If someone in your town searches for 'commercial insurance broker near me' or 'independent financial adviser', Google Business Profile is where they're looking first. Not your website. Not your brochures. Google.
For insurance brokers and financial advisers, this is where local clients find you. It's where they read reviews, check your hours, and decide whether to ring you or a competitor. In 2026, getting this right isn't optional. It's how you stay visible.
The problem is that most brokers treat their Google Business Profile like an afterthought. They set it up once, add their phone number, and forget about it. Then they wonder why they're losing enquiries to firms that actually maintain theirs.
Claim and Verify Your Profile First
Start here. If you don't already own your Google Business Profile, claim it now. Go to google.com/business and search for your firm. If it exists, claim it. If not, create it.
Google will ask you to verify ownership. They'll send a postcard to your registered address with a verification code. This takes around two weeks. Yes, it's slow. Yes, you still need to do it. An unverified profile limits what you can do and how much Google trusts your information.
Make sure the address you add is your actual office location, not a virtual or shared address. Google flags these. If you work from home, it's better to be honest about that in your profile description than to use a fake address. Google's algorithm notices when addresses don't match up with reality.
Fill in Every Section Properly
This is where most brokers go wrong. They fill in the basics and stop.
Your business category matters. Don't just pick 'Insurance Broker'. Google lets you add multiple categories. If you handle life insurance, add that. If you specialise in business insurance or pensions advice, add those too. This helps Google show your profile to the right people.
Your business description should be written for humans, not search engines. Tell potential clients what you actually do. For example: 'We advise independent businesses on employer liability, public liability, and professional indemnity insurance. We also help arrange pension schemes for company directors.' That's specific and useful. It tells someone exactly what you offer.
Add your website URL, phone number, and email address. Make sure these are correct. A mistyped phone number costs you enquiries. Review your profile quarterly to check nothing has changed or become outdated.
Photos Make a Real Difference
Insurance and financial services are abstract. You can't photograph a pension scheme. But you can photograph your team and your office.
Upload at least five recent photos. Include your reception area, your advisers at their desks, your meeting room where you see clients. These build trust. People want to see who they're dealing with before they call you.
Take photos with decent lighting and a decent camera. Your phone is fine. Bad photos make your firm look unprofessional, and that's the last message you want to send in financial services.
Add captions to your photos. Write something like 'Our London office' or 'Sarah, our commercial insurance specialist'. Google's system can read these, and it helps with search rankings. More importantly, it gives people context.
Ask for Reviews and Respond to Them
Google treats reviews as a trust signal. Firms with more reviews and higher ratings appear higher in search results. This is a fact.
Start asking satisfied clients for reviews. The easiest way is to send them a direct link to your Google review page. You can find this in your Google Business Profile settings. Don't be shy about asking. Most people will leave a review if you ask directly.
Respond to every review, whether it's positive or negative. Thank people for five-star reviews. If someone leaves a critical review, respond professionally. Say something like: 'Thank you for your feedback. We're sorry you didn't have the experience you expected. Please get in touch so we can discuss this further.' This shows Google and potential clients that you take feedback seriously.
Negative reviews won't disappear. But how you handle them matters. A one-star review followed by a thoughtful response from your firm often improves people's perception more than no reviews at all.
Use Posts to Stay Active
Google Business Posts are a feature most brokers ignore. They're a way to share updates directly on your profile.
Use them to announce things like: new services you're offering, changes to your opening hours, upcoming webinars about pension reform, or reminders about insurance renewal deadlines. Posts stay live for around a week, so use them regularly.
Write posts that answer common questions your clients ask. 'What does professional indemnity insurance cover?' or 'Why you might need directors and officers liability insurance'. These positions your firm as knowledgeable, and Google rewards businesses that produce useful content.
Keep Your Hours and Information Current
Nothing looks worse than a Google profile with outdated information. If your hours have changed, update them. If you've moved office, update it. If you've stopped offering a particular service, remove it from your description.
Add special hours if you're closed for bank holidays or taking time off. This stops people trying to ring you and getting no answer.
Monitor Performance Through Google Business Insights
Google Business Profile gives you data on how people find you and what they do next. Check this quarterly.
Look at how many people searched for you by name versus how many found you through general searches like 'insurance broker'. If nobody's finding you through general searches, your categories and description need work. See how many calls you're getting from your profile. If it's zero, your phone number might be wrong, or your profile isn't showing up for the searches that matter.
A Quick Audit Checklist
- Is your profile verified and owned by you?
- Does your description tell people exactly what you do?
- Are all your business categories accurate?
- Have you uploaded at least five recent photos?
- Do you have at least ten reviews?
- Have you responded to recent reviews?
- Have you posted something in the last month?
- Are your hours correct for this week?
If you've said no to any of these, you've found your next task.
The Bottom Line
Your Google Business Profile is one of the few places online that you control completely. It costs nothing to optimise. It takes a few hours of work upfront, then maybe an hour per month to maintain.
For insurance brokers and financial advisers competing in a local market, it's often the deciding factor between winning a new client and losing them to someone else.
Trending articles
