In the current economic climate, we’re all being very careful about purchasing non-essential items – but one thing most of us can’t afford to go without is insurance. February through April is a key period for search volume on insurance products, and at present, users are conducting more searches than ever to get the best value. Insurance is a competitive market, but you can make the most of the increased search volume opportunity by optimising your insurance campaigns for best results.

Here are some tips and best practices for success this Spring:

1) Analyse your reporting data and look for trends within your insurance campaigns that you can capitalise on. For example, recent Live Search data indicates that targeted, specific insurance terms are increasing in search volume. Amend your bidding strategy according to any trends that become evident after reviewing your own keyword performance reports.

2) Prepare for known seasonal periods. There will always be savvy users doing their research in the months before a peak. It’s more cost-effective to build a strong click-through rate in the months before a seasonal peak than to begin a campaign with higher bids at the heart of a peak period.

3) Use adCenter’s demographic research capabilities to gain insight into your target market, and tailor your bidding strategy for best results. You may wish to consider customer age incremental bidding. Insurance demographics peak in the 25 to 34 and, in particular, the 35 and 49 year old age groups, representing over 50% of the searches made for insurance products. Bidding an additional amount beyond your keyword bid for these groups is a useful strategy to increase your ad position. Learn more about incremental bidding through Microsoft adCenter Help.

4) Use negative keywords to limit low-quality impressions and clicks. Increased traffic can result in a decrease in CTR. Using negative keywords will help ensure that your ads only show up for searches that are related to your website’s content.

5) Target your ad copy. Users are becoming more targeted in how they search for insurance products, so ensure your ad copy clearly sells your services, unique offerings and discounts. Use dynamic keyword text insertion to make your ads even more relevant to customers.

6) If you find that an increase in impressions has lowered your CTR, using exact match bidding can help to grow your CTR.

7) Searchers are increasingly expected to manage their health plans online, so health insurance advertisers may find it beneficial to expand their keyword base to include as many search terms as possible.

The next few months will be a busy time for insurance advertisers, so happy optimising!

You may also wish to read Craig Brown’s article, Credit Crunch Survival and Opportunity for Finance Advertisers for tips and advice on surviving the credit crunch.

If you have any questions or comments, please visit the adCenter Forum.