Unlocking SEO Success: When Should a Insurance Agency Owner Use Practitioner Listings on Google My Business?

Patrick McFadden • September 28, 2023

Creating a practitioner listing on Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) might seem like an easy project. However, if you're an agency owner not well-versed in the best practices and guidelines for representing your business on Google , it can get a bit tricky. What's even more important, though, is knowing the best time to consider using a Google Business Profile practitioner listing.


In this article, we're diving deep into the nitty-gritty details. We'll explore the ideal scenarios where practitioner listings shine for insurance agencies and understand the crucial business information that must stand out.

What is a Google practitioner?

Let us start by looking at what Google’s definition is. So, let's break it down. An individual practitioner, in simple terms, is a professional who directly interacts with the public and usually has their own dedicated clientele. This category encompasses a wide range of professions, including doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, as well as insurance or real estate agents. When we talk about Business Profiles for these practitioners, it's important to note that they often include specific titles or certifications, such as Dr., MD, JD, Esq., or CFA, to highlight their expertise and qualifications.


If you’re wondering if your insurance agent is allowed a practitioner listing, ask yourself if they do the following:


  • Typically work in a customer-facing role, where they directly interact with the public. It's important to note that support staff, on the other hand, should not have their own separate practitioner listing on Google My Business.
  • Moreover, the practitioner should be readily reachable at their verified location during the specified hours. This often entails having a distinct office line or dedicated desk line for the practitioner at that particular location.

What types of insurance agencies are allowed practitioner listings?

The following common types of insurance agencies are [generally] allowed practitioner listings:


  • Independent Insurance Agencies: agencies that work with multiple insurance companies and offer a wide range of insurance products to their clients. They are not tied to a single insurance carrier.
  • Captive Insurance Agencies: agents that represent a single insurance company and exclusively sell that company's policies. Examples include State Farm and Allstate agents.
  • Health Insurance Agencies: agencies that specialize in health insurance products, including individual health plans, group health insurance for businesses, and Medicare supplements.
  • Life Insurance Agencies: agencies that focus on life insurance policies, such as term life insurance, whole life insurance, and universal life insurance.
  • Auto Insurance Agencies: agencies that primarily deal with auto insurance policies, including coverage for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other vehicles.
  • Homeowners' Insurance Agencies: agencies that specialize in policies that cover homes, condos, and rental properties. They may also offer renters' insurance.
  • Commercial Insurance Agencies: agencies that provide insurance solutions for businesses. This includes liability insurance, property insurance, workers' compensation, and more.
  • Travel Insurance Agencies: agencies that focus on travel-related insurance, such as trip cancellation insurance, travel medical insurance, and coverage for lost luggage.
  • Pet Insurance Agencies: agencies that offer coverage for veterinary expenses and medical care for pets.
  • Specialty Insurance Agencies: agencies that specialize in niche markets, such as marine insurance, aviation insurance, or event insurance.

Should you create a practitioner listings on GMB?

The next question to consider is whether you should create practitioner listings if you don't already have them. In my view, the decision depends on various scenarios and factors.


You should consider creating a practitioner listing when multiple categories apply to your business type. Generally, this is a good idea and a more effective strategy, rather than solely emphasizing the agency office listing and diminishing practitioner listings. It will involve striving to achieve rankings for all Google Business Profiles using different primary categories and keywords. Leveraging the impact of the GBP landing page on ranking can also be strategically advantageous in this project.

 

Let's consider a scenario where you're an insurance agency based out of Richmond VA that also employs an auto insurance agent. The agent's practitioner listing on Google My Business could link to a webpage that ranks prominently for "auto insurance Richmond VA," while the main Google Business Profile for the insurance agency could direct traffic to the page (most likely the homepage) with the highest organic ranking for general insurance terms. This approach enhances the visibility of both pages without internal competition.


Now, think about another insurance agency. You could optimize the primary Google Business Profile for terms like "home insurance," and then have one agent who specializes in commercial insurance and another who specializes in life insurance. This strategy enables you to capitalize on organic rankings for various insurance-related keywords.

Practitioner Listing Category Website
Insurance Agency Insurance Agency rvaiagency.com (hompage)
Auto Agent Auto Insurance Agency rvaiagency.com/auto-insurance-agency
Home Agent Home Insurance Agency rvaiagency.com/home-insurance-agency
Life Agent Life Insurance Agency rvaiagency.com/life-insurance-agency

It's important to consider that if your aim is to have all three of your listings rank for the exact same keyword on Google, essentially dominating the entire 3-pack, this strategy is not very realistic. Google has filters in place to prevent the same website from appearing too frequently in the results. Unless you're operating in an extremely niche industry or market, achieving this goal is nearly impossible.

Get in Touch with Your Local SEO Expert at Indispensable Marketing

Are you a well-established local insurance agency in Richmond VA looking to crack the code of Google's local search algorithm? If your goal is to dominate the first page of Google's search results and score new customers, we are your go-to partner. We specialize in local SEO for insurance agencies, offering a proven approach to SEO services to help you succeed.


Whether you're seeking marketing strategy consulting or monthly local SEO services specifically designed for insurance agency, we've got you covered. Contact us today  to learn more and elevate your insurance agency marketing efforts.

The Missing Layer in AI: Why Judgment, Not Just Data, Will Define the Next Era of Intelligence

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.

Everyone Talks About AI Judgment. We Built It.

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.

We Found the Missing Layer AI Has Been Waiting For

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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