Ever wonder how you appear in search results when someone types into Google "find a mortgage broker?" Or other related searches?
The answer is through Search Engine Optimization or SEO, which is the practice of increasing your website traffic through organic search engine results. There are books and books on SEO tips, but it is a gradual process that you can work on in steps. We are going to focus on one practice in this post: keyword optimization.
WordStream, a Google Premier Partner, defines keyword optimization as “the act of researching analyzing and selecting the best keywords to target to drive qualified traffic from search engines to your website.” Essentially, the careful placing of keywords on your website can help you rank higher. We emphasize careful because you want to place the keywords naturally into the content of your website. For instance, you can have a sentence that says "Check out our mortgage calculator." But a sentence like "Check out our mortgage calculator for interest rates, including 30-year interest rates, 15-year interest rates, refinance, and jumbo mortgage rates, also rates for investor loans," is considered keyword overkill and can actually hurt your Google rankings. (Keywords in bold in this example). A good rule to follow is to write for the person first, and the search engines second. In other words, make sure your sentences are grammatically correct and make sense.
So how do you know which keywords to place into your website? There are ample SEO tools such as Moz, Wix SEO, and Constant Contact SEO Tools, to help you research the top performing keywords and phrases related to brokers. Google has its own keyword tool as well. Though a bit difficult to navigate, it can be extremely valuable. We used the Google Analytics Keywords Planner to do some research for you. Here are the top 30 keywords and phrases for mortgage brokers plus their anticipated monthly search volume:
- Mortgage Calculator- 1M-10M monthly searches
- Loan Calculator- 100k-1M monthly searches
- Interest Rates- 100k-1M monthly searches
- Current Mortgage Rates- 100k-1M monthly searches
- Mortgage Interest Rates- 100k-1M monthly searches
- 30 Year Interest Rates- 100k-1M monthly searches
- 15 Year Interest Rates- 100k-1M monthly searches
- Refinance Rates- 100k-1M monthly searches
- How Much Mortgage Can I Afford- 10k-100k monthly searches
- Jumbo Mortgage Rates- 10k-100k monthly searches
- Cash Out Refinance- 10k-100k monthly searches
- Mortgage Broker- 10k-100k monthly searches
- Mortgage Broker Near Me- 10k-100k monthly searches
- What is a Reverse Mortgage- 10k-100k monthly searches
- Refinance- 10k-100k monthly searches
- Hard Money Lenders- 10k-100k monthly searches
- What Are Mortgage Points- 10k-100k monthly searches
- Mortgage Advisor- 1k-10k monthly searches
- Licensed Mortgage Broker- 1k-10k monthly searches
- How to Get a Mortgage- 1k-10k monthly searches
- How to Qualify for a Mortgage- 1k-10k monthly searches
- How to Get Approved for a Mortgage- 1k-10k monthly searches
- How to Get Prequalified for a Mortgage- 1k-10k monthly searches
- How Does a Mortgage Work- 1k-10k monthly searches
- How Does Mortgage Interest Work- 1k-10k monthly searches
- Investor Loans- 1k-10k monthly searches
- Investment Property Loans- 1k-10k monthly searches
- Private Money Lenders- 1k-10k monthly searches
- Mortgage for Investment Property- 1k-10k monthly searches
- Real Estate Investment Loans- 1k-10k monthly searches
While it may seem challenging to incorporate these words into your website, we believe with only 30 minutes per week dedicated to keywords, you can substantially improve your website performance. If this seems overwhelming, tools such as Wix not only offer you SEO research help, but also will give you targeted advice for your specific website and step by step guidance if you use it as your website platform. Bonus, it is free to sign up.
We are just getting started on search engine optimization and will have more guidance in future tutorials. Subscribe to receive our marketing tutorials directly into your inbox here. Also, be sure to check out our Marketing Solutions Resource Page.
