Insurance Marketing That Writes More Policies

It depends on your lines of business, your market and your goals. Most agencies run an SEO campaign as the long-term foundation, paired with paid search to drive immediate quote requests.

We'll right-size a plan to your agency, your competitive market and your growth goals. There's no one-size-fits-all answer, and we'll tell you exactly where each dollar goes.

Very. At the typical professional services firm in the calls we've listened to, 38% of calls went to voicemail or were never picked up: 38% during business hours and 47% after hours. And most of those callers do not try again: 75% of callers who reached voicemail did not call that business again within a week.

That is why we track every call from your campaigns, flag missed calls, and help you set up call routing, after-hours coverage and fast call-backs, so the leads you pay for are not lost at the front desk.

Based on calls to 11 professional services firms we market, Apr to Sep 2026.

We classified a sample of 297 new-customer calls to the professional services firms we market by what the caller wanted (all professional services, not only insurance agencies). The most common reasons to call were booking an appointment or checking availability (46%), whether a specific service is offered (23%), a consultation or estimate (8%) and insurance, financing or payment (6%).

Typical questions: “Do you have availability, and can you fit me in soon?”, “Do you offer this specific service?”, “Can I schedule a consultation or site visit?”. Your website, ads and Google Business Profile should answer these before the phone rings, and your team should be ready to answer them when it does.

Based on calls to SmartSites clients, Apr to Sep 2026; questions paraphrased, no caller or client identified.

Mostly business hours: 22% of calls came outside Monday to Friday 9 to 5 (7% on weekends), and the busiest day is Monday. Of the calls that were answered, 51% were new-customer inquiries, 36% were existing customers, and 14% were sales pitches or wrong numbers.

That mix is why we report on qualified calls, not raw call counts.

Based on 14,000 calls to 23 professional services firms we market, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 (timing) and Apr to Sep 2026 (call types).

Across the Google Ads accounts of the 5 insurance agencies we manage, the median cost per lead over the last 12 months was $180, with a median cost per click of $9.20 and a median conversion rate of 9%.

Your number depends on your market, services and how well the landing page and phones convert. We use these medians as a starting benchmark, then work to beat them.

Source: Google Ads accounts managed by SmartSites, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026; a lead is a tracked call or form conversion as set up in each account.

For the 31 professional services firms whose Google Business Profiles we manage, the median profile got about 790 views, 9 calls and 49 direction requests a month over the last year.

Reviews, photos, accurate hours and categories move those numbers, which is why local SEO is part of every plan we build for an insurance agency.

Source: Google Business Profile performance data for profiles managed by SmartSites, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026.

You don't have to choose. The best results come from doing both, with experts who know how to use AI responsibly:

• AI-assisted audits: our initial and routine audits combine years of human expertise with AI to spot opportunities a person alone would miss.
• Enterprise-grade data: professional SEO and ads tools give us visibility into organic, AI and paid search. You get the insights without the bill.
• Always human-in-the-loop: every output is reviewed by a strategist before it ships, and you own all work product.

A good in-house marketer is only one person. With SmartSites you get a whole team (strategist, SEO specialist, paid media lead, web designer, email specialist and social manager) for less than the cost of a single hire, with no recruiting, no PTO and no learning curve.

No, and we'll always be straight with you about that. Effective insurance marketing takes time, and agencies that expect instant ROI from SEO are usually disappointed. Here's what to realistically expect:

• SEO can be a roller-coaster, but the long-term curve bends up and compounds.
• Paid search typically generates quote requests within the first 30 days.
• Web rebuilds pay for themselves through higher conversion rates.

Specialty insurer Package Choice saw leads up 172% and conversion rate up 296% after we rebuilt their campaigns.

Yes. We optimize for generative engines (GEO) as well as traditional search, so insurance agencies show up in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and the AI assistants people increasingly use to compare coverage and agents. Our tracking includes AI mentions and citations, not just rankings.

Map-pack rankings for “insurance agent near me” come from your Google Business Profile, your reviews and how locally relevant your website is. We optimize your profile, build location and coverage pages, keep your listings consistent across directories, and set up review requests after every new policy. That kind of foundational work helped Package Choice improve cost per lead by 68%.

Yes. We know insurance marketing runs under stricter rules than most industries: state-specific licensing disclosures, carrier co-op guidelines, and restrictions on rate and coverage claims. We build every campaign and landing page with your compliance requirements in mind, and we coordinate with your carrier or compliance team whenever a campaign needs sign-off.