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If you’re at all familiar with digital marketing—maybe you’ve dabbled in it a bit or even just done a quick search for insurance agency marketing tips—you’ve probably heard all about keywords. Keywords are the magic phrases that allow interested customers to find your agency website when they need an insurance policy.
Keywords are the bread and butter of search engine optimization (SEO). Unless you get to know and love them, you won’t get very far with digital marketing on your own.
To help you get going, we’ve put together a primer on keywords, including what they are and how you can use them to increase your business’s online exposure.
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Here’s what you need to know about using keywords for insurance agency marketing.
Keywords help future clients find your business online.
When someone looks online for insurance, they probably open a search page and type “car insurance agency near me” or “what’s the best home insurance plan?” into the search bar.
The search engine uses those keyword phrases to understand what the search query is about. To match the question with the most relevant answers, the search engine will populate the results page with links to web pages that also use those keyword phrases. After all, if the keyword phrase shows up on the web page, the content probably matches what the person wants to see.
Modern search engine algorithms are immeasurably more complex than that, with all sorts of tricks and best practices that can affect results, but they all operate under that same basic premise.
That means, to show up in a customer’s search results for insurance, you have to make sure your web pages use the important phrases people typically search for.
The best keywords are the ones that most closely match what your business offers.
It makes little sense to draw traffic from users searching for a service your agency doesn’t offer. Even if a particular keyword is popular—let’s use “low premium life insurance” as an example—if you don’t actually offer life insurance with a low monthly premium, users will bounce right off of your page after learning that your business doesn't meet their needs.
On the other side of this coin, you’ll want to make sure you do include relevant keyword phrases that match your business’s specialties. If you happen to offer the best rates on auto insurance for young drivers in your region, it could be a great strategy to incorporate phrases like “best insurance for new drivers” or “cheapest car insurance for 16-year-olds” on your website.
It will take effort to determine the best keyword phrases and placement on your website.
Almost no one lucks into the perfect keyword strategy right off the bat. There are several variables that can (and should!) be optimized:
- The exact verbiage of your keyword phrases
- The number of keywords you target
- The number of times you use each keyword
- The locations (title/headlines/body paragraphs of articles, social media blurbs, business profile listings, user reviews, and so on) of each keyword
If you operate in Kansas City, you could have numerous keyword variations based on that fact alone. You might try “Kansas City, Missouri home insurance,” “Auto insurance in Kansas City metro,” “best insurance in KC,” or any number of other options.
Chances are, it will take a number of months—not days or weeks—to land on a strategy that generates consistent traffic.
Including keywords on your Google Business profile, your agency’s social media profiles, and your Yelp listings (for example) is also a good practice.
On-page SEO—that is, optimizing your agency’s website to maximize search engine traffic—is a great place to start. However, it’s just part of the equation.
So many people end their digital marketing efforts there and don’t realize there’s a whole lot more traffic to be found from off-page SEO. Just as Google and Bing and the other major search engines rank your website higher when you include targeted, relevant keywords, the same goes for your social media pages, your business profile, your Yelp reviews, and any other mentions of your business online.
Each one of these outlets (along with plenty of other options) provides another opportunity for an interested customer to find your business. Let’s say for example that you’ve optimized your website for SEO, but there are a handful of other agencies in your area that give you some fierce competition.
If their websites are also attractive to search engines, your site may land a few slots down in search results. Users typically browse through the top handful of listings only, so the further down you appear in search results, the fewer inbound leads you’ll generate.
Now imagine you’ve optimized your Google Business profile, your Facebook page, your Yelp listing, and your Instagram profile, and you’ve also taken the time to thoughtfully respond to each user review on every platform with carefully chosen keywords that should get picked up by search engines.
Now you have several opportunities to rank highly in search results, and Google knows you’re a serious contender. You’ll likely jump a few priority spots and land near the top of the agencies in your region.
Your situation may vary if you’re a captive agent rather than an independent agent.
Captive agents who work for big-name companies like State Farm or Allstate must abide by the regulations set down by those companies. You can’t load up on any keywords you like; you’ll have to keep your website in line with State Farm’s or Allstate’s corporate recommendations. This can make on-page SEO tricky.
Captive agents are frequently better off working with a professional digital marketing team that is familiar with the compliance rules and regulations of the major agencies.
Your strategy will change over time.
Just when you think you have it all figured out, something changes and your traffic declines. It could be a Google algorithm adjustment, a shift in the demographics of your local area, or something you can’t identify at all, but sooner or later, your circumstances will change. If you stick with the same old strategy forever and expect your results to be steady, you’re going to be disappointed.
It does take a considerable amount of effort to constantly tweak your methods and monitor results. If you find yourself getting bogged down by the process, it can be helpful to hire experts who specialize in digital marketing for insurance agents.
What does a digital marketing team do that you can’t DIY?
If you’re already a business owner, you’re probably used to taking on new challenges all the time. But somehow, digital marketing just feels different. It’s complex, time-consuming, and constantly changing. The thought of staying on top of all that while still running your agency can be enough to make you lose sleep at night.
While you can DIY your insurance agency marketing strategy, you’ll get better results from a professional marketing firm. Expert digital marketers make a point of studying every Google algorithm update and every current list of best practices. They know how, when, and where to add keywords, track results, and tweak strategies, and they can monitor long-term progress without getting lost in the weeds. Plus, they’re familiar with the tricks that can help you find the quickest return on your investment.
Why pull your hair out learning a whole new profession on top of your own when you can put your digital marketing into expert hands instead? Working with a digital marketing service provider can help you find a strategy that brings in organic traffic and boosts your business with little to no effort on your part. Partnering with a reputable agency can have a massive impact allowing you to sit back and let the experts show your customers where to find you!
