How Local SEO Helps Insurance Agencies Grow
How Local SEO Helps Insurance Agencies Grow
Online local searches are happening all around you.
According to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey of 2017, 97% of people search for local businesses online, and 12% look for local businesses online every day. Your neighbors, friends, family, and casual acquaintances (presumably, you yourself) are all seeking out the best businesses locally on a regular basis, and they’re doing it online.
Local searches lead to local shoppers.
Of those internet surfers seeking nearby businesses to support, 72% who perform a local search visit a store within 5 miles of their current location. Improving your local SEO will improve your odds of attracting new prospects, and they won’t just be visiting your website. There’s a better than average chance that they’ll show up on your doorstep!
Your local SEO ranking can be improved for free.
When it comes to local search, Google is the market leader. You can invest in Google’s paid advertising to improve SEO, but it’s not necessary. You can use Google’s AdWords tool to generate competitive keywords and then boost your SEO for free by improving your site’s local keyword strategy.
You probably don’t have as much local competition (online) as you think.
National insurance companies have to compete with all the other big fish. Independent agencies only have to compete with one another to get a slice of the local SEO traffic boost. In many cases, smaller agencies aren’t utilizing local SEO, which means you can quickly get to the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
If you do have local competition, it’s time to shake ‘em up.
You may discover that your agency is the one falling behind in the local SEO game. If that’s the case, there’s no time like the present to get back on equal footing with the competition. Consider these strategies to make inroads on to the local SERP.
Grab your Google My Business listing if you haven’t already. This lets Google know that your agency is legitimate and builds trust quickly with GoogleBots.
Develop backlinks from other reliable local sites to your agency’s site to build trust on Google. You can team up with a complimentary service or product provider to improve one anther’s backlinks.
Optimize your site with carefully selected local keywords. Don’t forget image alt-tags and page headers when you’re building your keyword strategy.
Ask satisfied clients to leave reviews. 73% of consumers trust a local business more if it has positive online reviews, but it takes an average of 7 reviews before the trust really kicks in.
Offer a discount for local searches. According to Aaron Levey of Elite SEM, 51% of consumers want location-based coupons when searching. If you can offer a “local’s discount,” you stand a solid chance of building local favor.
Hire knowledgeable help
If you want to improve your local SEO, but it seems like a lot of work and strategy, maybe it’s time to outsource your marketing to professionals. At AgenciesOnline, we work with independent insurance agencies to improve their online presence and reach. Get in touch today to see what we can do for you.
