What does Google Instant mean to Insurance Marketing

by Larry Neilson 4. October 2010 04:39

Google Instant kind of caught me by surprise. My first reaction/question was; How will this affect insurance marketing SEO efforts? There are a lot of folks in the insurance business investing lots of money in SEO to increase search rank, search traffic, and to generate insurance leads via an internet marketing strategy. I’m one of them so I wanted to find out how this seemingly big change impacts our collective effort.

The first thing you’ll notice is that you no longer have to hit enter on your keyboard while searching which could save you a couple of seconds per search and more as you get better at searching and instant search is designed to make you a better searcher by giving you instant feedback on your request which you can change on the fly. According to Search Engine Watch “Google is now not only leading searchers to the answer but also to the question itself”.

How this could be of great benefit to those of us who market on a local level is long-tail key words vv. short-tail key words. A example of a short-tail key word would be Auto Insurance and an example of a log-tail key word would be Auto Insurance Mission Viejo. The biggest difference is short-tail words have more people searching but because the nature of short in this case is less specific, the leads are less qualified. Long-tail words have fewer searchers but by their nature are more specific and therefore the leads are usually more qualified.  The good news for local insurance marketers is the market is wide open for long-tail key words and again, leads generated from long-tail key words convert to sales at a much higher rate than leads generated as a result of short-tail key-words.

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Comments (7) -

10/4/2010 3:43:51 PM #

Bruce Talbot

This could really be an issue with a pay per click campaign where long tail phrases will definitely filter out unwanted views. With an organic campaign, I'm not sure what is the best strategy, since unwanted clicks do not add to costs, however, it will be much more diificult to have a high page ranking with a short tail phrase.

The question; What is the most effective strategy to market generic insurance produts (auto insurance, homewoners insurance, business insurance)?          

Bruce Talbot United States | Reply

10/7/2010 1:33:24 AM #

lneilson

I think the best strategy is to focus on more qualified leads. Unwanted clicks don't cost money until someone calls and wastes your time. Then they start to cost money. I'm excited about the prospects for long-tail terms because they are wide open right now and I really think that will start to change as people change their searching habits. One thing is certain. This is about as dynamic as anything I've ever been involved in.

lneilson United States | Reply

10/12/2010 7:37:11 AM #

Larry Neilson

I think you're right. This is a potential game changer for smaller local businesses

Larry Neilson United States | Reply

10/8/2010 6:15:34 AM #

JJN

Other Long-Tail Keyword Tips

◦Are YouTube videos part of your overall marketing strategy? Make sure you’re optimizing the content that accompanies them with long-tail keywords. Remember, Google owns YouTube and continues to index new sites and material thousands of times of every day.
◦Incorporating long-tail keywords into your local business listings in Google, Yahoo and Bing is an easy optimization opportunity that many companies miss out on, and one that can pay dividends if executed in coordination with other on-site SEO tactics. Because Google lists a few local results above the organic results when users search for geo-based information, there is a unique chance to overtake your competition in the rankings and steal their web traffic (and maybe even their business).

JJN United States | Reply

10/14/2010 6:40:14 PM #

Kenneth Kremers

Interesting observations Larry, In many ways I have found Google Instant to be helpful, but I have also found it leading me in directions I have not intended in my searches.  It has proven to be an excelent excercise to examine the relevency of the keywords we are targeting in our SEO efforts.  As a result, has caused us to once again step back and make sure our SEO efforts are leading us in the right direction.  

Kenneth Kremers United States | Reply

10/15/2010 7:30:00 AM #

Larry Neilson

Thanks for your comment Ken. I agree with you but I think that was the point. Google wants to train us to be better at searching

Larry Neilson United States | Reply

10/21/2010 2:59:27 PM #

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UGG Suburb Crochet Tall Boots People's Republic of China | Reply

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