Published on: Sep 26, 2024

When it comes to the insurance industry, the competition online is fierce. About 70% of customers do an online search before reaching out to a service provider—which means if you’re not visible on Google, you’re likely losing business to someone who is.

This is the story of how Apex Ranker helped a long-established Canadian insurance provider double its organic traffic in less than a year using a focused, custom SEO strategy.

The Client

Apex Ranker partnered with a well-established Canadian insurance brokerage that has been serving both personal and commercial clients since 1919. With over a century of expertise, the company had built a reputation offline—but their online visibility wasn’t reflecting that legacy.

Their website, built over 20 years ago, was beginning to show signs of digital aging. As the industry evolved, newer players were quickly adapting to modern search trends and moving up the ranks. The client knew they had to act swiftly to stay relevant and maintain their position as a market leader.

The Challenge

Despite their stellar reputation and long-standing presence, the client’s website averaged just 1,200 monthly organic visits before December 2021.

After a deep dive, Apex Ranker identified several critical areas that needed attention:

• Outdated on-page SEO

• Poor keyword optimization

• Weak internal linking

• Lack of high-quality backlinks

• No optimization for E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), which is especially vital for YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) industries like insurance

Our goal? To transform their outdated digital footprint into a well-oiled SEO machine that could scale.

Our SEO Game Plan

1. Website Audit & Strategic Planning

We kicked things off with a full-scale SEO audit to uncover technical errors, content gaps, and on-page deficiencies. Once we mapped out the roadblocks, we crafted a custom SEO strategy tailored to their business goals, audience, and competition.

2. On-Page SEO Optimization

Before we could grow authority through backlinks, we had to tighten up the foundation:

• Keyword Research: We identified high-opportunity keywords the site wasn’t targeting yet.

• Content Optimization: Without changing the natural tone, we inserted these keywords into service pages and blog content to enhance relevance.

• Meta Fixes: Titles and descriptions were reworked to align with keyword intent.

• E-A-T Improvements: We added detailed bios for the company’s insurance experts and implemented schema markup for faster indexing and better SERP appearance.

3. Content Refresh + Internal Linking

We updated outdated pages and improved content relevance across key topics. More importantly, we built a robust internal linking strategy to guide both users and search engines to high-value, conversion-driven pages.

4. Strategic Link Building

With on-page elements cleaned up and content refreshed, it was time to build authority externally.

• We reached out to finance and insurance-specific websites from our pre-vetted inventory of 20,000+ domains.

• The client approved the target list, and we produced high-quality, niche-relevant guest posts featuring natural, contextual backlinks.

• Over time, we saw a noticeable spike in referring domains, nearly doubling from where we started.

BEFORE

AFTER

The Outcome

By March 2022, just three months into the campaign, the site began gaining traction. By September 2022, organic visits had reached 2,400+ monthly sessions—a 100% increase from where we began.

📈 December 2021: 1,200+ organic visits
📈 September 2022: 2,400+ organic visits
✅ Result: 2X traffic growth in just 8 months

Final Thoughts

This project reinforced a key belief we hold at Apex Ranker: SEO success isn’t about doing everything—it’s about doing the right things.

By identifying gaps, fine-tuning content, and building quality backlinks, we helped a legacy insurance provider regain its visibility in a fast-moving digital landscape.

Ready to transform your website traffic into tangible business results?

Let Apex Ranker write your success story. Get in touch with our SEO experts today.