How to Improve Your Google Search Ranking
The term “Life Insurance Near Me” is searched more than 297K times a month on Google.
Did you also know that all the top resources for this term on Google’s home page all receive more than 30,000 visits a month?
Well, what if you want to find a local life insurance agent? You would probably search something like, “Life Insurance in [name a city].”
Do you want to be at the top of those results?
Each person who searches this presents an opportunity for us to inform them about life insurance. But the hard truth is that the first numbers and addresses to populate Google’s feed will get the call.
By the end of this article I will give you three actionable items to utilize Google Business Profile to leverage local SEO for your business.
What is Local SEO?
We’ve all heard the term, but what exactly is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a necessary process to climb the rankings.
A website that is fully optimized for Google will rank higher when someone in the local area searches for a term like, “life insurance near me”
Your Google Business Profile helps you climb your local ranking.
So let’s leverage this tool for your agency!
Utilizing Google Business Profile
-
Create a Google Business Profile
You can find your Google Business Profile website by searching it or following this link.
Google will ask some initial questions about your business that will become very important when Google decides how high to rank your website. (More on this below.)
Make sure when creating your account to:
-
Use your official business email address.
-
Include your hours of operation.
-
Use your official operating address (this is vital for local SEO).
-
Include a phone number that you can be reached at.
-
Verify your account with Google.
-
Add a business description.
-
Add photos (if you don’t have any yet, use Life Happens Pro content!)
All of this information is vitally important so that Google knows what kind of business you are. This helps when Google is assigning keywords related to ”insurance near me.”
If your website says you are a Life Insurance Agency, it is very important to clarify in your Google Business Profile that you are an agency, if you use the phrasing on your website of a broker, company, service, etc., it is very important to include this so that Google understands who you are.
They can then pair you to other search queries related to all of your services when people search for them in your city.
-
Optimize your Profile by Selecting Secondary Categories
After clarifying to Google who you are and what you do, you can then add secondary and tertiary categories.
When creating your profile, we clarified whether you were an agency, broker, company, etc. For a secondary category, you will want to add all of your other services.
For instance, you may have, ‘Life Insurance Agent’ associated with your Google Business Profile. A secondary category in this example could be to add “Disability Insurance Agent” or “Financial Advisor.”
These secondary categories will help Google, and your local audience, know that you offer several services.
-
Make your first Update
Within Google Business Profile, you can use Life Happens Pro content to rank higher.
After establishing all of your foundational info above, it is time to leverage this opportunity. One of the first steps you can take to reach your audience is with a business update.
A business update is similar to a status update on any social media platform. Think of it as a way to keep your audience informed.
By consistently communicating to your audience with fresh content about insurance, Google begins to trust you as a subject matter expert, which improves your ranking.
One of the best places to find fresh content on Life Happens Pro for your business profile is in the Collections section.
Steps to make your first update:
-
From your Google Business Profile homepage, select “Add Update.” This brings up a box where you can add a description of up to 1,500 words and two supplemental images.
Not sure what to write?
All graphics in Life Happens Pro come with suggested captions that can get you started.
You can find the graphics here.
Pictured: Life Happens Pro Campaign Content
-
Then, below the description and photo section is an option to add a button to your post that directs those in your local area to your website.
-
Once you have added a photo and update, click ”Post.”
Your business update will now appear to those in your local area searching for the keywords that you rank for.
Congratulations on creating your first update within your Google Business Profile and for continuing to improve your Google ranking with Life Happens Pro content!
We suggest at a minimum you post to your Google Business Profile once every seven days, but it doesn’t hurt to do more!
