SEO for Political Campaign Candidate Websites

Although political campaign strategy is a hobby of mine, my full-time career is in the field of Search Engine Optimization, Internet Marketing and Online Social Media.  All three of those topics are becoming more and more applicable to political campaigns of all sizes, and even candidates in local elections are starting to realize that simply having a static website doesn’t capitalize on all of the different ways to connect with voters online.

Political Campaign Website SEO and Keyword Phrases

Search Engine Optimization–or S.E.O. for short–is the art and science of building a website that is more likely to show up in search engine results when web surfers type in relevant searches.  There are two main components of SEO: onpage efforts (stuff you do ON your website) and offpage efforts (stuff you do on OTHER websites).  Both are equally important, but before we talk about them, let’s focus on your targeted keywords first.

As an election candidate, you want to make sure that your political campaign website shows up in the search engine results for a specific subset of web surfers: namely, people in your district who will have the opportunity to vote for you.  When putting together your SEO plan, the first step is to figure out what “keywords” and “keyword phrases” these people will likely be using to search for information about your political race online.

Ranking In Search Engines For Your Own Name

The most obvious keyword phrase that you’ll want your political campaign website to rank highly for in the search engines is your own name.  If people in your district type your name into a Google, Yahoo or Bing search and your site is listed on the third page of results, they will likely never get to your webpage at all.  Virtually no one goes beyond the first page of search engine results when they type in a given keyword phrase.

So, how do you make sure that your political campaign website shows up high in the search engine results for a search on your name?  The first step is to make sure that your domain name–or website address–has your name in it.  My own personal campaign website, www.PhilVanTreuren.com, didn’t take long at all to rank number in the search engines for a query on my name.

If you have a more common name, like “Bob Smith” for example, you aren’t going to be able to get your hands on a domain that consists of your name only.  Instead, consider lengthening it to something like “BobSmithForCouncil.com” or something similar.  Just make sure that your name is spelled out in the domain, since that is a very powerful component that search engine algorithms use to rank sites for given keyword phrases.

One important thing to keep in mind, though: DO NOT make your domain name too long, or it will become confusing for people to remember and could even hurt you in the search results. “BobSmithForClevleandCityCouncil.com” is far too lengthy.

On-Page SEO and Keywords for Political Campaign Websites

Wanting to rank high in the search engine results for a query of your own name is pretty obvious, but how do you define other keyword phrases that voters might use to look for information on your race?  In addition to the candidate’s name, you will want to make sure your site ranks high for terms having to do with your state, county, district or city and the office you are seeking.

When designing a local election candidate’s website, I always try to weave my targeted keyword phrases into the text throughout the site–especially on the homepage.  The inclusion of your targeted keywords in the content of your campaign website is another way to help it naturally rank well in the search engines.

While you should try to write for your readers and NOT for the search engines, make sure that you keep SEO in mind when adding content to your website.  Be sure to mention the name of the office you are seeking, the name of you city or town, and any other relevant phrases that you think people might type when searching for information about your race.

Additionally, when setting the Meta Title and Meta Descriptions for your site, make extra effort to include as many of those targeted keyword phrases there, as well.  A homepage Meta Title that reads something along the lines of “Bob Jones for Cleveland City Council” is great, since it mentions the candidate’s name, the city he is running in, and the position he is running for.

Off-Page SEO and Linkbuilding for Political Campaign Websites

Having a political candidate webpage that is optimized perfectly for the keyword phrases you would like to rank for is great, but it won’t do you much good unless you do some off-page search engine optimization, as well.  Off-page optimization has one very important component: linkbuilding, or obtaining links on other websites that point back to your website.

The more links that are pointing back to your campaign website from other domains, the higher search engines will rank your site for its relevant keyword phrases.  While the average website only has a few external links pointing back at it, older and more popular site can amass tens of thousands of links, which makes for a lot of “link juice” and higher search engine rankings.

You don’t need to worry about getting tens of thousands of external links pointing back at your political campaign website, but you do want to try to get as many as you can.  The “low hanging fruit” of linkbuilding are local web directories, community websites and other online resources that will give you a free link if you provide them with your website information.

Additionally, you can contact local bloggers and request that they link back to your website on theirs.  In order to make the request more appealing, you might want to offer to write a guest post on their blog in which you can link back to your website, or ask if they would be interested in doing an online interview about your campaign.

There are many different ways to build links back to your political campaign site, and with a little work you should be able to get dozens of backlinks within a few weeks.  As your backlinks grow, you will notice your website slowly climb in the search engines for relevant keyword phrases–which will mean more visitors, volunteers, donors and votes for you on election day.

Related Political Campaign & Local Election Strategies:

1. Squidoo for Political Campaign & Election Websites
2. WordPress for Political Campaign Candidate Websites
3. Local Politics: Starting a Successful, Popular Political Blog
4. Google AdWords Advertising for Political Campaigns & Candidates
5. Google Alerts to Track Political Campaign & Election Issues