How Search Engines Get You Noticed

Your Prospects Are Using Google. Are You?

Consumers are overwhelmingly using search engines to find specific sites on the Internet, according to a recent study by Nielsen/NetRatings. Searches in the U.S. grew 55% in the last year – up to almost 5.1 billion searches in December 2005.

And what are people searching for? Turns out the top search terms are all branded websites such as eBay. That means consumers are using search engines to find familiar websites, rather than typing the address directly into their browser.

What does this all have to do with you and your website? It means that you can’t just put a site online and expect your prospects to beat a path to it. For people to visit your site, they have to be able to find it. Being listed in a search engine will greatly increase the chances that your prospect will find you online. But considering that typing “health insurance” into Google turns up 384,000,000 results, how are you supposed to find your way to the top of the list?

Two Kinds of Searches

Search engine results are generally grouped into two categories.

Organic search results are pages that are judged by the engine to be the best matches for the terms being searched for. (On Google, the first match for “family health coverage” is a page about Health Coverage and Health Care published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.)

Paid search results are sites that have paid the engine to be listed when certain terms are searched. These results usually have a notice reading “Sponsored Links” near them. (For the same “family health coverage” search, the first paid result is Kaiser Permanente’s homepage.)

Running a paid search campaign can get very expensive, particularly in a competitive field like insurance. And given how many companies and agents are online, making your way to the top of the pile in organic listings can seem daunting, too.

Know Your Audience, Know Your Terms

The best way to get yourself listed is to encourage your audience to narrow the focus of their search terms. While being listed on the first page of results for “health insurance” probably isn’t in the cards, showing up in a search like “John Smith health insurance” may be possible.

To encourage this kind of search, you should make your audience aware of who you are, and that you have a website. If you can connect with your audience and make them aware of these facts, they’re more likely to go online and search for you instead of going online and searching for the more generic insurance.

Make sure all your marketing materials have your web address on them. This includes all advertising, in any medium. Are you putting off getting your web address printed on your business cards because you still have half a box left? It’s just not worth it to wait. Having a highly visible web site increases your potential number of prospects. This alone justifies the short-term expense of printing more cards.

Get your site linked by as many other relevant sites as possible. Your local chamber of commerce is a good place to start. Also try any professional associations that you belong to. The more places a link to your site exists, the more likely it is people will find you when looking online.

Remember: Avoid sites that are just collections of links. These sites are of little use to consumers, and being listed on one may hurt both your search ranking and your credibility. Stick to linking only to sites relevant to your business.

Be careful with paid search. If you decide to make paid search part of your marketing budget, the same advice applies: encourage your audience to keep their search focused. You can easily drive your business into bankruptcy trying to outbid large companies on search terms like “insurance.” Limit your terms by geography, or a particular niche market that you serve. But be careful: paid search can get extremely expensive, and may not yield enough qualified leads to justify the cost.

Making your site findable on a search engine is just smart business. After all, people who are searching online for insurance are by definition qualified prospects. And if they’re actively searching for your business, you are that much more likely to close the deal.

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