You’re not the only insurance or financial advisor in your area, and a large part of your business comes from getting out there and promoting yourself. One of the best ways to do this is through digital marketing. You may already know that your website is like your billboard on the internet. But like a billboard, which must be seen by thousands of drivers every day in order to be effective, you need consistent traffic to your website.

That’s why Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is so important. It drives traffic to your website through specific keywords relatable to you and your business embedded within the content and metadata on your website.

If that was a mouthful for you, check out these three essential elements to help your Google rankings.

Keyword Density.

Your keywords are the terms you expect your intended audience to use when searching for your services. For example, a financial advisor who works in Anchorage, Alaska, would want to include the keywords “financial advisor in Anchorage” within his web content. Keyword density refers to the percentage of occurrence of these keywords in relation to the text in the rest of your website. In addition to the text on your site, keywords should be included in page headings, titles, descriptions, tags, and even the specific URL’s of each page. The right keyword density will help your website be relevant to the search engines and improve its rankings. Caution: overuse of keywords is actually considered a form of spam and can hurt your rankings or get you penalized by the search engines.

Social Media Integration.

Google is now looking to social media to decide whether a particular website or page has authority and relevance. If your content is being shared via social media, the search engines will take notice. So be sure to build your social media presence, and encourage your friends, family, and clients to share your content with their friends. It is best to use the best practices for each different platform—and they will all have different criteria as to what is considered an “optimized” profile. Unsure of where to begin? Download our guide on 10 Things Every Advisor Should Know About Facebook to get you started on what you need to do.

Error Elimination.

As your website ages, it may develop problems such as duplicated content, pages that have been deleted improperly, internal links that are broken or do not lead anywhere, duplicated page titles, and duplicated or non-existent page descriptions. All of these problems can hurt your SEO rankings, so it’s important NOT to view your website as a set-it-up-and-forget-about-it prospect. Regularly maintain your website by using diagnostic software to catch these errors, and remove or repair them to keep your SEO rankings high. It is easier to keep your website updated when you are consistently adding new and relevant content to your pages. This could include any seminars or company events on an Events page, or include maintaining a blog with relevant content to supplement your credibility.

It’s also important to remember that your rankings also depend on your competitors. Search Engine Optimization for insurance and financial advisors is becoming more popular and competitive. As this happens, getting to the top of search results will be much more difficult. You’ll need to out-work them.

Remember, no SEO strategy is foolproof. Search engines can be picky, and their algorithms for determining search results often change. All of the above points combined together will give you the best shot at turning up in search results. However, there is no way to guarantee SEO results. If a SEO company guarantees you page one rankings, you should be very leery of doing business with them.

If you’re interested to find out more ways to optimize your website and increase your Google rankings, download our complimentary guide. It will address other factors to consider when you begin your SEO strategy.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this? No problem. CreativeOne offers digital marketing solutions. Our digital marketing experts will look through your website to determine if, and where, there are opportunities for improvement, before developing a personalized and detailed plan to make it more than an online business card using custom websites, lead capture programs and an on-site SEO audit. We also offer digital marketing services to help you optimize your social media profiles through our digital marketing program, Social Media Elite. Our team uses proven strategies and best practices to ensure your plan is completed in a timely fashion. Digital marketing can be a time-consuming endeavor, but with CreativeOne’s help, our team will ensure your social media profiles are optimized.