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BacklinksYour Key to SEO Success
John DessommesSEO Consultant
This Week’s Masters of Marketing Webinar
• Follow on Twitter using the hashtag #MastersMktg
• Ask questions in the chat box
• A recording of this presentation and slides will be posted later today at our online Agent Resource Center.
Backlinks 101
• Backlinks are created when one website links to another website.
• Backlinks are a top ranking factor for Google.
• Backlinks are either DoFollow and pass link equity or NoFollow and do not pass link equity.
• Link equity is measured by the linking page’s authority, trust, topical relevance, link placement and accessibility.
Most Common Insurance Backlinks
• Most insurance agencies have backlinks from business listings such as yelp.com and insurance directories such as cheapcarinsurance.net.
• Your agency should build these types of links. Whitespark’sinsurance agency citation list and top 50 citation sources are great places to start.
Backlink Strategies that Move the Needle
Testimonial Backlinks
• Know of local businesses (not corporations) with a website? Chances are they have a testimonials page or scrolling testimonials on their home page where you can add your review and link to your website.
Partner Backlinks
• If you have a Gold or Platinum website, you have the ability to customize your own partner pages.
• Leverage these partner pages to create backlinks for your partners and ask your partners to create a page for your agency.
NonProfit Backlinks
• Build your brand and online visibility through a local NonProfit organization.
• These organizations will typically ask for a donation to add your logo and link it to your site.
Unlinked Mentions
• An unlinked mention is simply text on a webpage that is not linked.
• If your agency has been around for years, you may have unlinked mention backlink opportunities on Google.
• Here’s how to find them. Let’s say your agency’s name is Dessommes Insurance Agency and your domain name is Dessommes.com. Go to Google and search using “Dessommes Insurance” and perform a second search using “Dessommes.com”.
• You won’t be able to gain a backlink from every result, but websites for organizations, associations, etc. may be willing to link to your site.
Scholarship Backlinks
• Create a scholarship page on your website.
• Reach out to high schools, trade schools, universities and colleges.
• Check out this guide for strategy details.
HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
• Journalists contact you to write for media outlets.
• Sign up as a source.
• Make the pitch.
• Only respond to requests that are relevant to your expertise.
• Here’s a blog about HARO link building with some great tips.
.Edu Resource Backlinks• Email colleges and universities to include your agency link
on their resources pages.
• Search on Google using:
site:.edu insurance
site:.edu insurance resources
site:.edu insurance inurl:links
site:.edu insurance “other sites”
Chamber of Commerce Backlinks
• Become a member of your local chamber of commerce.
• Membership will usually include a link to your site.
• Memberships are typically annual and start at a couple hundred dollars.
Local Business Neighbor Backlinks
• Chances are you have non-corporate small businesses surrounding your agency.
• You probably know some of these small business owners. Use your partners page to create a backlink and ask them to reciprocate.
Twitter Guest Post Backlinks• Find recent guest posts on Twitter to identify opportunities.
• Search for these:
insurance guest post
insurance guest author
insurance write for us
insurance guest article
Business Insurance Client Backlinks
• If you’re an agency that insures businesses, Google your clients and view their website for opportunities.
• If opportunities are found, leverage your partners page to build backlinks.
The SEO Guidebook for Insurance Agents
• If you’d like to learn more about SEO, my colleague Dylan Brooks created an in-depth guidebook for insurance agents.
• This guidebook includes the basics about SEO, on-site SEO (strategy, keywords, content, blogging) and off-site SEO (business listings, reviews, links).
• The guidebook can be downloaded here.
Next Masters of Marketing Webinar
• Karly Baker will host the next Masters of Marketing on Thursday November 16th at 12PM Central Time.
• Karly’s topic will be “How Do You Know If Your Website Needs to be Updated?” Click here to sign up.
