Ten Tips For Effective Insurance Search Engine Marketing
Insurance Search Engine Marketing encompasses the optimization of your Insurance Website for improved exposure, traffic and Search Engine Result Pages (appearing on Google page one for example in a Search Engine Results Page or SERP). The goal for insurance organizations, be they insurance carriers, brokers or insurance agencies, is to achieve organic Google page one results, preferably position one, but at a minimum, “above the fold”. I’m using Google in this case generically, as the same goal is true for Bing and Yahoo, though Google still commands the leading market share and often receives the most attention when it comes to Insurance Search Engine Marketing. Make sure you have the top 10 tips in place to ensure you are on the right path to achieve your web marketing goals. That said, Insurance Search Engine Marketing is a highly complex initiative, and requires ongoing efforts for both on-page and off-page tactics.
- Make your top keyword phrase an H1 Tag on your Home Page (and use H1 Tags accordingly on subsequent pages).
- Optimize each insurance website page for a specific long tail keyword phrase. Don’t try to work on four or five phrases on every page.
- Optimize your page title, meta description, and meta keywords for your long tail keywords, again focusing on a specific long tail for each page.
- Integrate an insurance blog and insurance vlog feed on your home page (which presupposes you have a relevant insurance blog and vlog)
- Add ongoing video and make sure the video is tagged and optimized for load speed. Remember the “freshness” factor mentioned above.
- Make sure you are utilizing reasonable keyword density that would appeal to a human being as opposed to your perception of what a “search bot” might like to index. Figures vary, though 6% is often considered a good target. Then again, if it reads well, it will often work well.
- Use anchor links where and when possible.
- Make your back links, quality links. Place content only with reputable sites.
- Quality website content should be your credo. Large images may be attractive but don’t help you with your Insurance Search Engine Marketing goals.
- Treat content like produce, in other words, freshness counts. With Google’s recent algorithm shifts, there is greater emphasis on current content. Things like blog feeds, news releases and other up to date content will help your Insurance Search Engine Marketing Initiative.
It’s essential that insurance carriers, brokers, insurance agencies and agents perform baseline and ongoing keyword analytics. This can be accomplished with free tools such as Google AdWords or more sophisticated keyword analytic tools like Web CEO or HubSpot. It is only after this analysis has been completed that the steps above can be implemented. Once the basics have been completed, off-page Insurance Search Engine Marketing initiatives come into play including ePublishing, YouTube Video, LinkedIn, Facebook, Social Bookmarking and other Insurance Social Media Marketing programs. SEO results should be consistently monitored and measured, preferably every week, but at least once a month. Adjustments should be made periodically based upon your progress.
Insurance Search Engine Marketing offers carriers, brokers, agencies and independent agents an opportunity to level the playing field. The interesting dynamic with the web marketing paradigm shift, is that it allows any insurance organization, regardless of size or area of specialization, an opportunity to gain top rankings. Unlike PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns, which require ongoing budget and constant monitoring, organic search engine marketing initiatives fall under a plant and harvest mentality. As spring approaches, the time has come to plant the seeds for your long tail keywords so your insurance company can harvest the improved website traffic and insurance leads in the months to come.
