“Why does this agent show up on Google and I don’t? I write way more business!!!”
If I had a dollar for every time I heard this one I could retire. The shortest answer is this – Google has no idea how many policies you write!! It has no idea how many policies the other guy writes! They do not get a copy of your territory reports from your Sales Leader.
There are many, many factors that determine how high and how often a business shows up on Google for relevant searches.
Relevant searches meaning – “insurance agent near me” or “auto insurance quote” etc. All that stuff you want to be found for.
While Google loves to be mysterious, they actually do share enough to be dangerous in making your business show up higher in the map section. Seriously, check it out here:
Improve My Local Rank on Google
To make it simple – you have to pay attention to these three aspects of your online presence:
When I say online presence I’m referring to – anywhere you as a business owner or your agency is mentioned in any way shape or form online. This includes your websites, your Google Business Profile (and all that comes with it), all your social media sites, your online directory listings (Yelp, White Pages, etc.), your Map Listings (Bing Places, Apple Maps, etc.) your reviews across the web, any articles or community pieces written about you or your agency on another website. If someone tags your business on social media, that counts. Yeah. It’s a lot.
- Relevance – how well does your agency match the search terms someone types into Google
- Distance – Google has to determine you to be a reasonable distance from either the city, town or zip code typed into the search, or where they think you are based on your phone settings and search history
- Prominence – are you a really big deal? Does the town know? This is based on info Google has about your business from all over the place, so other websites, offline info, etc. This is where your reviews help!
Common B.S.
Google Reviews are not the only thing that matters!!!!!!!!!! You cannot rely on reviews only to improve your local rank.
You can’t set up multiple pages for the same business to increase the chances of showing up. (do you really think you’re smarter than Google lol)
“I can never do SEO because I don’t control my website!”
Mmm, not exactly. You can’t do onsite SEO (coding, blah blah blah) without controlling your website, but that means your offsite SEO (everything besides your website, that is all in your control!) is that much more important. Don’t give up just find a company who knows how to maximize offsite SEO efforts (ahem).
“I can do this myself”
You sure can try! But even if you have the time in your schedule to dedicate to learning this space and putting processes into practice, you’re going to hit a major road block. It’s called “data aggregators and directory listings” and you can read more about them in our next post!
Martina Barley
