One of the most common marketing goals we hear is “we want to rank higher online”. While this is a good goal to have, you need to understand how this impacts your business, and how to actually accomplish this. Ranking higher is one piece of a much bigger pie called Inbound Marketing. First, let’s examine what goes into the coveted page 1 ranking. Google currently has 200 factors they assess in their algorithm to determine page rank. Bundled, these include:

• Domain Factors
• Page-level Factors
• Site Factors
• Backlink Factors
• User Interaction
• Special Algorithm Rules
• Social Signals
• Brand Signals
• On-site Webspam Factors
• Off Page Webspam Factors

With that robust list, you can see why there is no magic pill to rank #1 or even page 1 on search results. This is also why you should be wary of “SEO experts” who guarantee page 1 results. While there is no magic way to help you rank, there are certainly a few things that improve your chances of showing up on page 1.  Focusing on keywords is the place to start.

So what are keywords? Chances are, you probably have an idea, but haven’t done much research on the topic. A keyword is a topic or phrase relevant to your business. Notice I said relevant. Searchers (your potential clients) ask questions online looking for answers to problems or they research information.

Are you an insurance organization? Yes. Do you want to attempt to rank for the term “insurance”? No.

Keywords serve the purpose of acting as the foundation for your website copy, help potential clients understand the purpose of your site, and help search engines understand the purpose of a specific page. You may be thinking, “well, I want people to know we are an insurance agency or brokerage”. Yes, you do, but you have to narrow your focus. Let’s look at an example:

You are an established insurance agency in Jacksonville, FL. Looking at the metrics today, here are some keyword options:

Insurance

110,000 monthly searches

98 difficulty

Florida Homeowner’s Insurance

2,900 monthly searches

61 difficulty

Jacksonville Homeowner’s Insurance

20 monthly searches

23 difficulty

Which one should you choose?

Some would argue “insurance” because it has the highest search volume, and some would not  choose “Jacksonville Homeowner’s Insurance” because it has too little volume. Our answer is to go after both “Florida Homeowner’s Insurance” and “Jacksonville Homeowner’s Insurance”. While the “Florida” option has a high difficulty, it is not unobtainable. The “Jacksonville” option has low search volume, but it is hyper-focused on your local market. Why neglect “Insurance”, and why title this article the way I did? A few reasons.

While it would be great to rank for “Insurance”, the majority of the 110,000 monthly searches are not  potential clients, since they are spread across the U.S. The other reason you should focus on other keywords is because of the difficulty and competition. I can almost guarantee you the insurance companies spend more in a month on SEO and PPC than you will during your entire career. So why not focus on areas where you can make an impact? You are still technically trying to rank for “insurance”, but you are being smart about it and utilizing long-tail keywords.

When you are first starting out, you absolutely want to target long-tail keywords. Here are two graphics to help bring this concept home.

In the graphic below, the plus sign shows the definition of each type of keyword, and the equals sign shows how that factors into traffic and rank.

In conclusion, try setting your sights on long-tail keywords to help boost your visibility and search rank. And remember, Insurance isn’t a keyword – at least for you.

If you are interested in learning more about keywords, digital marketing, and what to really expect with inbound marketing then please have a look at the insurance specific page on our website or contact me directly.

*Graphics credit HubSpot.