Nibbler SEO audit for www.columbia.edu
Summary
Overall9.1
The overall score for this website.
Accessibility9.6
How accessible the website is to mobile and disabled users.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Experience9.2
How satisfying the website is likely to be for users.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Marketing9.0
How well marketed, and popular the website is.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Technology8.6
How well designed and built the website is.
The following tests contribute to this score:
Nibbler tested a sample of 5 pages from this website at 14:36 on 10 Apr 2024 (BST).
Top priorities for website improvement
- Enable GZIP compression on your web server or in your application. (read more)
- Make sure that all the pages of this website include a meta description. If you don't include one, Google will choose a sample of text from the page to appear in the search engine result. By including a meta description, you can control how your search engine result will appear. (read more)
- Add width and height attributes to all image tags. The width and height you specify should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use CSS. (read more)
Server behaviour6.3
404 page
Compression
- This website handles missing pages correctly by sending a 404 HTTP status code.
- This website was not served using GZIP encoding. GZIP compression is widely supported and reduces the load time of a web page.
- Enable GZIP compression on your web server or in your application.
- 3 of the pages of this website follow the best practice of using a permanent (HTTP 301) redirect between URLs with/without trailing slashes. These pages are ideal.
- Adding or removing a trailing slash to one of the URLs of this site returns an error page (404). This is OK as no content is being duplicated, but visitors might try browsing to the pages of this website with or without a trailing slash. Ideally, the alternate URL should redirect to the correct page.
- Add a 301 redirect from the other version to the canonical URL.
- This website uses a temporary (HTTP 302) redirect from http://columbia.edu to http://www.columbia.edu. This is OK, but a permanent (HTTP 301) redirect is considered best practice.
- If possible, change the temporary redirect to a permanent (HTTP 301) redirect.
Meta tags6.8
- All pages include at least some metadata, but only 60.0% of pages have a description meta tag. The description meta data is important as it appears on Google's search result pages.
- Make sure that all the pages of this website include a meta description. If you don't include one, Google will choose a sample of text from the page to appear in the search engine result. By including a meta description, you can control how your search engine result will appear.
Meta Tags (name attribute)
| Page URL | Name | Content |
| www.columbia.edu/ | facebook-domain-verification | vnyp5u37vfshlzjdrxdfyhysss4eun |
| www.columbia.edu/ | generator | Drupal 8 (https://www.drupal.org) |
| www.columbia.edu/ | mobileoptimized | width |
| www.columbia.edu/ | handheldfriendly | true |
| www.columbia.edu/ | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover |
| www.columbia.edu/content/ | facebook-domain-verification | vnyp5u37vfshlzjdrxdfyhysss4eun |
| www.columbia.edu/content/ | generator | Drupal 8 (https://www.drupal.org) |
| www.columbia.edu/content/ | mobileoptimized | width |
| www.columbia.edu/content/ | handheldfriendly | true |
| www.columbia.edu/content/ | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | description | For more than 250 years, Columbia has been a leader in higher education in the nation and around the world. At the core of our wide range of academic inquiry is the commitment to attract and engage the best minds in pursuit of greater human understanding, pioneering discoveries, and service to society. |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | facebook-domain-verification | vnyp5u37vfshlzjdrxdfyhysss4eun |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | generator | Drupal 8 (https://www.drupal.org) |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | mobileoptimized | width |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | handheldfriendly | true |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | description | Columbia offers an outstanding array of academic programs through 3 undergraduate schools, 13 graduate schools, a world-renowned medical center, 25 libraries, and more than 100 research centers. |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | facebook-domain-verification | vnyp5u37vfshlzjdrxdfyhysss4eun |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | generator | Drupal 8 (https://www.drupal.org) |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | mobileoptimized | width |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | handheldfriendly | true |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | description | Columbia has a long and distinguished history in the discovery of knowledge. We work to foster the continuation of those creative endeavors and to promote an environment that sustains the highest standards of scholarship, learning, and safety. |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | facebook-domain-verification | vnyp5u37vfshlzjdrxdfyhysss4eun |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | generator | Drupal 8 (https://www.drupal.org) |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | mobileoptimized | width |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | handheldfriendly | true |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | viewport | width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover |
Meta Tags (http-equiv attribute)
| Page URL | Name | Content |
| www.columbia.edu/ | X-UA-Compatible | IE=edge |
| www.columbia.edu/content/ | X-UA-Compatible | IE=edge |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | X-UA-Compatible | IE=edge |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | X-UA-Compatible | IE=edge |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | X-UA-Compatible | IE=edge |
Headings8.6
- All pages were found to use defined headings. This is excellent as it allows visitors and search engines to summarise the content of webpages quickly. Correctly defined headings aid accessibility and are particularly important for search engine optimisation.
- A large number headings (29.0%) were found to be empty, or incorrectly defined. Empty or invalid headings are of no value to search engines and make a website less accessible.
- Make sure all headings have content which is relevant to the page of content.
Page headings detail
Images8.8
58% of images have a clearly defined size
90 images are being resized by the browser
- Some images (42.0%) don't have defined sizes using width and height attributes in the HTML. These attributes are optional, but strongly recommended as they help the browser arrange the page more quickly.
- Add width and height attributes to all image tags. The width and height you specify should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use CSS.
Non Explicitly Sized Images
- Add width and height attributes to all image tags. The width and height you specify should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use CSS.
- 90 images are being stretched in the browser.
- The width and height you specify in an image tag should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use the CSS width and height properties.
Stretched Images
- The width and height you specify in an image tag should be the same as the source image. If you want to resize an image in the browser, use the CSS width and height properties.
Amount of content9.0
Rendering Chart...
- This website has an average of 669 words per page. The amount of content on a website has been shown to correlate with its search engine ranking.
Amount of content discovered
| Page | Characters | Words |
| www.columbia.edu/ | 7307 | 945 |
| www.columbia.edu/content/ | 7307 | 945 |
| www.columbia.edu/content/admissions | 2794 | 387 |
| www.columbia.edu/content/academics | 2918 | 385 |
| www.columbia.edu/content/research | 5424 | 684 |
Internal links9.3
- 6 links are weakly described. Common weak links include 'click here' and 'read more'. These links fail to describe the content the link points to.
- Consider using descriptive words or phrases (e.g. 'News', 'September 2012 financial results') in your anchor tag to benefit search engine optimisation.
Weak link text
- Consider using descriptive words or phrases (e.g. 'News', 'September 2012 financial results') in your anchor tag to benefit search engine optimisation.
Mobile10.0
- All of this website appears to be optimised for viewing on a mobile phone or a tablet.
Media specific CSS detected
Analytics10.0
100% of pages use analytics
Multiple Analytics Solutions
- Every page in this website is using some form of analytics software. This is excellent and should allow for a complete analysis of visitor behaviour.
Analytics Software Found
| Software Name |
| Google Analytics |
Page titles10.0
100% of pages have defined titles
0% of page titles are weak
- All pages were found to use page titles appropriately. Page titles appear in search results and at the top of the browser's window when visiting the site. Appropriate page titles are particularly important for search engine optimisation.
Printability10.0
100% of pages are optimised for printing
- All of this website appears to be optimised for printing (using CSS).
Media specific CSS detected
URL format10.0
Every URL is well written
- This website uses appropriate web addresses (URLs) throughout. This is excellent and will help search engine placement, usability and the marketability of this website.
Freshness10.0
Last updated March 13, 2024
- It looks like this website was last updated on Wednesday, 13 March 2024. This is good because visitors perceive up-to-date websites as more credible. Websites that are updated regularly are also spidered by search engines more often.
- To find this information we used the last modified dates reported by this website's server in addition to looking for dates written on each page.
All dates found
| Date | File | Source |
| 28/03/2018 | www.columbia.edu/.../cu-blue-logo.svg | Last modified header |
| 10/01/2018 | www.columbia.edu/.../cu-header.svg | Last modified header |
| 13/03/2024 | www.columbia.edu/.../css_JM1iitgRRpbfOTlSKsGgJggoMqTZj15mTfVP5F8Ml6M.css | Last modified header |
| 13/03/2024 | www.columbia.edu/.../css_u-WrKLkwc7FfOkDhXU_ofL9YAAUAvZhoLOzp75zeQj8.css | Last modified header |
| 13/03/2024 | www.columbia.edu/.../css_RvlH2sdo5LPXNh6QZX-YMwcrF-CL4sKRhTlEc0ZYSi0.css | Last modified header |
| 13/03/2024 | www.columbia.edu/.../css_Tb3P1RKdk7kJQaLbacEATyKkwusH3ZYPTd7wUJjp9fI.css | Last modified header |
Twitteri
This website does not appear to be associated with a Twitter account.
- There was a problem checking the Twitter accounts associated with this website.
Fast, branded website audits
Insites creates professional website reports that can be shared with your clients.
How does Insites compare?
Nibbler | Insites | |
|---|---|---|
| Tests | 17 fixed tests | 50+ testsCovers SEO, SEM, Google My Business, reviews, social media and much more |
| Add your branding | No | Yes |
| Export & share | No | PDF & link |
| Lead generation | No | Embed on your site |
| Competitor audits | No | Yes |
| Test as a batch | No | Yes |
| Integrations + API | No | Yes |
| Multi-lingual | No | 20+ languages |
| Try it free |