Over the past few years the Australian insurance market has seen an increase in competition from the likes of Budget Direct, Real Insurance and Youi.

There are other online insurers such as Bingle, The Buzz (part of IAG/NRMA), eCar Insurance and Just Car Insurance, but for the time being lets take a look at the first 3 companies.

Budget Direct jumped in to the Australian insurance market back in 1999. However, it was not until 2005 where the search interest for “Budget Direct” started to rise. Since 2005 Budget Direct has experienced consistent growth in online searches.

Two of the more recent insurers to enter the market, Real Insurance and Youi, have experienced very strong search interest since entering the market. This is more than likely a result of their aggresive advertising, in particular television advertising.

The results below show how their advertising is driving an increase in the popularity of searches for their brands.

The Old Vs The New in search results

Increasing numbers of people are searching online for cheaper car insurance before they buy or renew so we thought it would be interesting to see how the more established players in the market, NRMA, AAMI, GIO, Allianz, QBE and the like, are responding to the increase in competition.

Let’s take a look at a couple of popular search terms:

Car Insurance

For the search term “car insurance” AAMI is currently ranked #1 in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). The next 3 positions are taken up by newcomers to the insurance market – Youi, Just Car Insurance and Budget Direct. Allianz and NRMA come in at positions 5 and 6 respectively.

In sponsored advertising results Budget Direct takes to top position with the traditional insurers, Allianz and NRMA, in positions 2 and 3. eCar insurance and Youi are competiting strongly for this keyphrase with position 4 and 6.

Cheap Car Insurance

The search term “cheap car insurance” is won hands down by the new insurance players. In the SERPs Budget Direct, Bingle and 1cover (underwritten by Allianz) take the top 3 positions. The same applies to sponsored search. Youi, eCar Insurance and Budget Direct are currently paying a high Cost Per Click (CPC) in Google Adwords to hold the top positions.

Overall, when it comes to the online space and search engines I would have to say the older more established insurers are losing the online war to the new players in the market.

Budget Direct, part of the Budget Insurance Group, seems to have the highest and most consistent rankings in the SERPs and for Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. We think Budget Direct is worth watching closely, especially after the stellar success of their campaign for Compare the Market (Compare the Meerkat) in the United Kingdom.

Below is one of the television ads responsible for driving people online to search for Compare the Meerkat, or should that be Compare the Market.