Search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial digital marketing tool that can drive traffic to your insurance company website. Insurance SEO is the practice of making your web content visible to search engines like Google. By incorporating on- and off-page SEO factors, Google will be able to more accurately index and catalog your site, then deliver relevant results to search users. Another valuable tool is conversion rate optimization (CRO), which serves to improve the conversion of site visitors into actual customers. By merging SEO with CRO practices, insurance businesses can gain advantages over their competitors and experience significant improvements in online business generation. At their core, SEO and CRO share foundational elements that make merging the two practices highly effective in driving business growth.
SEO and CRO: The Basics
SEO has long been used by digital marketers to improve the search visibility of web pages. In a very real sense, SEO is a brand-building endeavor, helping people find your website through online searches by creating awareness. Insurance SEO professionals use a variety of tools and techniques to achieve favorable search visibility. These include both on- and off-page features like:
- Targeted keywords and key phrases in page content, titles, and headers
- Inbound and outbound links to authoritative sources
- Streamlined code to ensure fast page loading speeds and perfect functionality across devices
- The use of rich, multifaceted content that blends text, images, and graphics
- Use of meta tags in page descriptions and image alt text
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) has a different goal; here, the concept is designed to get the most out of the site visiting experience by increasing its value to visitors. Ideally, site visitors will “convert”, or take a desired action like signing up for a newsletter, making a phone call, or becoming customers.
By merging the two online marketing practices, insurance businesses not only gain traffic to their websites, but optimize the number of visitors who take the next step. Although the goals of SEO and CRO differ, they are both centered on the value of informative, relevant, and detailed content to produce the desired results.
Content: Merging SEO and CRO
In the early days of the World Wide Web, website developers relied almost solely on keywords to get the attention of primitive search engines. The more instances of the keyword on a given page, the more likely search engines would pick up on that page. This practice was known as “keyword stuffing”.
Keyword stuffing no longer has a place in modern web development. As search engines have grown more sophisticated, getting their attention and achieving favorable search results placement has required far more powerful tools. The most powerful of these tools is web content developed with an eye toward quality. Best of all, optimizing the conversion rate also depends on quality content – effectively merging the two practices.
What is quality web content? In simple terms, it is the text, videos, and images on a given webpage that tell your company’s story, share details about your products and services, and gives visitors the details they need to make informed purchasing decisions. Search engines analyze web content with a complex algorithm that looks for:
- Authority – how accurate and professional a piece of web content is.
- Relevance – how the web content relates to search queries.
- Rich detail – how informative and complete the content is.
- Keywords and key phrases, including “long tail” phrases that search engine users are likely to type or speak when finding information about a business and its products or services.
At its best, CRO practices attempt to give site visitors the details they need to take the next step – to convert — whether that is to sign up for an email list or to make a purchase. Ultimately, the goal of CRO is to make a page visit a valuable experience. To optimize that experience, providing visitors with details falls on quality web content to deliver results. By merging the two insurance SEO practices, digital marketers can get more people to land on a given webpage, then guide them toward making purchasing decisions. When SEO and CRO work hand in hand, your agency will gain more online traffic and help to develop a steady stream of new customers. These practices serve to drive business growth and revenue, making it a smart business decision to incorporate both into your online marketing strategies.
About Neilson Marketing Services
Since 1988, Neilson Marketing Services has been implementing innovative marketing solutions and strategies for our clients in all areas of marketing. Contact us today at (866) 816-1849 to put our talent, expertise, and vast resources to work for you. Let’s make things happen, together!
