How to Optimize your SEO settings

This information should be entered in the SEO Settings section of the Administration Console. Watch a video on how to optimize your SEO settings for your IWB website.

Page Title

• Should be the Main Keyword Phrase (kp)
• Must 60-70 characters long (including spaces)
• The main kp is normally 3-4 words long in the format “Geo-target Line of Business”, e.g. Dallas Auto Insurance, Cheap Dallas Home Insurance, Dallas TX Contractors Insurance
• Only insert the main kp. The Website automatically adds “ - Company Name” at the end

Site Description

• Must be 150-160 characters (including spaces)
• Must include main kp
• Must describe the website, what it offers, what the company specializes in
• Must be a full sentence, i.e. humans read this, so it must make sense, with a full stop at the end, appropriate capitalizations etc.
• Can include areas covered, e.g. cities, counties, state
• Do not include address, hours of business

Page Keywords

Note: The top 3 search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing do not take page keywords (meta keywords) into account when ranking a website. As such, these are not important if you want to rank in the top 3. However the smaller search engines may still use this data, so it's best to add some.

• Must be at least 10-15 keywords
• Must be comma delimited
• First keyword must be main kp
• Can include derivatives of main kp e.g. home insurance, home, insurance etc.
• Each keyword must be present somewhere on the homepage, be it in the main body or navigation.
• Can include areas covered
• Do not include zipcodes, area codes

Read more about how this is reflected on Google's Search Engine Results page.

Off-site Optimization

One of the two main components of SEO is off-site optimization. Off-site optimization involves putting links on other websites to your own website, otherwise known as backlinking or inbound links. The other is on-site optimization.

• Social networking sites. You can create Twitter, Facebook and Linked In profiles or any other type that is popular, and then link those back to your homepage.
• Commenting on blogs. You can comment on other insurance blogs, or blogs in general and put your web address in the comment.
• Google likes fresh content. One way to do that is to blog on your website. You can find this in the Admin Console under Communication Settings. You can have links that link to other pages in your website. You can blog about interesting news articles, community news, financial news, any promotions your business is holding. Watch a video on how to blog on your IWB website.

On-Site Optimization

One of the two main components of SEO is on-site optimization.  This involves optimizing your site by using keyword phrases both in the source code and the content of your website. It is crucial to have unique, keyword-rich, relevant content on your homepage. Google puts heavy emphasis on website content and this is one of the easier requirements to meet. 

• Choosing a main keyword phrase (kp) and sticking to it. This phrase must have a geo-target and a line of business associated with it, e.g. Dallas car insurance, cheap Dallas home insurance, Dallas TX business insurance.
• Optimize SEO Settings on your website. Your page title, page description and the first phrase in the page keywords section in the Admin Console should all contain your main kp.
• Embolden important keywords. This will alert the visitor and Google what is most important on your page. 
• Make sure all words in your meta keywords appear somewhere in the homepage. Navigation links and footers can include the phrases.
• The kp must appear in at least 3 places. Your main kp must appear on your homepage 3-5 times. This can be as a heading, in the footer and the body of the content.
• Add an H1 heading tag containing your main kp. In the Admin Console, under Site Content Editor, select Home Page from the drop down menu. In the HTML side type your heading like this:  <h1> Dallas Auto Insurance </h1>
  The main kp is closer to the top of the page and Google will read that first. Google reads text from top to bottom, so it is crucial to have your most important information close to the top of the page. Alt tags for images are also very important (contact your webmaster or IWB Support for help on this).
• Add your main kp in the footer. For the footer go to www.reliableins.net to see an example. In the Admin Console, under Site Content Editor select Site Footer. Type in your main kp, Dallas Auto Insurance. To make it a link do the following:
• Click the chain link icon on the toolbar within the content editor to open the Hyperlink Manager.
• In the URL textbox type in the URL.
• In the Link Text textbox type in the link's description.
• Select New Window in the Target drop down box. 
• Once completed, click the Ok button.
  

The other main component is off-site optimization. This involves creating inbound links to your website.