Web services dictionary

Website best practices: Best practices is a blanket term that covers general thought and ideas behind how a website is organized and how interactions are made on pages. These practices influence user experience and behavior.

Search engine optimization (SEO): Search engine optimization covers topics like improving visibility and how information is displayed on search engines like Google and Bing. SEO is impacted by page descriptions, URLs, keywords and page content.

Analytics: The university uses Google analytics (now on GA4) for all website analytics. These trackers monitor user behavior and clicks on our webpages to inform business decisions. To get access to your site analytics or for other requests, contact webservices@k-state.edu.

Components: Components are reusable elements within the K-State content management system (CMS). These elements allow us to maintain brand standards across the website and are customizable. See more about components within the new template on standard-level page components and high-level page components.

Content management system (CMS): The CMS is a system that allows users to edit, store and manage a website.

Accessibilty: Also known as usability. Accessibility refers to the ease of use for users who have a non-typical interaction with the internet. These users may use some form of accessibilty tool (screen reader, captioning, etc) or need certain types of on screen considerations.

Assets: Assets within the CMS are reusable elements. They can be text blocks, forms, image galleries, etc. An asset is beneficial if you need to show the same information or form in mulitple places across a site but only want a single file to edit.