Insurance is one of the hardest categories in Google Ads, and it is worth understanding why before spending anything. You are bidding against comparison sites with enormous budgets, national carriers, and lead brokers who resell the same enquiry to five agents. Finance and insurance also converts at 2.64%, the lowest confirmed rate of any industry against an all industry average of 8.18%.
That figure comes from a study of 13,474 US search campaigns. It means an independent agent cannot win by outspending anyone. You win by being narrower than the big players can be.
Do not fight the comparison sites on their own terms
Generic terms like “car insurance” or “cheap home insurance” are dominated by aggregators whose entire business is that keyword. Bidding there as a local agency is buying clicks from people who will complete a form on a comparison site regardless.
Where an independent agent actually wins:
- Complicated risks. Unusual properties, mixed use, prior claims, high value items, non standard vehicles. Aggregators handle these badly and people give up and search for a human.
- Commercial lines. Trade specific business cover where the buyer wants advice, not a slider.
- Local and service led searches. Insurance broker near me, someone to talk to, help with a claim.
- Life events. Just bought a house, starting a business, adding a teen driver.
All of those describe a person who wants a conversation. That is the only ground where a small advertiser beats a large one.
Financial services advertising is restricted
Insurance sits inside Google’s restricted financial services category. Depending on your market you may need to complete verification before ads run at all, and there are limits on what you can claim.
- No guaranteed savings claims. “Save up to” language is heavily scrutinised and often the source of disapprovals.
- Verification may be required first, so build it into the launch timeline rather than discovering it on day one.
- Requirements differ by country and by product line.
- Repeated violations affect the account, not just the ad.
If ads start getting disapproved, our audit guide covers where to look.
A quote is not a policy
This is where most insurance accounts go wrong. Quote requests are easy to buy and most of them never bind.
If quote form submissions are your conversion action, Google optimizes toward people who like getting quotes. Many of them are shopping across six agents and will take whichever number is lowest, which will not be yours.
Optimize toward bound policies instead, sent back into Google Ads with a value reflecting commission over the expected life of the policy, not the first year. Quote requests stay as a secondary action you watch.
| What you measure | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Quote requests | Very little. Easy to buy, rarely bind. |
| Quotes delivered | Better. Still not revenue. |
| Policies bound | The real acquisition number. |
| Policies retained at renewal | What actually pays for the advertising. |
From 15 June 2026 Google moved offline conversion imports to the Data Manager API and blocked them in the Google Ads API, so check any older agency management system integration. Our guide to conversion tracking covers the setup.
Renewals are the whole business case
An insurance client who renews for six years is worth six times what a first year commission suggests. Bidding against the first year alone means losing every auction to someone who has done the longer math.
So calculate retention first. Average commission, average years retained, and the share of quotes that bind. That chain gives you a defensible cost per enquiry, and it is usually well above what agents assume they can afford.
The negatives that matter in insurance
- Claims and complaints. How to claim against, sue, ombudsman, complaint, unless you handle claims work.
- Definitions and education. What is a deductible, explained, meaning, how does cover work.
- Careers. Insurance agent salary, licensing exam, how to become, jobs.
- Aggregator brand names, unless you have a deliberate and well funded reason.
- Free. Free insurance, state schemes, assistance programmes, unless that is your work.
Set location targeting to presence rather than presence or interest, especially where you are only licensed in certain states. Our post on negative keywords covers the list.
How to choose an agency for an insurance business
- “How do we compete with the aggregators?” A good answer avoids their head terms entirely. A weak one talks about bidding harder.
- “What will we optimize toward?” Bound policies, not quote requests.
- “Do we need financial services verification?” They should raise it before launch.
- “How will retention factor into the bid?” If they only count first year commission, they will underbid.
- “What would make you tell us to stop?” No answer means they are selling.
Our post on choosing a Google Ads agency covers contracts, and management pricing covers fee models.
Common questions
Is Google Ads viable for a small agency?
Yes, but only on narrow ground. Competing on generic personal lines terms against aggregators is not viable. Complicated risks and commercial lines are.
Are bought leads better than running our own ads?
Bought leads are cheaper per lead and usually sold to several agents at once. Your own ads cost more and the enquiry is exclusive and arrives with your name on it. Compare them on cost per bound policy, not cost per lead.
Why is our conversion rate only 3%?
That is roughly the sector benchmark of 2.64%. It is not a fault. Judge the account on bound policies instead.
Should we advertise price?
Careful. Savings claims are restricted, and competing on price against aggregators is a losing position anyway. Compete on handling the case they cannot.
How long before it works?
Ninety days for enquiry patterns. Longer for the real answer, because the business case rests on renewals you will not see for a year.
Where to go from here
Work out one number: average commission multiplied by average years retained, multiplied by your quote to bind rate. That is your true cost per enquiry ceiling. Then check what you are currently willing to pay. The gap is usually why the campaign feels uncompetitive.
Our Google Ads management page explains how we work, our case studies show the results, and you can get in touch for a straight read on your account.
