Search engines are smart. In organic search, Google, Bing, and others are able to identify semantic relationships between keywords. In other words, search engines know that “football” and “NFL” are related to “ESPN”. SEO experts call this “latent semantic content”. This isn’t new, but it’s worth being aware of.
You can get a peek into how search engines relate keywords by adding a “~” in front of a search. The bolded words are related. Do a search for “~apple“, for example, and the second result is Microsoft. Other PC makers like Sony and Gateway also show up.
Likewise, a search for ~ins shows State Farm and Allstate in the results. What can you infer from this? Yes, search engines do consider “ins” to be a potential substitute (or at least a related) keyword for “insurance”.
So what does this mean for you as an insurance agent? If you’re targeting phrases like “insurance”, content on “care”, “coverage”, and even “ins” will help you rank. This is helpful when you’re creating content and want to make sure it’s keyword rich but don’t want to sound like an SEO robot.