22 Hoosier Banker November 2016 MARKETING / SALES Your bank website has a sleek new design that is also mobilefriendly; a huge win! Your shiny new site that passes Google’s mobilefriendly test should surely provide a boost in organic visibility, heavy traffic and multiple leads, right? Not exactly. SEOVersus Design Unfortunately there is a disconnect between website design and search engine optimization (SEO) best practices. Creatives may have expertise in crafting beautiful designs, but it is often the case that SEO is an afterthought. This is a shame, since prospects are not likely to find your bank’s lovely site ahead of your competitors if your site doesn’t play nice with search engines. While user experience should be the top priority for your bank website, there are ample ways to effectively integrate user experience with SEO. The following are the top three SEO mistakes most commonly found across financial institution websites: 1. Location pages. Your branch network may not play the same role it once did since the explosion of mobile banking adoption. However, each physical branch location is an enormous asset to your financial institution’s online presence. Far too often, a bank’s website will use a single page to list all its branch locations, or worse yet a dynamic map widget. Instead, create individual pages for each branch, to ensure your website is receiving visibility for online searches related to banking in each state, county, city and town you serve. 2. Thin content. Usually banks limit the content of their website pages to 100 or 200 words, yet content is king. In fact the average word length for first-page results in Google is nearly 2,000 words. This may sound completely unnecessary or even detrimental, but study after study has confirmed that longer content is shared more often, ranks higher in search engines, receives more social media shares, and converts better. At a minimum, include at least 500 words of unique content (not borrowed) on each page of your site. An easy way to lengthen content on product pages is to include frequently asked questions. Also keep in mind that users who are Top Three SEO Mistakes Bank Websites Make About the Author Brian Reilly is a consultant for BankBound.com, the digital marketing division of PrintMail Solutions Inc. The author can be reached at 215-860-4250, ext. 114, email: Brian.Reilly@printmailsolutions.com. PrintMail Solutions Inc. is an associate member of the Indiana Bankers Association.
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