Digital Marketing in Higher Education: Evaluating Teacher Training and Education Institution Websites in Indonesia
Sitti Roskina Mas *
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
Ikhfan Haris
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
Linda Linda
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
Bela Vista Gani
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
Nirmawati Tahir
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
Putri Nabila Sumito
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
Mohammad Arkan Lauma
Faculty of Science Education, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Aims: To comparatively evaluate the technical quality and cross-device user experience of the websites of 12 major public teacher training and education institutions in Indonesia on mobile and desktop devices, and to assess their effectiveness as tools for communication and digital educational service marketing.
Methodology: This study used a descriptive-comparative quantitative approach. The sample comprised the official websites of 12 major public teacher training and education institutions in Indonesia. Data were collected using Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI) to audit key parameters on mobile and desktop interfaces. The technical quality metrics included performance, accessibility, best practices, and SEO, while the Core Web Vitals metrics included Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction to Next Paint (INP), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Data were analysed using descriptive categorisation, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, Student’s paired-samples t-test for parametric technical dimensions, and the Wilcoxon signed-rank test for non-parametric Core Web Vitals (CWV) metrics on the homepage (This URL) and across all pages (Origin).
Results: The paired-samples t-test showed significant differences between desktop and mobile platforms in Performance (p = 0.007) and Best Practices (p = 0.029), whereas Accessibility and SEO did not differ significantly (p = 0.339). The desktop versions performed better in loading speed (mean LCP = 2.342 seconds) and interaction responsiveness (mean INP = 54.92 ms), but showed poorer visual stability (mean CLS = 0.110). In contrast, the mobile versions showed better visual stability (mean CLS = 0.004) but slower interaction responsiveness (mean INP = 210.1 ms) and page loading (mean LCP = 2.792 seconds), potentially reducing the effectiveness of the institutions’ digital marketing communication.
Conclusion: Although the websites were structurally better optimised to support final-stage transactional activities on desktop devices, significant performance vulnerabilities remained on mobile platforms, potentially reducing their effectiveness as communication and marketing tools for educational services.
Keywords: Websites, LPTK, PageSpeed Insights, technical quality, user experience, educational service marketing