Sharrocks Insurance: website, SEO and AI search for an independent broker
Sharrocks Insurance is an independent, FCA-authorised insurance broker based in Sheerness, Kent. The team arranges business and personal cover for customers across the UK, with particular strength in specialist areas such as event and equipment hire insurance, and landlord and unoccupied property insurance. Customers deal with real people rather than a call centre.
Zatheo looks after the Sharrocks Insurance website, from design and development through to SEO, AI search and the quote and payment journeys behind it.
The challenge
Insurance is one of the hardest sectors to win in search. Comparison sites and large national brands take up much of the first page, and Google holds financial content to a high standard because it affects people’s money and livelihoods. To compete, a broker’s website has to show clear expertise, be easy for Google to understand and make it simple for a customer to get a quote.
Like many established businesses, Sharrocks had a website that had grown over years. Policy pages and articles had built up under older sections, some topics were covered more than once, and it was not always obvious to visitors or to Google which page was the main one for each type of cover.
What we did
A clearer site structure
We restructured older policy and article sections into clear business insurance, personal insurance and equipment hire insurance areas. Each type of cover now has an obvious home, and supporting guides sit alongside the pages they relate to. We mapped old addresses to their new equivalents and set up redirects, so visitors and Google land in the right place and the search visibility the site had built up is carried across.
Technical SEO clean-up
We tidied the parts of the site that Google does not need to see. Thank-you and confirmation pages are kept out of search results, and we are working through duplicate and legacy URLs so Google spends its time on the pages that bring in quotes. You can read more about this kind of work on our SEO services page.
Content that shows real expertise
For financial topics, who wrote or reviewed a page matters. We publish practical guides for the questions customers actually ask, such as what unoccupied commercial property insurance costs and whether you need insurance to hire out equipment. Guides are reviewed by the managing director, so readers and search engines can see that real, accountable people stand behind the advice.
Answer blocks and FAQ schema for AI search
More people now ask AI assistants and AI search tools about insurance before they speak to a broker. We added short, direct answer blocks and FAQ structured data to priority pages, so the key facts about each type of cover are easy for people and for AI tools to find, quote and attribute correctly.
Quote journeys, forms and payments
A broker’s website is not only a brochure. Sharrocks takes quote requests online, including a quote form for event equipment hire, and customers can pay premiums through a secure payment form. We look after those journeys: the Gravity Forms quote forms, reliable email delivery through SMTP so quotes and enquiries reach the team, policy documents and the Stripe payment integration. If a form breaks, the business loses quotes, so this work matters as much as the SEO.
Measurement that follows the quote
We set out a GA4 plan that tracks quote completions, callback requests and chats as key events, so the team can see which pages and channels lead to real enquiries rather than just visits. This is the same approach we use in conversion rate optimisation: measure what matters first, then improve it.
Careful platform updates
The site runs on WordPress and Divi. We are preparing a careful move to Divi 5, planned so that quote forms, payments and search visibility are protected throughout.
How we work together
We work closely with the Sharrocks team, including the managing director, on priorities and on anything that touches cover, underwriting or compliance. Insurance content has to be accurate, so the team checks what we write against the cover they actually arrange before it goes live.
What other regulated businesses can take from this
- One clear page for each service. Overlapping pages compete with each other and confuse visitors.
- Show who stands behind the advice. Named, accountable reviewers help both customers and search engines trust your content.
- Write for AI answers as well as search results. Short, accurate answers near the top of a page are easier to quote correctly.
- Look after the journeys that earn money. Quote forms, emails and payments need the same care as the marketing.
- Track quotes, not just visits. If GA4 is not recording the enquiries that matter, fix that before anything else.
If your business relies on online enquiries or quotes, see our websites and rebuilds, SEO services and automation and lead handling. For businesses near Sheerness and across the county, we also work with firms in Maidstone, Canterbury and Ashford.
Services used
- Web design and development
- SEO, including AI search
- Conversion rate optimisation and GA4 measurement
- Quote forms, email delivery and payment integrations
- Ongoing site support
Frequently asked questions
Book an initial 30-minute call
If you run a regulated or specialist service business, tell us a little about it in a short form, then pick a time for an initial 30-minute call. We will look at how people find you and where enquiries and quotes are being lost.