How ICICI Prulife Overcame the Change in SERP Intent and Cannibalisation to Regain Featured Snippet
The Client
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has consistently ranked among the top policies in the Indian life insurance sector for many years. The category page had maintained the top position as a featured snippet for the term ‘life insurance’ for close to a year.
The Objective
After losing the featured snippet in May 2021 due to a shift in Google’s SERP intent, the objective was to:
- Regain the Featured Snippet for the keyword ‘life insurance’
- Resolve keyword cannibalisation between the homepage and the category page
- Improve ranking for the secondary target keyword ‘life insurance policy’
The Challenge
Towards the end of April 2021, major ranking fluctuations began for the keyword ‘life insurance’. On some days the featured snippet was retained, while on other days rankings dropped to position 5, with two pages from the same domain appearing on the SERP simultaneously.
A closer look revealed the underlying pattern:
- On days the rank held at position 1, the category page was the one ranking
- On days the rank dropped, both the homepage and the category page appeared together, with the category page at position 5 and the homepage at position 6. LIC held position 1 during this period
- Competitor homepages had also started appearing on the SERP, where previously their category pages had ranked
This indicated keyword cannibalisation between two internal pages, which was preventing Google from confidently selecting the most relevant page to rank for the broader, less transactional version of the query.
The Solution
1. Internal Link Restructuring
Internal links across topical pages that used ‘life insurance’ as anchor text were originally pointed to the category page. These were updated to point to the homepage instead, sending a clearer signal to Google about which page should rank for the broader keyword.
2. De-optimising and Re-optimising On-Page Content
The category page was de-optimised for ‘life insurance’ and instead optimised for more intent-specific terms such as ‘life insurance policy’ and ‘life insurance plans’. This aligned each page with the search intent it was best suited to serve, the homepage for broader informational intent, and the category page for transactional intent.
3. Homepage Content Enhancement
The existing homepage content was analysed alongside competitor pages, and long tail keywords were identified to improve semantic relevance for the term ‘life insurance’.
4. Backlink Anchor Text Remediation
A list of high-authority websites that had previously linked to the category page using ‘life insurance’ as anchor text was compiled. These websites were contacted and asked to either link to the homepage instead or update the anchor text.
5. UI and UX Enhancement
Alongside the content and link updates, the UI and UX of the category page were upgraded, and the content was further enhanced to improve relevance and engagement for users with transactional intent.
The Result
The internal link restructuring took close to 20 days to implement, and the content updates took another 40 days to go live. Results were tracked over the following months:
- September 2021: Cannibalisation issue resolved. Homepage ranking improved to position 4
- December 2021: Ranking remained steady at position 4, with no further movement despite implementation being complete
- March 2022: Homepage ranking improved by two positions
- May 2022: Featured Snippet regained at position 1 for the keyword ‘life insurance’
- Concurrent improvement: Rankings for the secondary keyword ‘life insurance policy’ also improved alongside the primary keyword, validating the page-level intent realignment
The Impact
A keyword that had been lost for nearly a year, and one considered critical to the business, was fully recovered through a structured, multi-lever strategy involving internal linking, on-page realignment, content enhancement, backlink remediation, and UX improvement. The recovery took place over roughly a year and required navigating BFSI compliance timelines for content approval and third-party coordination for backlink changes, demonstrating that SERP intent shifts can be reversed with sustained, page-level precision even against a higher-authority competitor.
60+
Client Testimonial
200+
Global Brands
70+
Awards & Recognition
130+
Success Stories
Beauty & Fitness
Health
Our Solutions
