The Playbook
The Playbook: AEO, AI, and compliance for insurance agencies.
Build guides, explainers, analysis, and original research for insurance agencies. Every post is anchored to named data and written to be cited by AI engines. The badge on each card tells you which kind it is, and every build guide is collected on one page.
Why Google Keeps Blocking Your Insurance Ads Before AEP
Google won't run a health, Medicare, or ACA insurance ad without a separate G2RS certificate, and it takes about 14 days to clear. Here's the exact mechanism, sourced from Google, CMS, and the FTC, and the timeline that gets you running before October 15.
Sep 4, 2026
AnalysisDoes Your Agency's AI Have to Admit It's Not Human?
California and Utah already require some AI bots to admit they're not human, and Oregon just gave consumers the right to sue over it. Here's exactly what reaches an insurance agency's AI receptionist or chat widget, sourced from the enrolled bill text, and what still doesn't.
Sep 3, 2026
AnalysisDoes an llms.txt File Get Your Agency Cited by AI?
A study of nearly 300,000 domains found no link between having an llms.txt file and getting cited by AI, and Google says plainly it ignores the file. Here is what actually decides whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, or AI Overviews name your agency.
Sep 2, 2026
ExplainerWhy AI Mode May Never Cite the Same Page AI Overviews Do
Ahrefs analyzed over 500,000 query pairs and found just 13.7% URL overlap between what Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode cite for the same question. Being cited in one tells you almost nothing about the other, sourced live from Google, Ahrefs, Surfer SEO, and SparkToro.
Sep 1, 2026
ExplainerWhy Texas Insurance Agents Still Need Schema Markup, Even Though Google Says They Don't
Google's own 2026 docs say AI Overviews need no special schema. That statement is scoped to Google. Texas alone had 4.17 million ACA shoppers this year, and ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude were never part of that sentence.
Aug 31, 2026
AnalysisWill Switching Websites Cost Your Insurance Agency Rankings?
A study of 892 domain changes found average recovery takes 523 days. That study measures a full domain change, not the same-domain platform swap most agencies actually need. Here's the real risk, sourced live, and the safe migration checklist.
Aug 30, 2026
AnalysisWhy Your Insurance Website Doesn't Show Up in AI Overviews
Google's own docs say one meta tag can block a page from AI Overviews even while it ranks, and Google just added a site-wide opt-out switch too. The mechanism, sourced live, and how to check your own site.
Aug 29, 2026
AnalysisThe Disaster SEP Most Insurance Agents Never Check For
FEMA has declared 16 major disasters with individual assistance in 2026, covering 191 counties across 12 states. Each one can quietly reopen Medicare or ACA enrollment for your clients, sourced live from CMS and FEMA.
Aug 28, 2026
GuideBuild a Conversational AI for One Pipeline
Most AI chatbots answer a message and stop. This one holds a real conversation across SMS, Messenger, Instagram and email, books the appointment, and moves the card. Six steps in Ambrose and GoHighLevel: the PIT scopes, the persona files, the two definitions that are the whole design, the pipeline filter that scopes the agent, the run instruction, and the eight mistakes that make a working agent look broken.
Aug 28, 2026
AnalysisWhy Your Insurance Agency's Facebook Ads Get Rejected
Meta restricts insurance ad targeting and copy, and the FTC just fined two lead brokers $145 million for deceptive health insurance ads that sold 119 million leads to telemarketers. The mechanism, sourced live, and the fix.
Aug 27, 2026
AnalysisWhy Your Insurance Website Isn't Ready for AEP
CMS lets Medicare marketing start October 1, but enrollment can't be solicited until October 15. Here's the pre-AEP website check most agencies skip, sourced live from CMS and Google.
Aug 26, 2026
AnalysisWhy Your Insurance Agency's Virtual Assistant Isn't Working
BLS puts a producer's hour at $29.02 against $20.59 for CSR-level admin work, both May 2024. Here are the three setup failures, and the licensing line agencies cross by accident, that turn a VA into more work instead of less.
Aug 25, 2026
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