Google visited Ashton Sixth Form College to meet with students who are currently studying IT.

Scott Jones from the Google Digital Garage returned to Ashton to speak about search engine optimisation (SEO).

Students are currently studying their full-time vocational course in IT. This particular course prepares students for a career within the digital technology sector providing them with the foundation of knowledge and skills to allow them to progress further in their careers. As part of their course, students also complete a work placement to ensure they also gain the practical employability skills required to stand out in the technology sector. 

As part of their course, students dramatically improve their understanding of website development. The department regularly invite guest speakers in to the classroom to allow them to learn from huge multinational companies such as Google. Google is the company responsible for developing the world's most popular search engine on the internet. In November of 2018, Google held a staggering 89.1% of the search engine market share in the UK alone (www.statista.com).

Scott began with the basics of search engine optimisation and explored the way businesses and companies can use SEO in order to gain a higher position on the search engine. He also explained that while SEO can be used in order to increase visibility, SEO is also about creating quality content that truly reflects the brand or company, ensuring that people who want to find information can find it quickly and efficiently. 

Find out more about studying IT here.