SEO for Financial Services: Advice for 2024 Success
What is SEO for Financial Services?
SEO for financial services is a key digital marketing strategy for banks. It helps potential customers find their websites in search engine results. In other words, SEO for financial services firms uses relevant searches to boost traffic to your site. You must provide helpful information, make sure your website is safe and secure, and get worthwhile backlinks from websites with a lot of authority if you want to rank.
As a financial services provider, expect increased scrutiny from search engines and users. To ensure that your SEO content is excellent, you need to put in extra effort. After all, you’re asking people to trust you with their financial future.
What is SEO for Financial Services?
Improved Branding/ Awareness
When customers often see your brand in their searches, they’ll grow more familiar and confident with it. One way to do this is to have quality, SEO-optimised content on your website and social media for financial services. For example, this content can solve your audience’s problems. This will make people more comfortable with your business. You pay attention to their demands.
More people will be aware of your financial services company as it will start showing up in more search results. They will associate your brand as one of the biggest names in finance in no time. If your content meets their needs, you’ll build credibility. You’ll establish yourself as an authority.
Improved traffic to the website
A good SEO plan will boost your site’s organic traffic. That’s the most obvious result. More people will see your content and click your site. This will help you rank higher for relevant keywords.
Better conversions with user experience
Optimising your website for search engines can improve user experience. After all, attracting and retaining users to your financial services website depends on its ease of use.
For example, your website should:
- Easy to use
- Have relevant and clear information
- Performs admirably on all devices
What are the SEO challenges of the financial services industry?
The financial services sector has some particular disadvantages when it comes to SEO.
A more competitive environment
The fintech and financial services industries won’t slow. As more small firms and SaaS providers enter the market, the finance sector becomes more fragmented.
To stand out in this crowded field, content must exceed expectations. It must also meet the needs of a well-defined target audience.
SEO must be used to generate more leads
One of the best ways to get new B2B leads for your company is through SEO. It is increasingly used by financial institutions. So, to rank high and attract potential customers, every business needs to put in more effort.
Emphasis on SEO to generate leads
Additionally, SEO has been shown to be a reliable source of superior B2B leads. More well-known financial firms are using SEO to generate leads.
This means every business must work hard to rank high and win clients.
Complex Subject
The financial services and fintech industries are expanding. More small businesses and software providers are entering the market. This is creating a highly competitive industry.
To get noticed in this crowded market, you need to consistently provide excellent content. During this process you should tailor your content to your target audience.
You need to use different SEO strategies:
- Check search engine results to create a content plan.
- Use the primary keyword in the URL.
- Optimise meta descriptions and titles.
- Put keywords in the headline and body copy. Give a photo alt text.
- Make the page easy to read.
- Attach additional pages to your website with links
- Link new pages to relevant pages on the current site
It shows the need for a team member who knows financial services. This highlights the importance of having a well-versed team member in financial services. Or, partnering with an agency that excels in SEO content.
High level of subject complexity
Choosing an insurance plan or how to spend your resources are stressful, tough decisions. Therefore, to meet client needs, financial services must exceed mere fillers.
Your SEO success as a financial services provider depends on your ability to master the industry’s complexities. Furthermore, you will be able to simplify complex concepts so that your potential clients can understand them.
Raised content quality requirements
In other words, financial services information is important. It can affect people’s finances, emotions, and safety. For this reason, when we write about finances, we often refer to it as “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) content.
Bad info can make choosing the wrong health insurance worse than picking a bad coffee maker. Financial services firms should therefore exercise extreme caution when creating their content.
For this reason, Google examines YMYL pages more closely. Google’s search results will only show the best content at the top.
What happens when internal resources are limited?
Financial institutions, such as banks and investment businesses, often have resource constraints. This may indicate that adequate funds, appropriate technology or labour are not available.
These businesses find that it can soon become expensive to promote themselves and increase their web presence. This is especially valid if they try to connect with customers in different ways.
These businesses should ideally have a staff that is fully equipped with the necessary knowledge and tools to do the job at hand.
If that’s not possible, they might consider working with a marketing or SEO firm. These companies have teams of experts with deep industry knowledge. They also have access to state-of-the-art equipment. These devices are usually too expensive for a single organisation to purchase.
Marketing difficulties for a tightly regulated organisation
The financial services sector faces tough laws. So, navigating the fast-changing Internet market can be tough.
These businesses must follow Google’s ad rules for financial products and services, as well as all laws. These include federal, state, and local laws.
Once we understand the challenges facing the financial sector, we will be better equipped to execute a solid SEO and marketing plan.
Legal Challenges for SEO and Digital Marketing
Due to the numerous, strict rules, it can stall marketing procedures while a legal team examines your product.
This can result in incomplete changes to the website or a backlog of material awaiting approval.
Preventing legal concerns and stopgaps can be achieved in two ways:
- Bring a writer with a legal background and experience understanding complex laws to your team.
- As part of their job, assign a writer. They will work with a legal team member who helps with content and marketing evaluation.
How success is slowed by silos
The stringent requirements mentioned above can cause silos to develop between departments.
This means that departments in the same organisation won’t talk much or share plans and information often.
Hold monthly internal meetings with all relevant departments. This will prevent silos in your organisation.
Disagreement can lead to brand dissonance
Inconsistency in brand perception is a potential consequence of organisational silos. Lack of a unified brand voice leads to brand inconsistency and a lost opportunity to connect with your target audience.
The most common problem with inconsistent branding is that customers don’t fully understand your mission or values. Ultimately, this can make your business seem like it lacks a distinct character.
Strict brand guidelines for all employees can prevent brand inconsistency. They ensure clients have a consistent experience throughout the customer journey.
Consequences of insufficient internal resources
Limited internal resources are another significant challenge facing financial industry companies. This can take the form of personnel, technology or departmental budgets.
Marketing campaigns and SEO can get expensive if you want to reach users through various channels and touchpoints.
In a perfect world, your crew is already variously skilled and well-equipped.
If not, hiring a marketing or SEO agency can help. You’ll get a team of pros with industry knowledge and access to expensive, advanced tools
Satisfied customers who prioritise digital
Digital-first customers expect a seamless experience accessing their financial services. They want to use an app, website, or email.
According to a recent report, 55% of Americans prefer to use a mobile app in particular, and 85% of Americans prefer to bank online.
Many financial institutions struggle to meet their customers’ high expectations. They lack the necessary resources.
People demand a perfect website or app. If you can’t make both work smoothly, hold off on the app. Focus on building a great website for your financial services instead.
Essential SEO Strategies for Financial Services
1. Test your current SEO
It’s helpful to first know where your site’s SEO stands now. It can help you determine the amount of work required to improve your current pages, find new prospects, and more.
This can always be addressed by individually comparing each section of your website to SEO best practices. If you want to move faster, consider hiring an SEO checker tool. It will automatically audit your site and point out where to focus your efforts.
2. Conduct a content assessment
A thorough examination of your current website elements is the next step. Check your main YMYL pages and ask the following questions:
- Are they sufficiently thorough and genuinely helpful?
- Are they current (for example, do they cover newly enacted regulations)?
- Do they employ natural, unambiguous headings and are they well-structured and readable?
- Are they easy enough for your intended audience to read and understand?
- Are their meta titles and descriptions interesting and original? Users will notice them on Google before they click on your page
- Duplicate any content on your website?
The easiest way to get your site up in the rankings is to fix the content that already exists. It is a low-effort, high-value activity.
3. Test different keywords
Once you’ve improved your current pages, use keyword research to find new content opportunities. Find the topics and terms people are using to search. For example, matters related to your primary financial services organisation. Understanding the purpose of keywords is essential to guide your SEO strategy.
4. Analysis of competitors
Knowing who your primary organic competitors are is important. They may not necessarily be your direct competitors in the same sector. Check your competitors’ content once you’ve made a list of them to identify any gaps or sources of inspiration.
5. Create instructional materials for your audience.
It will likely have sections on your website. They will outline your financial services, costs, and other details. But, true SEO success lies in providing consumers with detailed instructions. Do it without an overt sales pitch.
For the common man, things related to money can be very overwhelming. A large number of them will seek guidance and advice. You will simultaneously improve your SEO and help your users solve their problems.
Following are some of the benefits of emphasising instructional content:
- This helps Google understand and rank semantically related queries on your site.
- It establishes you as an expert in the financial services industry.
- Websites prefer to link to helpful educational content over sales pages. So, you will get more external links.
- You put value in front of potential clients, which makes it easier to convert them into leads later on.
6. Improve your E-A-T
Along with this, you also need to think about E-A-T for your website and content. The acronym E-A-T, which stands for “Efficiency, Authority and Trust,” is used by Google. Google raters use this to assess the quality of a website, and it is particularly relevant when considering YMYL pages.
E-A-T says your info must be reliable. Your org should be an authority. You should show real expertise in your subject.
It is not possible to “hack” your E-AT by standing up quickly. To get valuable links from trusted sites, create great content. Then, build your reputation over time. However, there are some reasonably simple steps you can take to increase your chances:
- Make sure your “Contact” and “About Us” sections are comprehensive and useful. It demonstrates accountability and transparency.
- Use author pages, bios, and social media to highlight your experts’ credentials. It’s a plus to have a financial advisor with over 20 years of content writing experience.
- To build trust, get unbiased client testimonials and post them on your website.
- Try to get reputable sites to link to your insightful instructional content.
7. Technical SEO Check
When it comes to automated site crawlers, technical SEO mostly refers to how easy it is for robots to scan and index your website. This broad topic, too big to address here, is about improving your website design. The goal is to make it easier for users and search engines to find your important pages.
Here are several methods to achieve this:
- Make sure your main pages don’t use a “noindex” tag and are therefore indexable.
- Maintain an XML sitemap with a list of all your important pages.
- If a page is duplicated somewhere, use the canonical tag to direct users to the “master” version of the page.
- To make it easier for users to reach your main content sections, improve your navigation menu.
- Leverage internal links to direct visitors to relevant pages.
8. Mobile optimization and speed boost
In the digital age we live in today, speed is very important. Slow-loading websites are not only annoying, but they can also drive visitors away, which will lower your site’s conversion rate. It’s important to find and fix any issues that cause page load times to lag.
Along with speed, mobile optimization is essential. Having a mobile-friendly website is essential because mobile devices account for more than half of all web traffic. In other words, your website must be easy to use on touchscreens. It should load quickly on mobile devices and fit different screen sizes.
When ranking pages, Google considers both site speed and mobile friendliness. As a result, these elements are essential for both improving user experience and SEO success.
9. Improvement of the local SEO
When searching for information or thinking about making a purchase, users often look for local businesses. As a result, you need to focus on local SEO and use keywords unique to your area to rank. A search for “financial advisors in London” will reveal an investment company in London that provides financial advice.
If your business has offices in multiple cities, make sure each one has a separate Google My Business page that is claimed. It lets you customise the contact details displayed, how your company information is organised and even welcomes local consumer reviews to boost your rating.
10. Monitor and improve off-page SEO
Everything that happens outside of your website but has the potential to affect its search ranking is called off-page SEO. This mainly relates to backlinks from outside sources. It can include social media chats, unlinked brand mentions, and other things about your business. Off-page SEO elements are out of your direct control unlike your website.
Still, it’s important to monitor and improve any off-page SEO activity. Contact the website owner and request a backlink if you see a mention of your brand without a page. After creating your content, launch a campaign. Get backlinks from reputable sites in your financial niche or business.
Important Financial Services SEO KPIs
There are several key performance indicators (KPIs) you must keep track of to measure how successful your SEO approach is. These KPIs will provide you with information about the effectiveness of your approach and its shortcomings.
Page by Page SEO Ranking
Find important search terms found during keyword research by examining the placement of your pages. You can measure the success of your SEO efforts by keeping track of how visible they are in search engines
Impressions
Track how often your pages appear in search results for relevant keywords. More impressions can lead to more traffic from greater visibility.
Organic Traffic
Organic Traffic Track how many people find your website through search engine rankings. A high amount of organic traffic is a sign of well-executed SEO.
Engagement Metrics
To truly understand how people interact with your website, you must measure user engagement.
Taking into account aspects of user engagement such as:
- Time spent on a page
- Amount of pages viewed in a single session
- Bounce Rate: The proportion of your website visitors who leave after viewing just one page
Conversions From Organic Reach
Keep track of both big decisions (like buying your service) and small decisions (like subscribing to a newsletter). You can calculate the financial value of your SEO efforts by measuring.
How Webheadway, a financial SEO agency, can help you
With years of experience, we are a financial SEO company. Webheadway is an authority on FinTech SEO, SEO for Financial Advisors and consequently SEO Finance. Put another way, we will design and implement a strategy to increase your website’s visibility and attract more users.
Our SEO offerings include the following:
- Content Marketing
- Online advertising
- Website design and development
- Establishing and developing a brand
Your website will get more visits and rank higher in search results when you partner with us. This will pique the curiosity of prospects and increase the likelihood that they will hire your services.
Why should you use Webheadway to run your financial services SEO campaign?
If you want to use SEO and content marketing to reach the right audience, consider a specialized firm like Mint Studio. Some of these reasons are:
1. No need to edit and reedit your content: We specialize in financial services
As we focus exclusively on the financial services sector, we have extensive knowledge about it. We write on a wide range of financial topics, such as:
- Payment processing
- Money for shipment
- Identity fraud
- Investing
- Financial markets
- Accessible banking
- And much more!
We know the nuances of financial services. They include avoiding absolute claims or using proper disclaimers.
Our background helps to better understand some of the more complex issues such as open banking, trading options and payment processing. Also, we have extensive experience with compliance departments. We ensure disclosures are compliant.
This means you can create high-quality content for a sophisticated audience. And, you can start creating it right away.
2. You’ll get revenue and subscribers, not just SEO audits and blog posts
We will work with you in a strategic role and focus on your primary goal of acquiring clients through content, which is revenue.
While many SEO companies focus on blog volume, traffic and rankings, we will help you with clients, MQL and SQL. Again, why rank higher for “top savings tips” if your target audience isn’t searching for it?
After reading the sections above, you will see our approach works. It aims to generate leads and acquire customers.
We’ll handle setup, reporting and tracking, and operate a plan that prioritizes client acquisition over traffic.
3. You can schedule time in advance to work on other things
There are many moving elements involved in understanding the Google algorithm and content marketing.
- Writing techniques
- Conversations with experts
- Extinction
- Content optimization (title tags, meta descriptions, on-page SEO, etc.)
- Distribution
- Link development and backlinks
- Metric tracking and reporting
To properly manage content marketing, a small team is actually needed. A content marketing agency is an extension of your marketing team. It can handle every aspect of content marketing. A freelancer or SEO firm may only handle part of this. If so, you must do the rest or work with another freelancer or SEO agency.
Everything is handled by a full-service content marketing firm like Mint Studio, including strategy, writing, publishing, distribution, and ROI tracking. You don’t have to worry about how your content marketing is doing because you’ll receive a report every month that includes the results of your content.
The related post that you can read about more about Financial SEO:
What’s unique about doing SEO in financial services?
How to implement financial services SEO that gets results
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