While predictions suggested AI would reduce reliance on traditional search engines, new analysis of Canadian Google Trends data reveals a different story: business, health, and life insurance searches reached all-time highs in 2025.
This analysis examines Canadian insurance search patterns from 2020-2025, revealing that three of five major insurance categories hit record levels, validating findings from the United States that traditional search remains dominant for high-stakes financial decisions.
Key Findings
- Business, health, and life insurance searches reached all-time highs in 2025
- Business insurance surpassed its 2020 pandemic peak by 32%
- Life insurance searches increased 46% year-over-year—the highest growth rate
- Health insurance searches increased 17% year-over-year
- Home and car insurance remained near 2020 pandemic-era peaks
Methodology
This analysis examines Google Trends data from Canada, from January 2020 through December 2025 across five insurance keywords: business, home, car, health, and life insurance. Google Trends data is indexed on a 0-100 scale, where 100 represents peak search interest during the time period analyzed. Year-over-year percentage changes reflect changes in these index scores, not absolute search volumes. Geographic data represents proportional interest (share of searches by location), not total search volume. Data was collected on 01/01/2026 and analyzed by Insurance SEO SEM.
Business Insurance (All-Time High)
- Business insurance searches reached all-time highs in 2025, surpassing the previous 2020 pandemic peak by 32%
- Business insurance searches increased 43% in 2025 vs 2024
- 2025 peak score (100) occurred in December 2025
- 5 of the top 10 weeks for business insurance searches occurred in 2025
- Business insurance declined from 2020-2024 before surging in 2025
Home Insurance
- Home insurance searches in 2025 (77) remained 23% below the 2020 pandemic peak (100)
- Home insurance searches increased 20% in 2025 vs 2024
- Searches peaked in August and December 2025
- 5 of the top 10 weeks for home insurance searches occurred in 2025
- 2020 peak likely driven by early pandemic insurance shopping behavior
Car Insurance
- Car insurance searches in 2025 (96) approached but did not exceed the 2020 pandemic peak (100)
- Car insurance searches increased 12% in 2025 vs 2024
- 6 of the top 10 weeks for car insurance searches occurred in 2025
- Car insurance showed steady recovery from 2021-2025, nearly reaching 2020 levels
Health Insurance (All-Time High)
- Health insurance searches reached all-time highs in 2025
- Health insurance searches increased 17% in 2025 vs 2024
- 2025 peak score (100) was 61% higher than the 2020 peak (62)
- Searches peaked in December 2025, coinciding with business and life insurance
- 5 of the top 10 weeks for health insurance searches occurred in 2025
Life Insurance (All-Time High)
- Life insurance searches reached all-time highs in 2025
- Life insurance searches increased 46% in 2025 vs 2024—the highest year-over-year growth rate among all categories
- 2025 peak score (100) was 69% higher than the 2020 peak (59)
- Searches peaked in December 2025
- 7 of the top 10 weeks for life insurance searches occurred in 2025
Understanding the 2020 Baseline
The 2020 pandemic created unusual search patterns in Canada that differ from U.S. trends. Home and car insurance searches peaked in mid-2020 as Canadians faced lockdowns, economic uncertainty, and changes in insurance needs.
This pattern differs from the United States, where all five insurance categories hit all-time highs in 2025, with a disaster-driven spike in July following catastrophic Texas floods.
Comparison with United States
The Canadian data provides validation for U.S. trends, with important differences that strengthen the overall findings.
Similarities:
- Both countries saw business insurance reach all-time highs in 2025
- Both countries saw health insurance reach all-time highs in 2025
- Both countries saw life insurance reach all-time highs in 2025
- Both countries show that traditional search remains dominant for insurance decisions
Key Differences:
- All 5 vs 3 of 5: U.S. had all five categories hit records, Canada had three of five
- 2020 baseline: Canada’s home and car insurance peaked during mid-2020 pandemic, U.S. did not
- Timing: U.S. peaked in July 2025 (disaster-driven), Canada peaked in summer and December (varied by category)
- Growth leader: U.S. business insurance led (+89% YoY), Canada life insurance led (+46% YoY)
What This Means for the “AI Replacing Search” Narrative
It’s clear that AI-based insurance searches did not replace traditional search in 2025, the opposite happened and insurance searches on Google reached their highest point for Car, Home, Business, Health and Life insurance keywords.
“We went into 2025 expecting AI search tools to reduce traditional Google searches for insurance,” said Suren Pillai, founder of Insurance SEO SEM. “Instead, we’re seeing the opposite. 2025 had the highest insurance search volumes we’ve tracked in five years. After three years of predictions about search disruption, the data shows traditional search for insurance isn’t just surviving but it’s setting all time records”
What This Means for Insurance Marketing
The implications for Canadian insurance carriers, agencies, and brokers are clear:
SEO Remains Critical: Traditional search engine optimization is not just surviving—it’s generating record search volumes. With three insurance categories hitting all-time highs, organic visibility on Google directly translates to customer acquisition opportunities.
High-Intent Traffic: Insurance searches represent some of the highest-intent traffic available. These aren’t casual browsers—they’re consumers actively seeking coverage, often driven by urgent needs or major life events.
AI Search Co-Existing with SEO: Both channels will co-exist and serve complementary roles in the customer journey. AI-powered search tools excel at providing conversational answers to broad exploratory questions, while traditional search engines remain the preferred platform for finding insurance agencies and comparing quotes.
Media Enquiries
For interviews, dataset access, or additional information:
Suren Pillai
Founder, Insurance SEO SEM
Email: Suren@insuranceseosem.com
Website: insuranceseosem.com
