking

for the VIVO Implementa0on and Development Call ·∙ Oct 16, 2014

Anirvan Cha7erjee, CTSI at UC San Francisco

h7p://profiles.ucsf.edu/

UCSF Profiles

• Beta launched Dec 2009 –  ~300 visits a month, or ~10 visits a day

• First month post-‐launch Oct 2010 –  ~5,000 visits a month, or ~160 visits a day

• Most recent month September 2014 –  ~100,000 visits a month, or ~3,300 visits a day

Visits per month to UCSF Profiles

-

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

100,000 D

ec-0

9

Feb-

10

Apr

-10

Jun-

10

Aug

-10

Oct

-10

Dec

-10

Feb-

11

Apr

-11

Jun-

11

Aug

-11

Oct

-11

Dec

-11

Feb-

12

Apr

-12

Jun-

12

Aug

-12

Oct

-12

Dec

-12

Feb-

13

Apr

-13

Jun-

13

Aug

-13

Oct

-13

Dec

-13

Feb-

14

Apr

-14

Jun-

14

Aug

-14

UCSF Profiles traffic, by geographic locaLon

UCSF campus

13%

California 37% USA

30%

International 20%

UCSF Profiles traffic, by medium

Search engines

83%

UCSF Referrals

7%

External Referrals

2%

Direct/Unknown

8%


1.  Use web analy,cs to measure baselines

2.  Put researcher profile pages front and center 3.  Get indexed by search engines

4.  Tweak URLs, metadata to a7ract searchers

5.  Build inbound links to establish reputa,on

STEP 1. WEB ANALYTICS TO MEASURE BASELINES

Photo: Tim Ellis, h7p://flic.kr/p/849hSN, used under CC BY-‐NC

✓ACTION ITEM 1A: Install Google AnalyLcs, set up on every page

✓ACTION ITEM 1B: Learn how to use it

• Online help at google.com/analy,cs/learn

• Read “Web Analy,cs 2.0” by Kaushik

Segment on-‐campus vs. off-‐campus traffic

New Visitors 85%

Returning Visitors 15%

Visits by Type, Sep 2014

Segment on-‐campus vs. off-‐campus traffic

New Visitor 28%


Visits by Type, within UCSF Campus

New Visitor 80%


Visits by Type, outside UCSF Campus

✓ACTION ITEM 1C: Create “on-‐campus” & “off-‐campus” segments 1.  Figure out the relevant network names by going to Audience >

Technology > Network

2.  Create an advanced segment that includes that service provider, and one that excludes it

3.  Use segments to understand traffic pa7erns

✓ACTION ITEM 1D: Register with Google Webmaster Tools

1.  Go to google.com/webmasters/tools

2.  Follow the direc,ons to register your site 3.  See how your site’s indexed on Google

STEP 2. IF YOU CARE ABOUT TRAFFIC, IGNORE YOUR HOME PAGE

What % of UCSF Profiles visits begin on the home page?

2.1%

(as of September 2014)

What % of 2+ minute on-‐campus UCSF Profiles visits begin on the home page?

21.6%

(as of September 2014)

Where do visits start? (Red = Visits star0ng on home page)

-

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

Visits that start in on home page

Where do visits start? (Green = visits NOT star0ng on home page)

-

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

Visits that start in on home page Visits that DON'T start on home page

So where ARE visitors going, if not to the home page?

Focus on what people actually see

Photo: Toms Bauģis, h7p://flic.kr/p/ai1nc, used under CC BY

✓ACTION ITEM 2: Ignore your home page (focus on profile pages)

STEP 3. GET INDEXED BY SEARCH ENGINES

Photo: Catherine Roy, h7p://flic.kr/p/aW72h4, used under CC BY-‐NC-‐ND

First, can search engines see your pages?

Photo: Michael Keith, h7p://flic.kr/p/ccqVcf, used under CC BY-‐NC-‐SA

✓ACTION ITEM 3: Make sure search engines can see your pages 1.  Tweak your robots.txt so search engines can

see all your pages (www.robotstxt.org)

2.  Create a dynamically-‐generated sitemap of all your profile pages (www.sitemaps.org)

3.  Men,on your sitemap in your robots.txt, and add it to Google Webmaster Tools

4.  Wait a day, validate that this all works via Google Webmaster Tools

STEP 4. TWEAK URLS, METADATA TO ATTRACT SEARCHERS

Google search results

title

URL

description/snippet

Which search result would you rather click on?

Profiles 1:

VIVO at Cornell:

Profiles 2 (with custom URLs)

✓ACTION ITEM 4A: Improve the copy on your page Ltles & descripLons

1.  Make the page <,tle> on profile pages short and globally unique

2.  Make <meta name="descrip,on”> on profile pages readable and descrip,ve (e.g. “Jane Doe’s profile, publica,ons, research topics, and co-‐authors”)

Bonus professional metadata on Google

✓ACTION ITEM 4B: Add extra professional metadata

• Follow the direc,ons at schema.org and schema.org/Person to add people-‐oriented HTML metadata to your pages

• Use google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets to test to see if you got your syntax right

Which URL do you trust more?

profiles.ucsf.edu/eric.meeks

scholars.duke.edu/display/per085776

✓ACTION ITEM 4C: Use beker URLs. Include people’s names.

• Pre7y URL should be the “real” URL, not just a redirect

• All old or alterna,ve profile URLs should do a 301 redirect to the pre7y URL

MulLple versions of the same URL?

• yoursite.edu/display/n1234 • yoursite.edu/display/n1234?blah-‐blah-‐blah • yoursite.edu/en,ty?ne,d=ac12

• yoursite.edu/print/n1234

✓ACTION ITEM 4D: Prevent indexing of mulLple versions of your page

• If you have mul,ple versions of your page getng indexed, tell search engines which version is the main one by using the rel=canonical canonical link element

STEP 5. GET INBOUND LINKS

Photo: Blake Pa7erson, h7p://flic.kr/p/5w4pn9, used under CC BY

Campus news stories

Campus directory

Campus resource lists and guides

Departmental profiles

NarraLve bios

APIs enable data reuse, encourage adopLon

• Built-‐in APIs let users reuse your data • How to publicize/support APIs

–  Document API on a developer-‐centric website –  Online discussion group –  Outreach to campus groups

• Reusing data = more incen,ve to have clean data

• Ask for a link back from API-‐enhanced pages

Profiles data is syndicated by websites and apps across campus

•  UCSF Mobile App for iOS and Android

•  UCSF Mobile Website

•  Advance •  UCSF Cardiology •  UCSF Center for AIDS Research

•  UCSF Division of Gastroenterology •  UCSF Division of Geriatrics

•  UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center

•  UCSF Division of HIV/AIDS •  UCSF Division of Hospital Medicine, SFGH

•  UCSF Division of Nephrology •  UCSF Occupa,onal & Environmental

Medicine

•  UCSF Dept. of Otolaryngology •  UCSF Division of Rheumatology

•  UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital •  UCSF Directory

•  UCSF Dept. of Emergency Medicine

•  UCSF Dept. of Epidemiology & Biosta,s,cs

•  UCSF Medical Center

•  UCSF Dept. of Medicine

✓ACTION ITEM 4: Get websites at your insLtuLon to link to you

• Get campus sites to link to your homepage as a trusted campus resource

• Get campus sites to link to individual profiles from departmental profiles, news stories, directory, etc.

• Encourage reuse of your data via APIs, and ask for a link back as a7ribu,on (they save @me and money, you get links)

• These links may not send traffic, but will help SEO

Virtuous Circle: SEO —> Media menLons —> SEO


1.  Use web analy,cs to measure baselines

2.  Put researcher profile pages front and center

3.  Get indexed by search engines

4.  Tweak URLs, metadata to a7ract searchers

5.  Build inbound links to establish reputa,on

Anirvan Chakerjee, CTSI at UCSF [email protected]

@anirvan

Growth Hacking 101 for Research Networking (for VIVO Implementation & Dev call)

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