Influencer marketing is on the verge of a structural shift. While reach has long been the key metric, a new question is now taking center stage: Can content be found when people actively search for it? The younger generation, in particular, is increasingly using social media as a search engine for product recommendations, everyday questions, and complex topics such as insurance.

Against this backdrop, the influencer marketing agency House of Influence and Baloise—which has been part of the Helvetia Baloise Group since early December 2025—launched a Switzerland-wide pilot campaign in the winter of 2025 that consistently integrated influencer marketing with social SEO. The strategic approach was clear: rather than seeking short-term attention, the goal was to create sustainable visibility.

Relevant search terms as the basis for campaigns

Relevant search terms that reflect real user questions—such as those regarding costs, claims, or switching insurance providers—formed the basis of the campaign. These keywords were systematically integrated into captions, spoken text, on-screen elements, and ALT text. At the same time, education was a key focus. Insurance is a topic that requires explanation. This makes it all the more important to present content in a way that is understandable, relatable to everyday life, and credible.

A total of 16 creators from German-speaking Switzerland, French-speaking Switzerland, and Ticino addressed typical search queries related to car insurance in their posts, including annual costs, damage caused by martens and rock chips, switching insurance providers, and tips for new drivers. For example, lifestyle influencer Mara (@mrsfluffle) shared with her community in a personal vlog how she took her driver's license photo and explained what she needed to keep in mind regarding insurance as a new driver. Artan (@art4an) presented the topic of martens' damage in a humorous sketch, making a complex scenario easy to understand.

Kick-off Call as a Key Component

«Today, our customers naturally navigate between social media, Google, the web, and recommendations from their social circles. We wanted to reflect exactly this reality. Influencer content that answers real questions, builds trust, and is simultaneously optimized for search extends its impact far beyond the moment it’s published. Together with House of Influence, we’ve succeeded not only in understanding this complexity but also in implementing it effectively at a high operational level,» explains Duri Campell, campaign manager at Baloise.

A key component of the campaign was the joint kick-off call: a combination of social SEO training, a campaign briefing, and a discussion. The goal was to ensure that all creators understood the mechanics of social SEO and consciously integrated them into their content planning.

Measurable Success in Visibility

«The campaign has impressively demonstrated how strongly social SEO and creator content can reinforce each other. When relevant information is conveyed in an authentic setting and is also searchable, it creates a lasting impact that extends far beyond the typical campaign duration,» explains Kerry Stieger, Director of Strategy at House of Influence.

The campaign provided initial insights into the extent to which social SEO affects the visibility of influencer content. Several of the SEO-optimized posts appeared not only on Instagram but also in Google Search’s «Short Videos» section for relevant search queries, where they achieved prominent placements among the top search results. On Google, the corresponding articles from Baloise are also displayed; since the influencer campaign began, these articles have moved up one to three ranking positions. This, in turn, generates more clicks and inbound inquiries for Baloise.

Influencer marketing and SEO are not mutually exclusive. Planning social content based on real search needs extends its lifespan and increases its value for users, especially when it comes to topics that require explanation. Social SEO is therefore not a short-term trend, but a strategic tool for brands that want to be not only visible but also discoverable on social media.

Responsible at House of Influence: Kerry Stieger (overall responsibility), Tanja Herrmann (strategy). Responsible at Baloise: Duri Campell, Manuel Thomas, Benjamin Kuckartz, Nathalie Dessing.

Google suffered a heavy defeat against the US competition authorities in the trial at the beginning of August. A judge in Washington ruled that the company had a monopoly in Internet search - and was defending it against competition by unfair means. Google intends to appeal against the ruling.

Focus on payments in the billions

At the center of the proceedings were the billion-dollar deals with which Google secured its place as the default search engine for years, for example in the Safari web browser on Apple's iPhones or in Firefox.

In his analysis of the case, judge Amit Mehta initially came to the conclusion that Google had a monopoly in the search engine market. This was supported, among other things, by the fact that the company could raise prices for advertisers without fear of negative consequences.

The deals with which Google became the default search engine on iPhones and in other browsers had cemented this market position - and this was prohibited action for a monopolist, Mehta ruled. At the same time, he emphasized several times in his approximately 280-page ruling that Google was superior to other search engines.

US government also sees a problem with artificial intelligence

Possible consequences of the ruling are currently being discussed in the proceedings. The Ministry of Justice mainly provided general information on its deliberations. However, it wrote that it wanted to use rules of conduct and structural measures to prevent the internet company from using its Chrome web browser, the app platform and the Android smartphone system, among other things, to the advantage of its search engine business.

The US government could also suggest that Google should share more information about its search engine with competitors. It is also considering how the position of websites could be strengthened vis-à-vis Google when it comes to using their data to train software with artificial intelligence.

Google warns of negative consequences

Google criticized that the government appears to be considering far-reaching measures, while the case is about distribution deals. This could have unplanned consequences for consumers, companies and the competitiveness of the USA, the company warned in a blog post.