How to run Google Ads for insurance leads

This guide shows you how to plan a Google Ads search campaign for auto and home insurance offers. By the end you will be able to group insurance keywords by what the searcher wants, build a first negative keyword list, write search ads that stay clear of the claims that cause disapprovals, tag every click with sub IDs, and judge results on sold leads.

Before you start with Google Ads for insurance leads

Search is different from social. A person who types "car insurance quote" into Google has already decided what they want. Your keyword list does most of the qualifying, so the work is in choosing searches carefully and keeping out the ones that will never become a sold lead. The Google traffic overview explains how Google fits with the publisherPublisherA company or individual that generates leads, usually through websites, ads or content, and sells them to brokers or buyers. Glossary program in general. This guide is the build for insurance. If you are new to insurance offers, start with how to become an insurance lead affiliate, and if you are choosing between verticals, read insurance vs MVA vs home improvement for affiliates.

Have these ready before you open Google Ads:

• The insurance offer you plan to run: auto insurance offers or home insurance offers.
• A Google Ads account in your business name, with billing set up.
• A short list of states to test first.
• A sub IDSub IDA value a publisher adds to a tracking link to label the traffic, such as the campaign, ad set, ad or placement. Glossary naming plan for campaign, ad group and keyword. See tracking links and sub IDs explained.
• A copy of our traffic guidelines and the Google policies named in step 3.

Step 1: Choose one offer and a short list of states

Run auto and home insurance in separate campaigns. The searches are different, the ads are different, and you will want to compare results by offer. Auto insurance has the wider range of searches. Home insurance searches are narrower and often tied to a home purchase or a renewal, which makes them easier to keep tidy.

Pick a few states, not the whole country. Insurance is regulated by state and each buyer quotes in specific states, so a short list keeps both your budget and your reading manageable. Which states fit each insurance offer is confirmed during onboarding. The geo-targeting by state guide covers how to group states and set location targeting.

Step 2: Plan keywords by search intent

Group keywords by what the searcher is trying to do, not only by the words they use. Each ad group gets its own ads, so the ad can answer the exact search. These five intent groups cover most insurance quote searches:

Keep each ad group to a small set of close keywords. The keyword research guide shows how to build and sort the list, and the match types and negative keywords guide shows how to control which searches each keyword can trigger.

Your first negative keyword list

Insurance searches include a lot of people who already have a policy and want help with it. They are not shopping for a quote, so they do not become sold leads. Add these groups as negatives before launch:

Avoid insurance company names in keywords and ads. Searches that name a company usually come from that company's own customers, and an ad on them can suggest a relationship that does not exist. Ad claims to avoid in insurance offers covers company names with the other claims to leave out. No search volumes or costs are given here: check them in your own account for your states.

Step 3: Write search ads that match the search

Responsive search ads mix your headlines and descriptions, so every line has to make sense on its own. Write headlines that repeat the line of insurance and the shopping moment, a line that says what happens after the click, and a line that says who the ad is for.

• Shopping moment: "Renewing Your Car Insurance?" or "Buying a Home? Get Insurance Quotes." Mirrors the search.
• Next step: "Answer a Few Questions to Request Quotes." Describes the lander honestly.
• Who it is for: "For Drivers in Ohio" or "For Homeowners in Texas." Names the audience and state, which filters out searchers the offer cannot serve.

Google policies to read before you write

Google's misrepresentation policy covers three problems insurance ads run into. Ads must not promote offers that are unavailable or hard to find from the landing page, so do not promise an instant price if the page collects a quote request. Advertisers must not imply support from a government entity they do not have. And clickbait tactics are banned, including using negative events such as accidents to cause fear or push people to act now.

Google's financial products and services policy sets disclosure requirements for financial products and services. Check whether it applies to your ads. Check Google's current Ads policies for financial and insurance ads before launching, because policies change and differ by country.

Outside Google's policies, the general rule from the Federal Trade Commission's advertising FAQs for small business applies: ads must be truthful, and you need evidence for objective claims before the ads run. That rules out savings promises, prices and lowest-price claims you cannot support. The full list is in ad claims to avoid in insurance offers, and state rules are covered in insurance lead gen compliance for affiliates.

Step 4: Plan your tracking link and sub IDs

Traffic for Summit's insurance offers will go to a Summit lander through your tracking linkTracking linkA URL issued to a publisher for a specific offer that sends the visitor to the offer's landing page and ties the visit, and any lead it produces, to the publisher's account. Glossary for the offer. The lander is where consent will be captured and where each lead will be offered to buyers through real-time ping/post. Ask during onboarding how the tracking link should sit in your Google Ads setup.

1. Decide which sub ID holds which value, for example campaign, ad group and keyword.
2. Use the URL options in your Google Ads account to fill those values in automatically, so you do not edit each ad by hand.
3. Before launch, preview each ad and click through. Confirm the link opens the right lander and the sub IDs come through intact.
4. Keep a sheet that maps each sub ID code to its campaign, ad group and keyword.

Leads will be reported by tracking link. Ask during onboarding which other tracking options apply to your account. Do not change or remove consent language on a Summit lander. Read TCPA compliance for insurance leads for why the consent record matters to insurance buyers.

Step 5: Launch and check the first days

1. Start with a daily budget you are willing to spend on learning. A wrong link or a policy flag should not cost much.
2. Check every ad and keyword status after Google's first review. Fix a disapproval by removing the claim, not by rewording it.
3. Open the search terms report within the first day or two. Add negatives for claims, logins, jobs and anything else off topic.
4. Confirm in your Summit reporting that leads appear under the expected tracking link and sub IDs.
5. Read day-parting for lead gen campaigns before you narrow the hours your ads run.

Step 6: Read results and adjust

Summit's insurance offers will pay rev shareRev shareA payout model in which the publisher is paid a share of what the lead sells for, rather than a fixed price per lead. Glossary on sold leads, with payment terms agreed during onboarding. Unsold leads are not paid, and returns are deducted under the return terms agreed during onboarding. Judge each ad group and keyword on sold leads and returns, not on clicks or lead count. See how payouts work.

Change one thing at a time. When an ad group sells steadily, read how to scale a winning lead gen campaign. To compare search with social for insurance, read how to run insurance traffic on Meta.

Common mistakes

• One ad group for every insurance search. The ad cannot match the search, and you cannot see which intent sells.
• No negatives at launch. Claim, login, payment and roadside searches spend budget with no chance of a sold lead.
• Insurance company names in keywords or ads. They pull in another company's customers and can suggest a relationship that does not exist.
• Savings and price claims. Claims you cannot support break the traffic guidelines and invite disapprovals.
• Government-style wording. Ads that look like an official program can imply an affiliation Google's misrepresentation policy does not allow.
• Auto and home in one campaign. Results mix, and neither offer gets ads written for its searchers.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Insurance affiliate program: How the auto and home insurance offers will work.
• Google traffic for publishers: How Google search fits the publisher program.
• Match types and negative keywords: Control which searches trigger your ads.
• Keyword research for lead gen offers: Build and sort the keyword list before you launch.
• Ad claims to avoid in insurance offers: The claims insurance ads get rejected for.
• Insurance landing pages for affiliates: What the page after the click contains.

Already generating insurance leads on your own forms? Sell your leads instead.