State-by-State Insurance SEO Playbook

State-by-State Insurance SEO: Building Organic Traffic Before You're Licensed in All 50 States

InsurTech companies do not launch nationwide. They expand state by state, constrained by DOI approval timelines, rate filing processes, and capital requirements that vary across every jurisdiction. A personal lines carrier licensed in 12 states is not ignoring the other 38 — they are waiting for Prior Approval sign-off, surplus lines authorization, or fronting carrier capacity in each new market. That expansion timeline creates a unique insurance SEO challenge: how do you build organic search presence in states where you cannot yet sell a policy?

The answer — and the strategy that separates fast-scaling InsurTechs from those that stall — is pre-launch SEO. Building indexed, ranking content for state-specific insurance queries months before your DOI filing clears means that when you do launch in Arizona or Ohio, you already have pages competing for "Arizona home insurance" and "Ohio auto insurance rates." Your competitors who wait until launch day to think about search are starting from zero while you are starting from page 2 — or page 1.

State-by-state insurance SEO is the practice of building organic search visibility in target states before DOI licensing is complete. By publishing educational content, rate comparison analysis, and market-specific pages ahead of launch, InsurTech companies capture demand from day one rather than waiting 6-12 months for new pages to index and rank. This is how B2B SaaS companies in regulated verticals turn regulatory lag into a competitive content advantage.

How State-by-State Insurance Expansion Actually Works

Insurance is regulated at the state level under the McCarran-Ferguson Act. There is no federal insurance license. Every InsurTech that wants to write policies in a new state must file rates and forms with that state's Department of Insurance, secure approval, and meet capital requirements — either as an admitted carrier or through a fronting carrier arrangement if operating as an MGA.

The filing process varies dramatically by state regulatory posture.

Prior Approval states require the DOI to approve rates before they take effect. Filing through SERFF, responding to examiner questions, and waiting for commissioner sign-off adds 90-180 days on top of the actuarial work. New York, New Jersey, and California fall in this category, and they represent some of the largest premium markets in the country.

File and Use states allow carriers to file and begin using rates simultaneously. The DOI reviews after the fact and can order rate rollbacks if it finds inadequacy, excessiveness, or unfair discrimination. This is faster to market but carries rollback risk.

Use and File states let carriers implement rates first and file within a specified window. This is the fastest path but available in fewer jurisdictions.

For an InsurTech expanding from 12 states to 30, the practical reality is a rolling 18-36 month expansion window. You cannot predict exactly when a state goes live because DOI review timelines are not fixed — they depend on examiner workload, the complexity of your rate filing, whether your actuarial memorandum raises questions, and whether the DOI has concerns about your loss ratio projections or capital position.

This expansion pattern is why pre-launch SEO matters. If you wait until a state goes live to publish content, you are adding 6-12 months of SEO ramp time on top of the regulatory timeline that already delayed your launch. The InsurTechs that build content ahead of approval collapse that ramp.

Why Pre-Launch SEO Is the Highest-ROI Growth Strategy for Expanding InsurTechs

The math is straightforward. New content takes 4-12 weeks to rank for low-competition keywords and 4-8 months for moderate-competition terms. State-specific insurance queries — "[state] home insurance rates," "[state] auto insurance comparison" — sit in that moderate range because national carriers dominate with established domain authority, but the long tail is competitive for well-structured pages.

If you publish state-specific content 6-9 months before your projected launch date, those pages have time to index, accumulate authority, and start ranking. When the DOI approval comes through and you flip the switch from "educational content" to "get a quote," you inherit whatever search position those pages have earned.

If you publish on launch day, you are invisible in organic search for months while your paid acquisition budget bears the full weight of demand generation. For InsurTechs managing CAC payback carefully — and every InsurTech founder we have spoken with is — that is a capital efficiency problem.

The Competitive Asymmetry

National carriers like State Farm, Allstate, and GEICO have state-specific pages for all 50 states. They have years of domain authority and millions of backlinks. An InsurTech cannot out-authority them on broad terms like "car insurance" in any state.

But national carriers have a content problem: their state pages are template-generated, thin, and focused on quote conversion. They rarely publish deep educational content about state-specific insurance dynamics — rate trends, regulatory environments, coverage requirements unique to the state, or market analysis that helps a consumer understand their options.

That is the gap. An InsurTech publishing genuinely useful state-specific content — not just a landing page with a "get a quote" button — can compete on long-tail queries that national carriers ignore. "California wildfire insurance options," "Florida hurricane deductible explained," "Texas auto insurance minimum coverage requirements" — these are high-intent queries where content depth beats domain authority.

State-Specific Keyword Strategy: The Three Tiers

Insurance keyword research at the state level follows a pattern. We break state-specific queries into three tiers based on intent and competitive difficulty.

Tier 1: "[State] + [Insurance Type]" Head Terms

These are the highest-volume, highest-competition queries: "California home insurance," "Texas auto insurance," "Florida renters insurance." National carriers own page 1 for most of these terms, and displacing them requires significant domain authority and link equity.

Pre-launch strategy: Do not target these head terms directly. Instead, build supporting content that targets the long tail around them. A page about "California home insurance" will not outrank State Farm. But a page about "California wildfire insurance coverage requirements" or "California FAIR Plan eligibility" can rank because national carriers do not publish at that depth.

Tier 2: State-Specific Regulatory and Comparison Queries

These mid-tail queries signal higher intent and lower competition: "[state] insurance rate comparison," "[state] DOI complaint process," "[state] minimum auto insurance requirements," "best home insurance in [state]." These queries come from consumers actively evaluating options — not just browsing.

Pre-launch strategy: This is the primary tier for pre-launch content. Educational pages that compare coverage options, explain state-specific requirements, and analyze rate trends can rank even without strong domain authority because the content itself is more comprehensive than what currently exists.

Tier 3: Hyper-Local and Niche Queries

City-level queries ("Austin renters insurance"), weather-event queries ("Colorado hail damage insurance"), and niche product queries ("Florida flood insurance gap coverage") represent the longest tail. Volume is lower per query, but aggregate traffic is significant — and conversion rates are highest because search intent is specific.

Pre-launch strategy: Build a content cluster around each target state that addresses 5-10 hyper-local or niche queries. These pages build topical authority for the state cluster and funnel link equity to the parent state page. When the state launches, the cluster already has internal linking structure and topical depth that Google recognizes.

Tier	Query Pattern	Competition	Pre-Launch Viability	Example
Tier 1: Head Terms	[State] + [insurance type]	Very high	Low — build supporting content instead	“California home insurance”
Tier 2: Regulatory/Comparison	[State] + rate/comparison/requirements	Moderate	High — primary pre-launch target	“Florida minimum auto insurance requirements”
Tier 3: Hyper-Local/Niche	[City] or [weather event] + insurance	Low	Very high — build clusters	“Colorado hail damage home insurance”

Content Types for Pre-Launch States vs. Active States

The content you publish in a state where you cannot yet sell policies must be fundamentally different from content in states where you are actively writing business. This is not just a strategic preference — it is a regulatory requirement. Publishing content that implies you are selling insurance in a state where you are not licensed creates DOI compliance risk.

Pre-Launch State Content (Educational, No Conversion)

In states where you are not yet licensed, content must be purely educational. No "get a quote" buttons, no rate calculators, no language that implies the reader can purchase a policy from you.

What to publish:

• State insurance market analysis. "The [State] Home Insurance Market: Rates, Trends, and What Homeowners Need to Know." This positions you as an authority on the state's insurance landscape without selling anything.
• Regulatory explainers. "How [State] Regulates Home Insurance Rates" — covering whether the state is Prior Approval, File and Use, or Use and File, what that means for consumers, and how rate filing affects pricing timelines.
• Coverage requirement guides. "What [State] Requires for Auto Insurance: Minimum Coverage Explained." Factual, helpful content that answers real consumer questions.
• Rate comparison content. "[State] Home Insurance Rates: How They Compare to the National Average." Data-driven analysis using publicly available rate data from DOI annual reports and industry sources.
• Weather and risk content. "Understanding Flood Risk in [State]" or "Wildfire Insurance in [State]: What Standard Policies Cover and What They Don't." State-specific risk analysis that positions your brand as knowledgeable about the market.

What NOT to publish:

• Landing pages with quote forms or CTAs to purchase
• Content that says "we offer" or "our policies" in that state
• Rate comparisons that position your own rates favorably (you do not have approved rates yet)
• Any content that could be interpreted as soliciting insurance business in an unlicensed state

Active State Content (Educational + Conversion)

Once licensed and approved, state pages evolve. The educational content remains — it is earning search traffic and topical authority. But you layer conversion elements on top.

What changes at launch:

• Add "get a quote" CTAs to existing educational pages
• Create a dedicated state landing page focused on conversion: "[State] Home Insurance from [Brand]"
• Update educational pages with internal links to your product pages
• Add structured data (FAQPage schema, Product schema) that references your actual offerings
• Launch state-specific paid campaigns with landing pages that complement organic content

The transition should be seamless to Google. You are not replacing content — you are expanding it. The educational pages keep their authority while new conversion-focused pages inherit the topical relevance of the cluster.

Multi-State URL Architecture: Getting the Technical Foundation Right

URL structure for state-specific content is a technical SEO decision that has long-term consequences. Choose wrong and you spend years dealing with redirect chains, duplicate content, and diluted page authority.

The Three Options

Option 1: Subdirectory structure — /states/california/, /states/texas/

This is the approach we recommend for most InsurTechs. All state content lives under a single directory, inheriting the domain's root authority. Each state gets a parent page with child pages for specific topics.

/states/california/
/states/california/home-insurance-guide
/states/california/auto-insurance-requirements
/states/california/wildfire-coverage

Why it works: Authority consolidation. Every page under /states/ benefits from the domain's overall link equity. Easy to manage at scale. Clean internal linking between state pages.

Option 2: Subdomain structure — california.yourbrand.com

Subdomains are treated as separate entities by Google. Each state subdomain starts from near-zero authority unless you actively build links to each one.

Why it fails for InsurTechs: You are already fighting for domain authority as a newer entrant. Splitting that authority across 50 subdomains compounds the problem.

The only scenario where subdomains make sense is if each state operates as a genuinely distinct business unit with separate branding — which is rare.

Option 3: Query parameters — yourbrand.com/insurance?state=california

Query parameters create crawling and indexing issues. Google may not treat parameterized URLs as distinct pages, leading to consolidation or ignoring of state-specific content.

Why it fails: You want Google to index each state page as a distinct, authoritative URL. Parameters work against that goal.

Implementation Details

Canonical tags: Every state page gets a self-referencing canonical URL. If you have pages that cover similar topics across states, ensure each one has enough unique content (state-specific data, regulatory details, rate comparisons) to avoid duplicate content flags.

Hreflang: Not typically needed for state-by-state US content since language does not change by state. However, if you publish content in Spanish for states with large Spanish-speaking populations (California, Texas, Florida), implement hreflang tags correctly.

Internal linking: Each state page links to its child pages, to adjacent state pages (geographic neighbors), and up to the national hub. This creates a hub-and-spoke structure at the state level that mirrors the overall site architecture.

Sitemap: Generate a dedicated sitemap section for state pages. As you expand into new states, new URLs get indexed faster when they are in the sitemap and linked from existing state pages.

How National Carriers Dominate — and Where InsurTechs Can Compete

Understanding the competitive landscape at the state level reveals where the opportunity actually sits.

Where National Carriers Win

National carriers — State Farm, GEICO, Progressive, Allstate, USAA — dominate broad state insurance queries. They have decades of domain authority, millions of backlinks, and brand recognition that influences click-through rates even when they do not hold position 1.

Their state pages follow a predictable pattern: state name in the H1, a paragraph of template content, a rate table, and a prominent "get a quote" CTA. These pages rank because of domain authority, not content quality. The pages themselves are thin — often under 500 words with minimal state-specific insight.

Where InsurTechs Can Win

The opportunity sits in the gap between what national carriers publish and what consumers actually need. Here is what national carrier state pages almost never include:

1. State regulatory context. Consumers searching "why did my home insurance go up in Florida" want to understand the regulatory and climate-risk dynamics driving rate increases. National carriers do not publish this analysis — it would draw attention to their own rate increases.

2. Rate trend analysis. "Average home insurance rates in [state] over the last 5 years" is a query with real search volume. The content that answers it well — with actual DOI-sourced data, not vague claims — can outrank national carrier pages because national carriers do not publish rate trend content.

3. Coverage gap education. "What does home insurance NOT cover in [state]?" — flood exclusions in coastal states, earthquake exclusions in California, windstorm deductible specifics in hurricane-prone states. Consumers search these questions in high numbers, and the content that answers them thoroughly builds trust with exactly the audience you want.

4. Market comparison content. "Best home insurance companies in [state]" — these queries are dominated by affiliate sites and comparison platforms (NerdWallet, Bankrate, Policygenius). InsurTechs with genuine market knowledge can compete by publishing more rigorous, less affiliate-driven comparison content.

5. Climate and risk content. State-specific risk content — wildfire zones in California, hail corridors in Texas and Colorado, hurricane exposure in Florida — connects insurance to the real-world risk factors that drive consumer purchasing decisions. This content attracts links naturally because journalists and local media cite it.

Avoiding Regulatory Risk with Pre-Launch Content

This is the constraint that makes insurance SEO fundamentally different from every other vertical. You cannot publish content that implies you are selling insurance in a state where you are not licensed. DOIs monitor this, and violations can delay or jeopardize your licensing application.

The Bright Lines

Do not:

• Use language like "our policies," "we offer," "get covered," or "buy insurance" for unlicensed states
• Place quote forms, rate calculators, or "get a quote" CTAs on pre-launch state pages
• Position your brand's rates favorably against competitors (you do not have approved rates)
• Create pages that could be interpreted as soliciting insurance business without a license

Do:

• Publish educational content framed as market analysis: "Understanding the [State] Insurance Market"
• Use third-person framing when discussing insurance options: "Homeowners in [State] can compare..." rather than "We provide homeowners in [State]..."
• Include disclaimers noting availability varies by state
• Link to your "states we serve" page so consumers can see where you are currently licensed

The Lemonade Model

Lemonade handles multi-state availability with clear "where available" language and state-specific disclaimers. Their content acknowledges state-by-state expansion without implying universal availability. Their legal footer specifies which entities are licensed in which states. This is the model to follow: transparent about where you operate, educational about markets where you do not yet.

Content Transition Checklist

When a state moves from pre-launch to active:

1. Update state landing page with conversion CTAs and product information
2. Add "get a quote" functionality to existing educational pages
3. Update internal links to point to new product/conversion pages
4. Add Product and Offer schema markup
5. Update your "states we serve" page
6. Remove any "coming soon" or "not yet available" disclaimers
7. Submit updated URLs to Google Search Console for re-crawling
8. Launch state-specific paid campaigns that complement organic content

Learning from InsurTech Expansion Playbooks

The InsurTechs that have scaled most effectively across states provide tactical lessons in how content strategy intersects with geographic expansion.

Lemonade: Content-First Expansion

Lemonade expanded from renters insurance in New York to multi-line coverage across a majority of US states. Their approach: build brand awareness nationally through content and PR, then activate conversion in each state as licensing completes. Their blog — which publishes investor-grade financial analysis alongside consumer education — creates brand recognition in states before Lemonade can sell there.

The SEO implication: by the time Lemonade launches in a new state, consumers already know the brand from content they have encountered. Branded search volume ("Lemonade insurance [state]") exists before the product does because the content engine built awareness ahead of licensing.

Root Insurance: Telematics as Content Differentiator

Root's expansion from Ohio to multi-state availability followed the MGA-to-carrier path. They operated as an MGA initially for faster state entry (6-12 months for state filings vs. 18-24 months for carrier licensing), then acquired a carrier license for long-term unit economics.

Root's content differentiator is their telematics dataset — 34 billion miles of driving data. State-specific content about driving behavior, risk patterns, and how telematics pricing works in different states gives Root a content angle that national carriers cannot replicate because traditional carriers price based on demographic proxies, not behavioral data.

Hippo: Risk-Forward Content

Hippo built its homeowners insurance expansion around proactive protection — smart home technology, maintenance education, and risk mitigation. Their annual Housepower Report, with regional breakdowns and state-level risk data, creates the kind of authoritative content that earns links and AI citations at the state level.

Their approach of publishing regional risk analysis (Pacific region leads earthquake insurance adoption at 28%, Mountain region lags in supplemental coverage despite wildfire risk) creates state-adjacent content that ranks for risk-specific queries consumers search when evaluating coverage options.

Jerry: Aggregation as SEO Strategy

Jerry, the insurance comparison app, demonstrates a different model. As an aggregator rather than a carrier, Jerry can publish comparison content across all 50 states without licensing constraints. Their state-specific pages ranking for "best car insurance in [state]" queries capture demand that individual carriers struggle to compete for because carriers cannot credibly compare themselves to competitors.

The lesson for InsurTechs that are carriers or MGAs: even if you cannot publish comparison content that includes your own rates, you can publish market analysis that positions you as the most knowledgeable brand in each state market. When consumers encounter your content first, they seek you out by name. We see this same pattern across top B2B SEO agencies — the brands that invest in educational content ahead of direct conversion consistently outperform those that lead with sales-first pages.

The AEO Dimension: How AI Handles State-Specific Insurance Queries

AI search tools are increasingly where consumers start insurance research. When someone asks ChatGPT "What is the best home insurance in Florida?" or asks Perplexity "How much does car insurance cost in California?", the AI constructs an answer from sources it can parse and cite.

This creates a new competitive dimension for state-by-state insurance content. The content that AI models cite is content that is:

• Structured with clear state-specific data. Comparison tables, rate tables, and coverage breakdowns in HTML format that AI can extract.
• Direct-answer formatted. The first sentence of each state page should directly answer the query: "Average home insurance in Florida costs approximately $X per year, driven by hurricane exposure, flood risk, and rising reinsurance costs."
• Entity-clear. AI models need to understand who is publishing the content and whether the entity is authoritative on the topic. Schema markup, consistent NAP data, and clear author attribution signal authority.
• Factual and current. AI models prefer recent, verifiable data. State insurance rate data with DOI sources, published dates, and clear attribution gets cited over vague claims.

For InsurTechs building state-by-state content, AEO optimization means structuring every state page so AI models can extract the key data points — average rates, coverage requirements, regulatory context — and attribute them to your brand.

The brands that own the AI citation layer for state insurance queries will have a compounding advantage. As AI search grows — Forrester reports 2x as many B2B buyers named AI as their most meaningful information source versus any other source — the citations earn brand awareness that feeds both organic and direct traffic.

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We build content strategies for InsurTech companies navigating state-by-state expansion. If your organic search presence is not growing ahead of your regulatory timeline, we should fix that — reach out to start.

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Building the Pre-Launch Content Calendar

Operationalizing state-by-state SEO requires a content calendar aligned to your expansion roadmap. Here is how to structure it.

9-12 Months Before Projected Launch

• Publish the state market analysis page (educational, no conversion)
• Publish 2-3 state-specific educational articles (coverage requirements, rate trends, risk analysis)
• Begin building internal links from national hub to state pages
• Submit state pages to sitemap and Google Search Console

6-9 Months Before Launch

• Publish additional supporting content (city-level pages for the state's largest metros, niche coverage topics)
• Build external links to state content through PR and outreach targeting state-level insurance media
• Monitor keyword rankings to identify which state queries are gaining traction
• Adjust content based on ranking data — double down on queries where you are on page 2-3

3-6 Months Before Launch

• Prepare conversion-layer content (quote landing page, product comparison page) but do not publish until licensed
• Create paid campaign assets that align with organic content themes
• Build email/SMS capture on educational pages (newsletter signup, not quote request)

Launch Day

• Activate conversion elements on existing state pages
• Publish dedicated conversion landing page
• Launch paid campaigns
• Update structured data with product and offer schema
• Monitor organic traffic patterns — pages that were ranking educationally should see conversion uptick immediately

Multi-State Content Operations: Scaling Without Template Rot

The biggest risk in multi-state content is template rot — publishing the same page 50 times with only the state name changed. Google devalues thin, duplicated content. AI models ignore it because there is nothing unique to extract. Consumers bounce because the content does not actually address their state-specific questions.

The Unique Content Threshold

Every state page needs at least 40% unique content. The remaining 60% can follow a template structure (coverage types, how insurance works, how to file a claim), but the unique portion must address:

• State-specific regulatory environment. Is it a Prior Approval, File and Use, or Use and File state? What are the DOI's current priorities?
• State-specific risk factors. Hurricane exposure, wildfire risk, hail corridors, earthquake zones, flood plains — the natural perils that drive coverage decisions and rate levels.
• State-specific rate context. How do average rates compare to national averages? What is driving rate increases or decreases? What recent DOI actions have affected the market?
• State-specific coverage requirements. Minimum auto liability limits, required coverage types, unique state mandates (e.g., PIP requirements in no-fault states, windstorm deductible regulations in coastal states).

Content Production at Scale

For InsurTechs expanding into 5-10 states per year, producing genuinely unique state content at pace requires a systematic approach:

1. Build a state data template that pulls from public DOI data, III (Insurance Information Institute) reports, and NAIC market share data. This gives each state page a unique data foundation.
2. Assign state content in geographic clusters. Write Southeast states together (shared hurricane risk, similar regulatory postures), then Mountain West (wildfire, hail), then Northeast (aging housing stock, high density). Adjacent states share research efficiency.
3. Update annually. State insurance markets change — rate filings, new regulations, catastrophe events. Budget for annual refreshes of state content to maintain accuracy and freshness signals.

Content Element	Template (Shared)	Unique per State
How insurance works	Yes	No
Coverage types explained	Partial	State-specific requirements and mandates
Rate comparison data	No	Yes — DOI data, state averages
Regulatory environment	No	Yes — filing type, DOI posture, recent actions
Risk factors	No	Yes — perils, climate, geography
Claims process	Partial	State-specific timelines and requirements
FAQ section	Partial	State-specific questions and answers

Local SEO for Insurance Agents vs. National SEO for Carriers

There is a fundamental distinction between local SEO for insurance agencies and the national multi-state SEO strategy we have been discussing. InsurTechs operating direct-to-consumer compete for national and state-level queries. But InsurTechs that distribute through independent agents — and independent agents still place 62% of all US P&C premiums — need a different SEO strategy for the agent channel.

Agent-Facing SEO

When independent agents search for carriers to represent, they use queries like "[carrier name] agent appointments," "best homeowners insurance carriers for independent agents in [state]," and "MGA programs for independent agents." These are B2B queries with completely different intent than consumer insurance searches.

Content targeting the agent channel should address:

• Appointment opportunities and commission structures
• Technology support for agents (agent portals, quoting tools, policy management)
• Carrier financial strength and AM Best ratings
• Lines of business available through the agent channel
• State-specific appointment requirements

Consumer-Facing SEO

Consumer queries — "[state] home insurance," "cheapest car insurance in [state]," "insurance company reviews" — are what most people think of as "insurance SEO." This is where the state-by-state strategy we have outlined applies directly.

The Dual-Channel Strategy

InsurTechs that distribute through both direct-to-consumer and agent channels need both strategies operating simultaneously. The content architecture should separate these clearly:

• /states/[state]/ — consumer-facing state content
• /agents/ or /partners/ — agent-facing appointment and partnership content
• /blog/ — content that serves both audiences depending on topic

This separation prevents the confusion that arises when agent-facing and consumer-facing content compete for the same keywords or when a consumer lands on an agent appointment page.

The State-by-State Playbook: Putting It All Together

State-by-state insurance SEO is not a single tactic — it is a content architecture decision that aligns with your regulatory expansion timeline. The InsurTechs that treat content as an asset that appreciates ahead of licensing will consistently outperform those that treat it as a post-launch afterthought.

The approach works because it exploits a timing asymmetry: regulatory approval takes 3-18 months, SEO ramp takes 4-12 months, and both timelines run in parallel when you start content early. Wait for one to finish before starting the other, and you double your time-to-organic-revenue in every new state.

For InsurTech founders and Heads of Growth managing state expansion, the question is not whether to invest in pre-launch SEO. It is whether you can afford the compounding cost of not doing it — state after state, quarter after quarter, while competitors who started content early are already capturing the demand you need.

The insurance vertical is uniquely suited to this strategy because the regulatory environment forces sequential launches. In verticals without state licensing requirements, companies launch everywhere simultaneously. In insurance, the constraints create the opportunity. Content fills the gap between where you want to be and where regulators have allowed you to operate — and it keeps working after the gap closes.

For a deeper look at how the regulatory timeline affects insurance content strategy, read our analysis of the 18-month rate filing gap. For InsurTech companies building their broader content infrastructure across regulated verticals, explore our approach to SEO for B2B SaaS, our managed content engine for SaaS, and how AEO optimization helps insurance brands get cited in AI search results.

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Building organic search presence ahead of state launches is the highest-ROI growth strategy for expanding InsurTechs. If you are expanding into new states and your content strategy is not running 6-12 months ahead of your licensing timeline, we should talk.