Learn about Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is how new clients find you online. Every time you type something into Google, SEO determines the pages that are listed in search results. 

By optimizing your SEO on your website, you can help new clients find you faster online. 

SEO & AgentMethods 

AgentMethods websites are built with search engines in mind - they are easily crawled and indexed by search engines. But ultimately, successful SEO will come down to the customization you put into your website as well as factors about your business outside of your website. 

SEO strategy beyond what is built into the AgentMethods platform falls outside of the scope of AgentMethods support. Search engine technology frequently changes and every agent's marketing needs are unique. While we're unable to provide specific SEO advice, there are some simple activities we recommend you do to dramatically increase your site’s results in search engines. 

Want to learn more about SEO? Watch this webinar we created specifically for insurance agents:

Website SEO Basics 

Company Name 

We show this as part of the title tag on each page. Make sure your company name is something your customers recognize and will search for. This makes sure you will get found when someone refers you to someone else. Often your company name is simply your name (if you people know of you individually) or your agency name (if people know of your agency). 

One common mistake we see is agents trying to invent a brand on their website that doesn’t exist elsewhere - this makes it almost impossible for your customers to find you online. If you already have an established company name, use it on your website. 

Show Your Address 

Search results are hyper-local. You have a dramatically higher chance of being shown to someone near you than you do to someone across the country. Make sure you have your current address published and visible on your site. 

Set up Google Analytics 

This free tool helps you keep track of your website traffic so you can monitor traffic changes over time. Instructions here. 

Verify Your Site with Google Search Console 

This allows you to control how your site is displayed in search results and gives you insights into how you are being found. You can also direct Google to your site's built-in site map via the Search Console.

Redirect Moved Pages

If you move a page or come to AgentMethods from another platform with different page URLs, create redirects to point visitors from the old page to the new one. This is especially helpful for sites where your old platform used generic page names like “page1.html” as AgentMethods uses keyword rich URLs that provide additional ranking factors. 

Page-Specific Optimization

For a detailed guide on how to edit Page SEO Settings within the website builder, click here.

Keywords 

Pick a handful of keywords or phrases that you want your website to rank for, such as "best insurance Sonoma County".  Use each page to target a small number of related keywords. Find ways to write in these keywords naturally into the text of your website. If you want to target more keywords, consider adding new content. 

You can also add-in keywords to the Meta Keywords section of the Page Personalization area of the website builder. 

Page Title 

Give each page a unique title that includes the keyword and clearly shows what the page is about. Having the keyword you are targeting in a page’s title is the single biggest factor you can influence to show search engines what a page is about. 

Meta Description 

While Meta Descriptions aren’t generally used as a ranking factor, they do get shown in search results. Think about the description as a 1-2 sentence ad for why someone would want to see this content. Make the description clear, concise, and catchy. This will lead to a higher number of people clicking on your page.

You can write your Meta Description in the  Page Personalization area of the website builder. 

Content 

It all comes down to content! Make sure your website has good, informative, and well written content. For pages that are really important to you, aim for 500 or more words. Our content library gives you a great starting point. But if you want to really shine in search results, identify key pages that you modify or rewrite to make the pages unique, keyword rich, and more relevant to you, your audience, and your target keywords. This is especially important for your home page. 

Claim Your Online Listings

Online web directories are a valuable way to build more website backlinks and point more users to your business. We recommend claiming listings on the following online directories.

Google Business Profile

Google's Business Profile service is a key part of their mapping, review, and local search optimization service. A well-maintained Google Business Profile will help improve your SEO and bring more customers to your website. 

For a detailed guide on how to claim your Google Business Profile, click here.  

Yelp

Online directories like Yelp can be a valuable way to build your online web presence and build backlinks to your website (not to mention generate more leads)! 

For a detailed guide on how to claim your Yelp listing, click here.

Submit Sitemap and Robots.txt Files 

Search engines (such as Google) are constantly indexing and crawling any new website that comes up on the internet. However, sometimes it may index pages in error or take a long time to show new pages in search results. 

To speed up the process, you can submit Robots.txt and sitemap files to Google. These files tell Google what pages on your website to index and how your website is structured. 

You can view our guides on how to submit those files here.

When Will I Start Seeing Results?

Remember: SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.

Getting a practice’s website to the top of search results for a given keyword phrase for Google, Yahoo & Bing is not instantaneous. It takes time to crawl and index the information on your site. Search engines also rank websites based on multiple factors, and no one digital marketing method alone will rocket your website up to the top of search results and keep it there indefinitely. 

Whether you are starting from scratch with a new site, launching a redesign, or making minor adjustments , it can take six months for your site to get fully re-crawled and added to the search engine’s index. If your domain is brand new or has little authority (i.e. other sites linking to it), it can take even longer.  

What accounts for variations in performance?

There are a few reasons for variation in the speed of SEO success.

Pre-existing factors 

Some agents come to us with an already well defined online presence and established online profiles. Agents who join AgentMethods with a strong online reputation and established business may see results faster than agents who are just starting out. New agents tend to not have as many reviews, directory listings, and mentions elsewhere. These agents will generally see their rankings move up more quickly because they are already indexed and recognized by search engines. 

Your market 

The market you sell to, both in terms of product and demographics, defines your competition. A large market generally means more competition, while a small market means less opportunity. Every agent's market is different, which means that what works or happens for one agent may not be the best course of action for you. 

Following SEO Best Practices

Search engine rankings do not happen by accident. Take advantage of the resources we provide to help you understand how SEO works and to position your site to help search engines recognize how to rank your content. 

Claiming Online Listings and Backlinks

Simply put, agents who do the work see results, and agents who don't do the work, don't see results. If search engine optimization is an important part of your strategy, make sure you invest the time in educating yourself and optimizing your site. Setting up Google Business pages, social media, Yelp, and other online listings all help boost your overall SEO.