Results-driven SEO for Insurance Companies

The insurance industry has continued to do well in the 21st century, despite the vast digital changes that have transformed the way people find products and services. And while the industry’s ability to shift products and service online has helped, insurance — and the peace of mind that comes with it — is a need, not a want, for most people.

There are 1.2 million insurance agents in the U.S., that’s almost one for every 300 Americans. These agents are all vying for the same business, and they’ve had to adopt a new way of marketing their offerings to be successful.

Some have resorted to flashy websites with lots of bells and whistles. Others have created an engaging social media platform or insightful blog chock full of valuable information. But there’s something else that allows agents to truly leverage their lead-generating tools: Search engine optimization (SEO).

What is SEO? And what does it do?

Investing in SEO is the secret to capitalizing on digital assets, including your website and your social media accounts. Put simply, it’s how you drive users to your website, without shelling out money for advertising. And the better your SEO, the more exposure you’ll get online.

In order to utilize SEO as a lead-generation tool, you must focus on optimizing the aspects of your website that affect search rankings, which are the literal rankings search engines, like Google, use to list websites on their search engine results pages (SERPs).

Search rankings are determined by a long list of ranking factors. Ideally, your website is one of the top three results that appear when users search for specific terms or search queries related to your insurance agency’s offerings. The top-three spots are important because 75 percent of consumers do business with one of the top three search results on Google. In fact, very few users even make it to the second page of search results, as the first page receives 95 percent of clicks.

So how does this relate to insurance? Customers are looking for insurance agencies online. And when they do, they’re likely going to pick one of the top three search results. You want one of those spots, and investing in high-quality SEO is the most effective way to get there. And once you’re there, you’ll start to see a steady flow of traffic to your website, which translates to a steady stream of potential customers in need of insurance.

Every insurance agent’s online presence — their website, Google My Business (GMB) listing, social media accounts, etc. — is the most important asset for their online marketing strategy. But fail to optimize those digital assets, and they may as well not exist.

SEO has the power to deliver real results to your insurance company. We’ve helped several successful insurance agencies, including Bivvy, optimize their digital assets, and all agree: insurance SEO services are a valuable marketing investment that can take your online presence to the next level. Here’s how:

Insurance is perceived as a big business. But it’s also very local; many insurance agents are independent, which means they’re responsible for marketing their own services. And, because insurance policies and rates vary widely from state to state and city to city, most of those marketing efforts are concentrated locally.

In 2020, most people do research online before committing to any product or service, even inexpensive ones. On top of that, 46 percent of Google searches are for local products and services. This is great news for insurance agents —especially independent ones — because that means there’s a lot of organic traffic out there to tap into and convert into new customers.

Without a sound insurance SEO strategy, you’ll miss out on a huge opportunity for local customers to discover your business. But it’s not enough for customers to be able to find your business online; it should be effortless, and showing up at the top of search results for relevant keyword phrases does just that. SEO, essentially, does the “finding” for them, quickly and effortlessly connecting your business to people already looking for an insurance provider.

Like most companies, one of the biggest goals for insurance providers is to gain new customers while retaining existing ones. SEO is one of the most effective ways to accomplish this goal. With a high-quality, comprehensive insurance SEO strategy, you’re guaranteed that potential customers in your area will be able to find your business online, and that you’re getting them the information they need to reach out about your products and services.

But what about your existing customers? Can SEO help you retain them? Absolutely. A good web presence shows credibility; it shows you’re investing in your business and you’re looking to grow. Vice versa, neglecting SEO hurts your credibility. It shows you’re content with a lackluster web presence and that you don’t care about how your business is perceived online.

Not only that, but if your customers start searching online for information related to your products and services instead of coming to you directly, they’ll likely see results for competitors instead. Too much time on a competitor’s flashy website and they may start to consider switching.

The insurance industry is extremely competitive. But with a really well-thought-out insurance SEO strategy, you can easily edge out your competitors — especially if they’ve neglected their SEO.

Do a few Google searches using phrases you believe potential customers would use to find an insurance provider. The results should tell you everything you need to know about your competition’s investment in SEO. If your direct competitors are dominated search results, you’ve got some work to do. If you’re outperforming them, great! But search rankings are in constant flux; just because you have the top position today doesn’t mean you will tomorrow, so don’t use that as an excuse to not invest in your SEO. In fact, search rankings are assets that must be maintained and require continuous investment into SEO.

SEO for insurance companies is never formulaic. Every strategy is different and quality SEO involves identifying which areas will provide the most value to your agency, specifically — not most insurance agencies. We get this because we understand the insurance industry. We also know what it takes to implement SEO for insurance agencies in a way that helps not only your website but also your other digital assets rank at the top of the SERPs. We offer insurance agency SEO to suit every company’s needs :

Have questions about SEO for insurance companies? We’re here to help. Even insurance professionals who understand SEO and have worked to improve their own can struggle to wrap their heads around everything that makes up a comprehensive SEO strategy. Don’t worry. We’ll help you make sense of it. Sure Oak is dedicated to the success of our clients and we tenaciously pursue excellence in every aspect of SEO. Contact us today for a free SEO strategy review to learn how we can help increase your online lead generation and grow your business.