Internet Marketing

Solid SEO strategies

Create your own "secret sauce" for successful search engine optimization

By John Boudreau

Many businesses are beginning to realize that the modern consumer is using search engines like Google™, Yahoo!®, and Bing™ to research and purchase products online. Search engines are here to stay, and businesses must have a solid search engine strategy both to find new customers and retain current ones.

As far as search traffic goes, Google led the pack at the end of 2010 with approximately 72% of all searches performed. Yahoo was next with 14%, and Bing followed with 10%. Due to Google's dominance, I suggest that businesses focus on Google when developing a search engine strategy.

In this short article, I will lay out some simple strategies you can follow to formulate your agency's search engine optimization game plan. This is meant to provide you with some initial steps and is by no means exhaustive.

Keyword research

At the heart of any search engine strategy are keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that individuals type into the search engine in order to find what they are looking for. Your goal as an insurance agency owner is to understand what unique search phrases your ideal customer might type into a search engine.

There are literally thousands of potential keyword terms a searcher might use. Luckily, there are a few free tools available that will help you home in on your unique set of keywords. These tools estimate both the potential searches per month and the relative competition for each term.

For the best possible results, you should select keywords that are relatively low in competition and high in search volume. Typically, the higher the search volume the more competitive the keyword, since other businesses are looking to access that stream of traffic as well.

For example, a keyword like "auto insurance" will be much more competitive than "Rhode Island auto insurance." The geo-modifier "Rhode Island" narrows the potential number of searchers and, in turn, the overall competition. The higher the competition, the more difficult it will be to rank for a specific keyword.

Once you have decided which keywords to focus on, your Web site must be "coded" in order to weave those keywords into the title tags, content, headings, and links of each individual Web page. There is some debate over the number of keywords to inject into your content, but as a matter of course, you should focus on two to three keywords per page. It is better for you to focus on creating solid content that brings value to a Web site visitor, rather than trying to cram multiple keywords into a page.

Because it usually takes a few months for the new keywords that you have added to your site to register with the search engines, I recommend running a paid search campaign with Google AdWords. A paid search campaign will allow you to be found for specific, valuable keyword phrases that you're not ranking for organically. Using this methodology allows you to get actual keyword results instead of estimates. You will know exactly what keywords individuals searched for and how those keywords directly converted on your Web site. You can then use those keywords in your organic optimization.

Being there

Since Google puts a high value on fresh content, you should develop a concrete strategy for adding content to your site on a regular basis. Many of the top agencies have incorporated blogs into their Web site and have gotten in the habit of blogging several times a week.

I have seen this strategy work in unexpected ways, driving traffic and leads to agencies based on "long-tail" keyword phrases. Long-tail keywords are four- to five-word phrases that Web site visitors type into Google to find what they are looking for. Although these phrases are not that competitive and may be searched only two to three times per month, long-tail phrases tend to convert much higher than their more generic counterparts.

An example could be: "Does a renters policy cover my jewelry?" In this example, the searcher is interested in renters insurance and may find your site as a result of a recent blog post on that topic. I have seen up to 25% of an insurance site's traffic attributed to blog content.

One significant development with Google has been in the area of local search. Google continues to alter and refine its search algorithm. Recently, Google has taken into account the IP address of a specific searcher and will serve up geographically relevant results. For this reason, it is more important than ever to have a Google Places account which allows your business to be recognized and placed within Google Maps, as well as appear in the coveted organic search results.

Google's original search algorithm was not just based on the content of a given Web page, but on the number and quality of sites that pointed or linked to the page in question. Obviously, their algorithm has changed significantly because unscrupulous people have tried to manipulate the system. However, the concept of linking and link-building is still extremely important.

A recent story in The New York Times highlighted the "underworld" of link-building schemes. A well-known retailer was accused of employing "black hat" SEO techniques in an effort to increase its sites' rankings. Google has an entire team dedicated to discovering and putting a stop to these practices.

So where does that leave the average insurance agency? That old truism still holds true: "You get what you pay for." Outsourcing link building is a difficult task and you must choose a company with experience and integrity. If a company offers to "build" 1,000 links for you for $50, it's probably not a good idea. You will get what you pay for—and a poor investment will result in poor results. High quality links can cost anywhere from $100 to $500 per link.

A better strategy would be to generate links to your site by creating interesting and valuable content that people will want to link to and re-post. Look for guest posting opportunities; ask you current customers to link to your site in an effort to help one another's business. Make sure you're utilizing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Post meaningful comments on other blogs. All of these methods can provide relevant links back to your site. The fact is, there are no easy ways to "build" links. Take your time and grow them slowly and genuinely.

Results tracking

SEO is an iterative process. It is not a "set it and forget it" proposition. You should review the metrics of your site on a monthly basis. Google provides a great free analytics program called Google Analytics. Be sure to set up goal conversion on your site so that you know what type of traffic is converting into a lead. You can also see what specific keyword visitors have typed in and what page they were driven to prior to filling out a contact form. As I mentioned earlier, you will begin to notice which long-tail keyword terms are driving conversions. You may want to adjust your content and topics based on these trends.

One of the things I have noticed when it comes to SEO is that everyone has an opinion regarding the "special sauce" of SEO. My suggestion is that you take the time to educate yourself on the basics before you employ an outsourced team. A couple of great resources I recommend are www.seomoz.com and www.searchengineland.com. Both sites are full of solid information regarding SEO.

SEO is really more of an art than a science, but if you follow the simple steps I have outlined above, you will certainly have a much better understanding of this marketing medium and will experience the results you are hoping for.

The author

John Boudreau is COO and co-founder of Astonish Results, a digital marketing and consulting firm based in Rhode Island. He oversees the CRM, SEO/SEM, social media, and e-mail marketing strategies for the Astonish system.