Are bio pages an important factor in Search Engine Optimization?
The simple answer is yes!
As we sift through the web site statistics of our clients’ Google Analytics accounts, we recognize one thing reoccurring: people are looking for, and looking at, the “who” behind businesses. Time after time, some of the top search terms and most frequently viewed pages on a web site are the names and bios of a company’s staff. Surprised? We certainly were.
This trend certainly holds true for our clients who are lawyers, doctors, or individuals who provide a service. For example, looking at Stride’s web site statistics, over 600 keyword combinations led users to our web site last year. All of our staff members’ names can be found in the top 25 most frequently searched terms.
Even when a company is selling a product, or the staff is less visible to the end consumer, bio pages remain highly viewed pages.
What does this mean for you and your company web site? It may be time to review and polish up the “who” of your business:
How to design better bio pages on your website?
Take a fresh look at individual staff member bios.
Would you say they’re interesting and up-to-date? Relevant and unique? Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and include information that they’d connect with. Highlight interesting parts of a person’s career experience or personal life, if appropriate, and put the most relevant information to your audience first.
Make sure bio photos are appealing and fairly current.
Are they shot in an appropriate setting? While you may not need the traditionally-staged headshot, or even a photo taken by a professional, it’s important that your staff photos reflect the same tone, quality, and level of sophistication as your business.
Photos lend an element of authenticity and trustworthiness to your bios, and by extension, your online presence. Often, we hear that business owners feel squeamish about including a photo of themselves on their company’s web site. But what better way to convey trust and create a connection with your web site visitor than to have an engaging picture of the smiling owner?
Make sure you have a substantial amount of keywords in the copy of your bios.
This is a great area of your site to naturally incorporate keywords that are relevant to your business and your customers. Incorporating keywords in the text of your web site, not just the coding, is excellent SEO practice.
Make sure to mention the physical location of your business in the copy as well.
This is especially helpful if your target audience is local or regional. Including the extent and proximity of the area you serve — being sure to mention states, cities, towns, county names — will help your search results, as search engines show preference to location-specific keywords.
Feel like the “who” page of your web site could use a touch of “you”? We’d be happy to help. Either through photography, copywriting, tweaking your site layout, or a little of all three, we can make sure you’re ready for your online close-up.
