Today, having the best product or service isn’t enough. The internet makes being seen just as important as having the best quality. As an insurance agency, the fastest way to succeed is to offer high-quality services and ensure you’re visible to your clients.
When a client decides they need an insurance agency, the first thing they usually do is search online. That’s where the power of search engine optimization (SEO) comes in.
For top-notch SEO services, work with Romain Berg. Our experts can help you set up your insurance agency for online success.
What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization makes your insurance agency website or web pages more visible online. It also makes them rank better on search engine result pages (SERPs).
SEO aims to drive organic traffic to your website without paying for ads or other marketing expenses. To do this, you need to show Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines that your content is top-quality and offers users what they’re searching for.
There are generally three SEO requirements: technical, on-page, and off-page SEO. There’s a whole science behind each of these, and we’ll cover how to leverage each requirement for your insurance agency in a bit.
For example, using the right keywords and regularly updating your content are SEO techniques that can encourage Google to rank your website. They help you reach more insurance customers and potential clients, driving more sales and success.
Importance of SEO for Insurance Agencies
Put yourself in a client’s shoes. What are the chances they’ll Google your insurance agency’s name when searching? Very slim unless you’re a big-name agency.
Potential clients are more likely to search for specific keywords or terminology relating to the insurance services they’re looking for.
You must identify these keywords and include them in your website to optimize your platform for search engines. Doing so helps your insurance agency appear among the search results for those keywords. It’s a cost-effective way to improve your website’s traffic in the long term.
Following proper SEO techniques tells Google your business or insurance agency is relevant and offers content or services that users need. Google then adjusts your ranking based on its algorithm, pushing you further up SERPs.
Another part of good SEO practices is optimizing your website content and structure to make it more user-friendly. It’ll improve your Google ranking and your visitors’ experience.
This eventually translates to more sales conversions, customer satisfaction, and success for your insurance agency.
How SEO Works: What Google Looks For
A long time ago, SEO was all about keywords. But when people started keyword stuffing their websites, Google stepped up the game and created a complex algorithm based on several other factors.
Today, search engines like Google still send web crawlers to look for relevant keywords, but they also analyze websites based on several factors, such as:
- Content Quality
- Relevance
- Website Authority
- Domain Trust
- External and Internal Linking
- Social Sharing
You need to work on these SEO factors if you want your insurance agency to rank and succeed. While none of these factors will make your agency web page an instant overnight success, adjusting one or two can significantly increase your organic traffic.
How long SEO takes to show results can vary from one website to another, so be patient. You’ll get there.
10 Expert SEO Tips for Insurance Agencies
Now that you have the theory let’s go through the actionable SEO steps you can take. Of course, you don’t have to implement all these expert tips. But the more strategies you do, the better the results will be.
1. Research Your Keywords
Don’t think of keywords as terms or phrases you need to stuff into your website to make it rank. Instead, think of them as questions your potential clients would ask if you were sitting face to face.
For example, clients looking to insure their car wouldn’t just type “car insurance” into their search bar. They’d likely search “best car insurance agencies near me.” Others might search “types of car insurance for small business owners.” Be specific.
Make a list of topics based on your insurance services, and then create a keyword list for your website. Keywords can include phrases or long-tail keywords (keywords made of 3-5 words) that clients usually search for.
You can use keyword research tools to gauge your topic’s search volume and competitiveness. Some of the most popular and reliable keyword search tools are:
[Related: Ahrefs vs. UberSuggest vs. Google Keyword Planner Comparison]
Use the results from these keyword tools to address new topics on your insurance agency website.
You might be providing the right services people need but using the wrong terminology. On the other hand, you could provide a new range of insurance services you didn’t know were in high demand.
Keyword research tools are great for SEO, and when used cleverly, they can drive important business decisions for success.
2. Understand Search Intent
Keywords are like puzzle pieces. They’re gibberish unless you piece them together into a coherent picture. That’s where search intent comes in. It’s the reason why users conduct an online search.
They might be looking for information or ready to purchase a product or service. Generally speaking, there are four types of search intent:
- Informational: Users want to learn something
- Navigational: Users want to reach a certain web page and go through Google rather than type the URL
- Commercial: Users want to research a product or service before buying it
- Transactional: Users are ready to buy the product or service or complete a transaction
Understanding the search intent of your potential insurance clients or insurance leads gives context to your keywords. Put yourself in their shoes and imagine what they need and how they would search for it.
For example, a potential client might want to research life insurance policies to understand how they work. They’re not ready to buy because they want to have a better understanding first.
If the SEO of your insurance agency website directs them to a sales landing page right away, they’ll probably check out another website.
On the other hand, if the SEO directs them to an informational blog with a CTA at the end, they might be encouraged to buy your services after reading the blog.
This is why search intent is so important. Make sure your potential clients get what they want from each page of your website.
3. Do On-Page SEO Work
Your keywords are useless if you don’t know how to utilize them in a way that Google recognizes. That’s where your on-page SEO work comes in. Here are a few ways you can optimize your on-page SEO.
- Title Tags: Make sure each web page has a unique title tag that contains your primary keyword. Stick to around 60 characters for the best optimization.
- Headings: Use H1, H2, and H3 headings logically to help Google understand your pages. Work keywords into your headings and use H1 headings only once per page.
- URLs: Work keywords into your URLs and keep them short and clean.
- Image Alt Text: Although alt text usually isn’t seen by users, it can help search engines better understand your images and content through keywords.
- Internal Linking: Link to other pages on your website.
These are the basics of keyword use with on-page SEO work. However, you still need to make sure your content engages readers, not just Google. Your content must have impeccable spelling and grammar, be skimmable, and be easy to read for the average person.
4. Do Off-Page SEO Work
Next comes your off-page SEO work. The secret to off-page SEO is building relationships and trust between your insurance agency’s website and other websites.
If a reputable, high-traffic website links to one of your pages, this backlink tells Google that your website is trustworthy and relevant. Then, the algorithm recognizes your content as worth showcasing first and starts increasing your website ranking to allow more users to benefit from your content.
After all, Google’s ultimate role is to deliver relevant, high-quality content to users based on their search inputs. If popular websites reference your work, your insurance agency must be worth checking out.
So how do you earn these important backlinks and get your pages noticed by popular websites? There are several methods you can try:
- Direct Reach Outs: Reach out to other pages and build relationships based on mutual backlinks.
- Guest Posts: Write a guest blog for other websites or publications.
- HARO (Help A Reporter Out): Some writers and reporters need quotes from insurance agencies, which can help you reach more people.
- Blog Comments: Focus on insurance blogs with high traffic and make relevant comments whenever possible to get attention.
- Leverage Social Media: Use social media to increase traffic to your pages and share links whenever possible.
- Business Directories: Utilize local directories, such as Yelp, AgentReview, Chamber of Commerce, The Better Business Bureau, Yellowpages.com, and WalletHub.
5. E-A-T Up Your Website
To encourage content optimization, Google divulged one of its algorithmic secrets to gauging and ranking website content. They called it Google’s E-A-T Guidelines, which you can find in the Page Quality section of Google’s Quality Rating Guidelines.
E-A-T is short for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. It’s a method of determining how relevant, reliable, authentic, and trustworthy your content is to users.
Showcase your insurance agency’s expertise by displaying author bios and credentials that add to your website’s credibility.
Google considers many factors for authority and trustworthiness, but the type of company and industry has a huge impact on them.
As an insurance agency website, your content falls under “financial matters.” Google’s Guidelines state that financial and health-related content is held to a higher standard of trustworthiness than other content.
That means you need to be meticulous when citing reliable sources and ensure your insurance content is up-to-date. When linking to external sources, stick to government pages, nonprofit organizations, and evidence-based studies that add to your unbiased credibility.
All of this builds your authority and trustworthiness. In turn, Google will consider your insurance agency website a reputable source worth ranking.
6. Optimize Google Business Profile for Local SEO
One extremely effective tool that most insurance agencies overlook is the Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly called Google My Business.
Google Business Profile is a free tool that allows you to create a listing on Google Maps that appears in local searches.
For example, if you’re a Minneapolis or Florida-based insurance company, you would have a better chance of selling your services to a local client in those areas.
A typical Google business listing includes a name, address, phone number, website, hours of operation, and customer reviews for your insurance agency. You can also add photos, videos, recent blogs, and anything else you want your insurance leads to see when they search.
Make sure most of this content, especially your business description, is rich with relevant, high-performing keywords. Use the GBP tool to engage with customers, reply to reviews, and answer questions. All of this works towards your goal of building a positive online reputation.
GBP gives you a better chance of connecting with local insurance leads in your area or city, resulting in a higher chance of a sales conversion.
7. Leverage Customer Reviews
No one wants to spend their money haphazardly. That’s why 93% of people consult online reviews before buying something. Positive customer reviews can help your insurance agency thrive and improve your website’s SEO.
These reviews tell Google your services are relevant and meet users’ needs. Positive reviews are related to successful sales conversions, which means your services are worth buying. So Google starts directing more people your way.
Reviews that contain relevant keywords also help boost your SEO and drive more traffic organically to your insurance agency. Plus, positive referrals and testimonials show trust and faith in your business.
Reach out to satisfied customers and ask them to leave reviews on your Google Business Profile or Yelp. Most people won’t mind, especially if they’re happy with your insurance services.
8. Mobile-Friendly Optimization
As of 2020, Google announced they would prioritize mobile-first indexing, which means they would showcase mobile-optimized websites first in SERPs.
Make sure your website is mobile-friendly because over 60% of searches are done on mobile phones. Pay attention to your website layout and touch-navigation controls. Make sure they’re not distorted and are easy to use on mobiles and tablets.
You might want to remove popup screens in the mobile version of your website because they can be irritating and difficult to close. The same goes for Flash elements, which aren’t the best option for mobile websites.
Instead, make it easier for your insurance leads to find and click on action items like “get a quote” or “contact an insurance agent.” Doing so fast-tracks your sales conversions and improves your on-page customer experience.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs) are excellent tools for a faster, smoother landing page. Don’t forget that your landing page experience affects your overall SEO and ranking status, so AMPs can indirectly improve your SEO rank.
When in doubt, use Google’s Mobile-Friendliness Test to gauge how optimized your website is for mobile. This handy tool tells you how fast your website loads, how easy it is to navigate, and other relevant feedback.
9. Organize Your Website Structure
Your website structure is all about logical flow and URL hierarchy. This goes for your users and Google as well. When potential insurance clients land on your page, they should be able to navigate from one page to another easily.
Your URLs and internal links must be easy to follow, and clients should access the info they need without any confusion. Ensure these links have clear and descriptive anchor texts that show the reader exactly what they’ll get if they click the link.
The top-performing and most important pages of your website should be top-priority links. You can also use menus to make navigation easier. SEO meta tags can also help you categorize your content so Google better understands it but don’t overuse them.
10. Consider PPC Campaigns
Organic SEO efforts take time. You won’t appear in the top search result immediately after making all these SEO changes. If you’re in a rush, you can use PPC (pay-per-click) ads to reach the top of SERPs and generate more insurance leads.
For most PPC campaigns, you can bid on certain keywords and only pay if someone clicks on your ad. Hence the name “pay-per-click.”
The Google AdWords Keyword Planner can help you determine the volume of certain keywords and how much it’ll cost to use them. It can also give you helpful insights and suggestions.
However, planning your PPC campaign can be tricky. You need to know how to target the right audience for your PPC campaign or hire a digital marketing agency to do it for you.
Make Your Agency More Visible
When it comes to SEO for insurance agencies, the devil is in the details.
When done right, SEO has the power to make your insurance agency more visible, attract targeted traffic, and generate more insurance leads and sales. Follow these ten expert SEO tips, and you’ll notice a world of difference in your sales conversions.
And if push comes to shove, you can always hire a reputable digital marketing agency like Romain Berg to create and implement your SEO strategy. Contact us now, and we’ll help you put your insurance agency on the map.
