Case Study

Pinnacle Life SEO – Beating The Big Guys!

October 2009 – May 2010
Pinnacle Life became the world’s first life insurance company selling
fully underwritten policies online in 2007 and since then has gone from
strength to strength, proving that you don’t need to be a blue chip corporate
to succeed in this competitive market. Search marketing is a significant part
of their marketing plan and so, when they found themselves ranking 50th
(and beyond) for Natural Search on Google, they turned to First Rate.

Despite the fact that Insurance is one of the most competitive industries
for Natural Search, Pinnacle came to First Rate with a relatively small site,
a low link profile and a site built entirely in Flash: There were some very real
challenges to be overcome. Objectives
1. Rank in Top 5 for Life Insurance

RESULTS 2. Increase Natural Search Traffic

3. Increase sales
Pinnacle Life’s Google NZ Ranking Increase for “life insurance”
Data: Google NZ (the web) search results page position, monthly Campaign
Search Engine Optimisation

Results
• N
 atural Search Ranking improved from
50 + to Top 3
Organic Search Rank steadily
improved from 50 + to Top 3 • C
 lick Through Rate from Natural Search
improved by 60%
• 2
 42% increase in organic search traffic
(Nov 2009 vs April 2010)

Increase in Organic Search Traffic from SEO Testimonial

Data: Google organic search, life insurance phrase match excluding brand, weekly
242% increase in Organic
Search Traffic
Google NZ Results Snapshot – Rankings Achieved
Google New Zealand search results page as at 30th April 2010
Achieved #1 Position in
Organic Search
For any company, ranking highly in search
results is important, but for us as an online-
only insurance company, it is vital. We had, like
many others done our SEO work ourselves and
through our web developers but there came a
point where we needed real experts so we chose
First Rate.
Our consultant (Rendy Sugiarto) has worked
closely with us from day one to not just deliver us
SEO that works, but to understand our business
and bring expertise to other areas particularly
Analytics. We gave First Rate a challenging
brief: to rank in the top half of Page 1 for “life
insurance” which is far and away the most
important phrase in our industry. When they
started we were ranked 50th. Within 6 months
we were in the Top 3.
 d Saul, Partner
E
Pinnacle Life

Level 4, Cathedral House, 48 Wyndham Street Level 3, 4-16 Yurong Street, Sydney NSW 2011
PO Box 106 357, Auckland, New Zealand Locked bag 4005/17, Potts Point, NSW 1335
+64 (9) 920 1740 +61 1300 553 996