A local citation is a mention of your insurance agency online. Local business citations include information about your agency’s location and contact details. They form part of Google’s algorithm and serve to prove that your agency is credible and has a good reputation.
When your agency generates a lot of online citations, it also positively impacts your website’s SEO. This impact gives you an advantage over your competitors because your customers can find you on different websites apart from your own.
As an insurance agency owner, you can build local citations to increase your Google rankings by following these steps:
Don’t Neglect Your Google Business Profile
If you haven’t already done it, claim your Google Business Profile, and add your agency’s contact and location information. Your Google listing should contain the agency’s operating hours, a link to the website, and contact details. You may also want to include essential information about temporary changes.
You can even add several photos and videos of your business and strategic keywords to your profile to make it easier for customers to find your agency. When choosing keywords, study the ones your competitors use by running their URLs through a Google search. Doing this will allow you to see the keywords and links they used to build their citations. You will also be able to determine their most successful citations, and these are the ones you want to start your strategy with.
When you’ve completed the business profile, ask your existing customers to post reviews to improve your agency’s visibility online. Positive reviews are essential for local search algorithms. The more reviews you have, the higher your agency will rank.
You should include links to your profile on your social media pages to make it easy for customers to leave reviews. You can also instruct your sales agents to ask for reviews when they meet with clients, or you can send out emails requesting reviews.
You may encounter negative reviews during this process, so ensure that you address them promptly. Doing this will show potential customers that you value your existing clients and are committed to providing quality service.
Don’t be tempted to take shortcuts by writing your own reviews or paying for them.
Aim for Structured and Unstructured Citation Generation
There are two types of citations: structured and unstructured. When generating listings for your insurance agency, focus on both types. List your agency’s details on business directories and social media platforms to create several structured citations. For an unstructured citation, you can use blogs, forums, and press releases to mention your agency in a business context.
When you list your agency’s information in local directories, you increase the chances of a higher Google ranking. Also, consider niche websites that offer services related to the insurance industry. For example, you may want to add your agency listing to a home loan provider’s website or a car sales website.
The most crucial part of creating local citations is ensuring that all the business details you submit are up-to-date and accurate. If you decide to change your phone number after a couple of months or if your agency moves to another location, you should update all of the citations you created.
Incorporate Data Aggregators in Your Citation Strategy
Data aggregators collect business information and distribute it to different websites. This process will save you time when setting up your citation strategy. The best aggregators to use are:
- Foursquare
- Data Axle
- Factual
- Infogroup
- Neustar Localeze
Search for your agency’s name on all these data aggregators’ websites if you want to use them for your citation strategy. If you find that your business is already featured, claim your listing. If you can’t find your agency, submit a complete business listing for each data aggregator.
There are many data aggregators to choose from apart from the ones mentioned above, but remember that some may charge a fee for a business listing.
You may want to go one step further and submit your business listing to core data websites like Yelp, Yahoo Local, and the Yellow Pages. However, these websites are only an option if they already list similar businesses to yours.
Furthermore, you can also submit your agency’s contact details to relevant associations and official body websites in your area.
Don’t Go Overboard
You have hundreds of websites and directories to choose from when you want to build citations for your agency. However, this doesn’t mean you should use every one of them. Instead, focus on the platforms that will benefit your agency the most, such as hyper-local directories, search engines, and maps. As for websites, choose the ones most likely to increase organic traffic to your site.
Conclusion
Correctly implementing a local citation strategy will boost your insurance agency’s ranking and make it easier for people to contact you. You will also increase your agency’s visibility to potential partners and investors, further improving your business’ credibility.