Bank Marketing: Choosing the Best Marketing Words
Words matter. Especially to the Google search algorithm.
For example, picture the page you put together to market loans to people who need a new set of wheels.
What’s that page called?
The answer is probably either “Vehicle Loans”, “Car Loans” or “Auto Loans” judging by a quick review of some great FI websites.
You may not realize it, but that’s actually a HUGE choice. One of those terms is a real dud when it comes to delivering search engine leads.
TEST YOUR MARKETING WORDS
Before naming a product or service, and certainly before titling a page, go to Google Trends. It’s a free service that helps you compare search terms.
You just enter any terms you’d like to assess. The results are relative, meaning that Google won’t tell you how many searches there are for each (Google Ads Keyword Planner helps with that) but it will tell you how they stack up against each other.
So let’s look at the difference between “Vehicle Loans”, “Car Loans” and “Auto Loans”
Google Trends shows "car loans" and "auto loans" are much more frequently searched than "vehicle loans"
The clear winner is “Car Loans”. But that isn’t really a good description of what you offer, since you have loans for trucks and vans too. Good news! “Auto Loans” is a close second. Look at the state by state breakdown and you’ll see “Auto Loans” is actually the way people in Arizona, South Dakota and Vermont prefer to search for vehicle loans.
But poor “Vehicle Loans”. It’s way down the list. So if that’s the title of your loan page, you’re squandering search engine power. A page’s title is one thing Google uses when deciding if a page matches someone’s search.
Here’s more about metrics that matter to Google, and how to move them.
MORTGAGE VERSUS HOME LOAN
You’d hate to lose lucrative home loans because of bad search engine results.
So, does your website use the term “Mortgage” or “Home Loan”? Google Trends shows the clear winner is “Mortgage” by a 9 to 1 margin.
Have a page title "Home Loans"? You may want to rethink that. "Mortgage" is a 9 to 1 more popular search term.
But this reveals one more trap to watch out for.
PLURAL VERSUS SINGULAR SEARCH TERMS
When testing terms, be sure to check both the plural and singular forms of the term. An example is “Mortgage” versus “Mortgages”. Which are people more likely to search for?
Google Trends shows people don't search for "mortgages". They search for "mortgage", singular, by a wide margin.
FOLLOW THE DATA
Bottom line, assume nothing about search terms. Bookmark Google Trends and always test your assumptions. The difference can be a dramatic lift to your search engine results!
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