What You Need to Know About Local SEO for Your National Insurance Brand

Everyone knows the value of search engine optimization (SEO) to a digital marketing campaign. But like all things digital, SEO has several layers and different uses depending on the application. Filling your metadata with keywords is the part you mastered when you launched your insurance brand. Now it’s time to augment your insurance marketing strategy with local SEO.

It may seem counterintuitive to target the local markets to build your national insurance brand. You already reach an audience that covers multiple states. But, if you could grow within each of those states, your brand would be stronger. Using local SEO won’t broaden your reach – it will intensify it. With better brand recognition on the local level, you could see your revenue increase.

Local SEO vs. National SEO

National SEO is designed to promote your brand. It helps you compete against other big national insurance brands for general keywords like “insurance.” However, getting traction in national searches can be tough because you are competing against brands with big marketing departments and deep pockets. It takes time to rank in searches alongside other national brands.

Local SEO is a more detailed strategy to compete more effectively in specific markets. Using local SEO, you can optimize your online presence to drive traffic from specific locations. It is more than just adding location words to your keyword phrases. Local SEO also means setting up Google My Business accounts, claiming review site pages, and performing NAP (name, address, phone) cleanup.

Benefits of Local SEO

You can’t ignore national SEO, but it takes time and resources to build your national insurance brand this way. Local SEO can help you grow that national insurance brand by enhancing your brand saturation in individual markets. Local SEO takes a more niche approach to brand development that can help you more effectively meet your marketing goals.

Successful local SEO requires interacting with the local community, getting to know your customers, and helping them develop a relationship with your brand. You will set up a platform to ask for reviews and improve your social proof on a geographic basis. Your insurance brand can benefit from customer interaction to improve your social proof and learn more about your customers’ needs.

Local SEO is also cost-effective. You will compete for keywords with smaller, local brands, making it easier to increase your brand recognition at the local level. You can leverage relationship-building marketing techniques to increase brand recognition in the markets you serve.

3 Keys to Local SEO

Best practices for local SEO are somewhat unique to each area, so you’ll need a different strategy for each location. You can start by researching the local market to see how your competitors are using local SEO. These key features should be part of any local SEO campaign:

• Tap Into Google My Business: Google My Business (GMB) allows you to control your business profile as it appears in Google Maps and on the side of the search results screen for local searches. GMB is free but it takes some effort to set up and maintain. You will have to optimize your profile for each location, and they will all connect to your website.
• Manage Citations: Aligning the details of your business contact information across all online references is an important part of optimizing your brand for local SEO. Every listing for your business, even if you did not create it, must match. NAP cleanup is an ongoing process that involves checking details like whether your street address is abbreviated or written out.
• Cater to the Locals: In some ways, the national scope of your brand is not important to your audience in each location. They are searching for your insurance company in ways that are related to their geography. Optimizing your business for voice search will help customers find your local office and connect with agents who are familiar with their area. Setting up structured data can help, too, by making it easier for Google to index the contact information on your site.

To successfully market your national insurance brand, you must think big – and local. Leveraging the power of local SEO will complement your national efforts to grow your brand. Not sure how to get started with a local SEO campaign? Contact LIGHTSTREAM today for a comprehensive SEO strategy that will help your insurance brand gain traction.