This paper presents the first systematic investigation into the search engine optimization practices of major contract cheating websites in the United States. From a business perspective, visibility in organic search engine results is considered one of the top client recruitment tools. The current understanding of student recruitment strategies by…

Purpose: Universities play an important role in the promotion and implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This study aims to examine the visibility of information about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the websites of Spanish and major international universities, by means of a quantitative and qualitative analysis…

The study was carried out with 45 web pages reached as a result of scanning the relevant keywords in the 'Google' search engine, eliminating repetitive web pages, and applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Content analysis, readability calculation, and statistical analyses of the data obtained from web-based information sources were…

This study sought to understand the relationship between undergraduate yield and an institution's internet presence. Data were collected from 2018 "U.S. News & World Report" national university rankings, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Database (IPEDS), and summer 2018 (June-August) SEMrush data, a web metrics database housing…

Using data from seven R1 and R2 universities in Ohio, this study seeks to determine the extent of usage of full-text e-journal articles stored across multiple platforms. Specifically, COUNTER 5 data is presented from five major academic journal publishers (Taylor & Francis, SAGE, Oxford, Wiley, and Springer), looking at usage within each of…

This study examined the types of online resources preservice teachers used when planning for their literacy instruction and whether the identified resources are research based. An online survey was distributed to preservice teachers enrolled in a literacy education course. Results reveal that participants (N = 77) use a mix of research-based…

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to replicate a study from 2007, which found that student users trust in Google's ability to rank results more than in their own relevance judgements. Method: In a between-subjects experiment using eye-tracking methodology, participants (n=25) worked on search tasks where the results ranking on search…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of meta-tags by the leading higher educational institutions (HEIs). It explores the various kinds of messages conveyed by HEIs in the meta-description tags of their website homepage. It further examines that whether the messages conveyed by HEIs are in accordance with the prospective…

Digital marketing practice continues to grow along with the need for a qualified workforce. This paper presents a course design intended to teach students how to use relevant digital marketing tools and give them an end-to-end experience and managerial control over key resources. Students leave the course with real-world skills and items for their…

Twenty-first century undergraduates demand quick access to authoritative sources that are easily read without challenging technical and disciplinary language. They expect comprehensible natural language--exactly like Google's--which can be read without concentrating for long periods of time. Integrating Google and Google Scholar in library…

This paper aims to analyze the affordances of the digital technology (DT) Google+. The analysis process was informed by the theory of affordances. Accordingly, this paper highlighted the different types of affordances of Google+ features, i.e., functional, cognitive, physical, sensory, emotional, and social. In addition, the authors reviewed…

The rapid evolution of the Internet, technological innovation and increased flow of information (information overload) has modernized academic libraries and it is difficult to keep up with the virtual delivery of scholarly information. It is to be relevant within this digital economy ecosystem, improvement as change is vital. The purpose of this…

This longitudinal study at a large public university surveyed students of the 2008 freshmen cohort over four years about their use of websites and library resources for their research papers. The three goals of the study were to track changes in reported research behavior over time, to see if students' reported source choices were associated with…

In this article, we discuss the dynamics that led to viewing of 18 five-minute videos, created as part of a business dynamics course and made freely available on Internet. Over a period of five years, the videos were watched 2,740 times in 80 countries. The goal of our research was to understand what dynamics drove the viewership. We collected…

In this article, C. Frederick Risinger begins by describing insights from an article entitled, "Trapped in the Bubble." It reported on a doctoral student's study (along with other students and faculty in Indiana University's School of Informatics) which demonstrated that the more people rely on social media such as Facebook, Twitter,…