Social Title: How Insurance Firms Can Use Local SEO Rankings To Their Advantage
Social Description: Local searches are especially beneficial for insurance companies. Find out how businesses can maximize local SEO rankings.
Like most businesses, insurance firms are always looking to gain traction and maintain competitiveness within their niche. Any company striving to reach the next level would do well to look into the benefits of search engine optimization as part of a comprehensive insurance search strategy. In particular, it is especially beneficial to consider optimizing the site for local searches.
Local search provides numerous opportunities for small businesses. Nearly 50% of all searches on Google are from people seeking local information. This means optimizing a site for local searches will increase a business’s chances of connecting with these potential customers. Conversely, neglecting local search optimization could reduce a company’s chances of reaching its target audience.
Many factors can affect the ability to connect with an intended audience, of course. Professional reputation, a good track record in the industry, and providing a wide range of quality services at a reasonable cost all play a part.
But optimizing a site for local searches can effectively supplement these qualities. And for companies that have yet to achieve a lengthy track record of excellence, a high local SEO ranking can put the business on the fast lane to the next level.
What does it mean to optimize a business for local searches? Local SEO involves a set of strategies aimed at improving a site’s visibility in search engines. It is especially helpful for local companies, particularly those with physical offices. Local SEO‒if properly implemented‒can increase organic traffic from searches that originate from the same location.
Why is local SEO so effective? When determining local SEO ranking, search engines utilize indicators such as:
These and other signals help search engines provide relevant results to searchers. Local businesses, for their part, can tailor their search engine optimization strategies to take advantage of these indicators. By doing so, they can increase their chances of getting noticed by prospective customers searching for their products or services.
Do you have insurance clients eager to boost their local market presence or attract more local customers? Here are some suggestions they can try out:
Optimizing a site for Google My Business increases a site’s chances of getting a high-ranking Google. In some cases, it could even get the site included in the sidebar of a local search. This can be done by using Google Posts within the account, encouraging customers to post reviews, and mentioning location when engaging with reviewers.
The company’s name, address, and phone number should be accurate and consistent on all web pages. Ideally, this information should be included in the site’s crawlable HTML text so search engines can find it easily.
U.S.-based firms should maintain consistent directories and citations with the four main map data aggregators:
These services provide most of the map data for Google, Bing, Apple, Yelp, Trip Advisor, and many other search services.
It is advisable to do a comprehensive audit of the website every once in a while. This makes it easy to identify areas that need improvement. In particular, it would be helpful to check for accuracy, crawlability and see how Google My Business appears in the search engine results pages.
Improving the site’s internal linking structure can help raise its SEO ranking considerably. It also improves navigation, makes accessing information easier, and distributes pages’ ranking power more efficiently.
Content should be optimized for the site’s intended audience, but optimizing the URL, headers, title tags, and meta description is just as important. Doing so provides more opportunities for the pages to show up in the search engine results pages.
Creating location pages is essential for businesses with multiple physical locations. Each should have unique content, contact information, store hours, and other details relevant to local searchers.
Posting local content increases the chances of attracting local audiences. This could include news and events, employee features, and other informative content that will interest local customers. It might also be helpful to provide lists of local service providers or calendars featuring local events.
As you may have gathered, local SEO is essential to the overall SEO strategy of any local businesses. Suppose your clients have a brick-and-mortar storefront or physical service area. In that case, a properly implemented local SEO campaign will make it easier for their target customers to find them when conducting online searches.
Agency Tsunami is the digital marketing division of Neilson Marketing Services, who has provided the insurance distribution sector with innovative marketing and communication solutions for over twenty-five years. With our Agency Tsunami program, we have implemented an integrated marketing strategy that includes optimized, professional websites supported by high-quality SEO and Social Media for hundreds of insurance retailers and wholesalers. Our goal is to help your insurance business perform and generate new opportunities. Give us a call at (800) 736-9741 to learn more about how we can do that for you.