Office of Marketing and Communications

Website Addresses

Website addresses, URLs, and subdomains

A website address is key for many reasons. Readability, searchability, memory and recall, short to type are considerations when choosing an address, but also a URL address at the Ohio State domain lends credibility.

  • Long, cumbersome URLs are visually unattractive, hard to remember, difficult to type in correctly, and reduce potential traffic, which in turn reduces overall visibility.
  • Subdomains and keywords in URLs help a visitor context and assists search engines in identifying keywords.
  • QR codes are great to reduce the need for users to type a long URL, but they should only be used for mobile-responsive sites, and should always accompany a URL to lend credibility.
  • Shorter, more concise, and recognizable URLs can be created with the Ohio State URL shortener. go.osu.edu

Ohio State websites older than 2016 used a site naming structure: "department_abbreviation.ohio-state.edu/specific_program" but this page can provide updated instructions for naming your website.

Guidance for osu.edu subdomains

The following guidance was created by the Web Governance Council.

1.    The Office of Technology and Digital Innovation at The Ohio State University extend a service in providing Domain Name Service (DNS) hosting. Websites are primarily issued for subdomains in the osu.edu domain. Such usage identifies the website as part of the Ohio State system and enables the university to govern DNS address management effectively.
2.    The approval of subdomains falls to the Office of Marketing and Communications. This includes subdomains of not only osu.edu URLs but any URL under the control of The Ohio State University.
3.    The following types of subdomains will not be approved. This list may be expanded upon by the Web Governance Council, and final approval rests with this council:
 

  • Honorifics, any name that is or is a derivative of an employee name, unless such honorific naming complies with the Naming University Spaces and Entities policy
  • Inappropriate words or combinations of letters and numbers that are known to suggest inappropriate words;
  • Certain words or combinations of letters or numbers that may be reserved due to their common external use or common language usage; and
  • Words or combinations of letters or numbers that may create confusion with existing subdomains.

 

4.    Ohio State subdomain requests must follow the following guidelines. Failure to comply may result in the removal of hosting services or corrective actions, as determined by the Web Governance Council.

  • Subdomains must be categorized under the specific unit(s) owning the website and must also be authorized by the technical manager.
  • May not redirect to external websites not managed by Ohio State.
  • May not be names of faculty or staff unless it is an approved honorific name.
  • Must not be used as vanity URL redirects.

What is the process for requesting an osu.edu subdomain?

  1. Faculty, staff members or student organizations may select a name.osu.edu URL that is both descriptive and relevant to services provided by their web site and meets the domain policy guidance above.
  2. URLs will be reviewed using the following priority: Academic Area/Research Area, University Initiative, and finally Business Unit.
  3. Faculty, staff members or student organizations fill out the online request form in ServiceNow.
  4. E-mail notification is sent to Web Governance Council for general review within 24 hours of the initial request
  5. Objections to the requested URL are posted by Web Governance Council members to the Service Now Request Ticket within ten working days.
    1. If there are no objections the requester is asked to provide written sign off by department chair, director, dean or supervisor
    2. If there are no objections the URL is forwarded to Hostmaster for processing
  6. Any member of the Web Governance Council raises objections to a requested URL, the following steps are taken:
    1. A meeting is scheduled with the requester following objections to the requested URL
    2. The Service Now Request Ticket is rejected with supporting reason.
    3. A dynamic sub-team is formed to meet with the requester consisting of the Web Policy Committee Chair and committee members raising objections
    4. Alternate names are suggested for the requester to use
    5. If a compromise cannot be met during this meeting the requester is informed that a full vote by the Web Policy Committee will be necessary to move the process forward
    6. E-mail notification of URL dispute is forwarded to the requester's department chair, director, dean or supervisor
  7. Web Governance Council members vote on disputed URL (either online or during a committee meeting)
  8. Applicants denied a specific URL by the Web Governance Council  may appeal the action to the CIO.
  9. Applicants denied a specific URL based on branding goals may appeal the action to University Relations.

Web Governance Council

The Web Governance Council advises guidance and policy for Ohio State websites. The goal of the group is to provide for workable, efficient solutions that maintain the reputation of Ohio State's brand and credibility. The council is made up of representatives from OCIO, OMC, and marketing and IT staff from colleges and units. The council annually reviews the policy with the Ohio State UX Community of Practice.

 

Questions about website addresses and domains

As a service to the University, the Office of Information Technology provides Domain Name Service (DNS) hosting. All groups that use University IP space for must follow the Sonnet Network Policy, including the section concerning the registering of all devices attached to the network. (All domain requests should be sent to the Web Policy Committee.)

(updated 03/08/2024)