Illinois.edu Breaks Into the Top Five Search Terms

What a difference a year makes. According to analytics data from Public Affairs, “illinois.edu” was the fifth most popular search term for Internet users trying to find the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign between October 6, 2008 and November 6, 2008. For the same period one year ago, “illinois.edu” wasn't even on the list.

“University of illinois” was the most popular search term during these periods, as it has been for several years. The appearance of “illinois.edu” in just a year's time shows that the university's branding efforts are paying off.  "This is quantitative evidence that user behaviors have changed," says Public Affairs Brand Manager Joel Steinfeldt. "If you expanded the list of search terms from a year ago out to one hundred, you still wouldn't find ‘illinois.edu.’ For it to jump to the number five spot in one year is remarkable."

In addition, “illinois.edu” accounted for 4% of all new visits to the university's home Web site, which debuted at the new address the summer of 2008.

More information on the university's branding efforts can be found here: http://illinois.edu/goto/brand