Here are a few basic search engine optimization (SEO) tips that can help your agency Web site become more visible to top search engines and benefit from a higher page ranking.
Although you might think you know basic SEO, we all need reminders of its importance to our business success. Remember that search engines rank individual Web site pages as well. These little things might not mean much by themselves, but together they add up to results that can really help your search engine ranking.
While you might think SEO is important for your Web site, ranking is important for each individual page. Each page has its own rank in the search engines; the entire site is only one element in the ranking.
The three strongest elements to a page are its Domain Name, Title Tag, and Back Links. Depending on the level of competition for your search phrase, an adjustment to any of these can increase your page anywhere from a few up to hundreds of spots.
- Domain Name: Include keywords, if possible; however, don’t; make it “spammy” with too much hyphenation! Be sure to include the word “insurance” in your agency Web site. For niche marketing sites, a good rule of thumb is no more than two hyphens. If you’re creating a niche site for florist shop insurance, and all the “good” domain names are taken, you consider florist-shop-insurance.com; however, I wouldn’t recommend the-very-best-florist-shop-insurance.com.
- Title Tag: Put your most important descriptive words at the front, followed with a compelling reason to click on the link. The title tag for my site is “Steve Anderson: Insurance agency technology presentations, consulting, products and resources.” The title tag is generally the most prominent, clickable element in the search results Design it to help you rank higher and get more clicks than the other listings on the page.
- Internal Backlinks: Backlinks, also known as incoming links or inbound links, form an important element for good SEO. The number of other sites that link to your site is one indication of the popularity or importance of your site to a search engine. However, remember that search engines see Web pages, not Web sites. This means you should include backlinks on every page of your site linking to other pages within the site. “Anchor text” is the descriptive labeling of the hyperlink as it appears on the Web page when you mouse over the link. Anchor text matters! Your anchor text should include keyword-rich words and phrases, not just a URL. Make sure that the link you create looks normal. In other words, they shouldn’t all say exactly the same thing.
- Page Name: Another important SEO element is the name of each Web site page. Many sites we review have a generic and/or non-descriptive page name. For example, www.mydomain.com/?3z42.php vs. www.mydomain.com/workers-compensation-insurance-tips.html. Every page on your site should have a name that contains keywords that accurately describes the information contained on that particular page. Pay attention to the appropriate keywords you want to be found for and make sure the page that contains that information has the keywords in its page name.
- Meta Description: Don’t ignore the Meta Description. Although it won’t affect the search results as much in the past, it’s still an important element. This is the second feature anyone will notice about your site, before they actually arrive on the page. Use keyword rich content with compelling text to encourage them to click on that search engine listing to visit your site.
- Meta Keywords: Meta Keywords aren’t used for ranking, but you should add them to each page so that you can track what the page theme is ranking for. Some folks are concerned that using Meta Keywords in this way would allow others to “steal’ your keywords; however, t frankly there are so many other tools out there that they don't have to view your meta keywords to find out what you are trying to rank that page for.
As you continue to work on maximizing your Internet presence, making sure you have the basics correct is essential. Each of these tips might not impact your search rankings by itself; however together they add up to results that can really help your agency be more “findable” in Web searches.
Whoever manages and maintains your agency site should already have included each of these basic SEO elements. If these elements aren’t part of your site, I suggest that you look for a new Web designer or bring this operation in-house and do it yourself.