SEO For Financial Services

The Challenges of SEO for Financial Services

Before we can talk about how to get results, we first need to understand the roadblocks that are preventing financial websites from getting results. 

Once this is understood, it will be easier to create strategies to achieve results. 

The TL:DR is this…

– Legal obligations can slow down the output of work and hinder marketing campaigns. 

– Internal departments not working together can cause communication problems and mistakes.

– A lack of brand direction leaves financial companies without a clear path forward.

– Limited SEO personnel can make it difficult to effectively execute digital marketing strategies and achieve desired results. 

By establishing clear SEO strategies and utilizing data-driven decision-making, it becomes a lot easier to start making progress.

Legal Obligations Slow Down the Output of Work

One of the key areas of a website’s search engine optimization strategy is content. 

The content a company produces is a representation of their brand so every precaution needs to be taken to ensure that it’s factually correct and meets regulatory requirements. 

Often the content will spend time going from writer to legal team to editor, etc…

Navigating these kinds of obligations can slow down the output of work causing delays in marketing production.

Despite these compliance challenges and regulatory restrictions, a financial services website can’t afford to neglect SEO.

To overcome this challenge, companies must find ways to optimize their workflow while still adhering to regulations. 

Here are three tips for managing time effectively when dealing with legal reviews:

1. Set up clear communication channels between your legal team and the marketing department.
2. Create a timeline for reviews and approvals.
3. Consider hiring an internal writer who’s knowledgeable about legal requirements.

While compliance can create hurdles for financial services SEO, it’s important for companies to prioritize it in order to meet the high standards of the industry and build trust with consumers. 

Internal Departments Not Working Together

With different teams working independently of one another, you might find that your digital marketing efforts lack coherence and fail to reach their full potential. 

Communication breakdowns can lead to a fragmented approach towards SEO for companies in the financial services industry.

Internal politics and a lack of collaboration between departments can cause more headaches. This will only increase delays or even errors in the implementation of SEO strategies.

Independent teams often result in a lack of consistency across different channels, leading to confusion among customers and missed opportunities to increase brand visibility. 

To overcome this challenge, it’s crucial for companies to establish regular meetings involving all relevant departments and encourage open communication.

By doing so, it becomes easier to align goals, share knowledge and insights, and work towards a common objective.

Lack of Financial Brand Direction

Without a cohesive branding strategy, companies risk getting lost in the sea of competition and failing to differentiate themselves from others.

To overcome this challenge, financial companies should consider implementing these branding tactics:

• Develop brand messaging that speaks directly to niche markets
• Invest in customer loyalty programs that reinforce brand differentiation
• Create content that reflects the values and expertise of the company
• Use data-driven insights to make informed content and decisions about branding

By following these steps, companies can establish a strong brand identity that resonates with their target audience and sets them apart from competitors. 

This will not only help attract new customers but also build trust and loyalty among existing ones.

Not Enough Personnel to Be Effective

Limited resources often hinder financial companies from effectively executing their digital marketing strategies. 

With the highly competitive nature of financial services SEO, it’s necessary to have a team dedicated solely to this aspect of marketing. 

A lot of companies just don’t have enough employees with the expertise or time to handle all aspects of digital marketing.

One solution is digital automation, which can streamline certain processes and reduce the manual labour required for some tasks such as keyword research or content creation. 

Outsourcing solutions are also an option for companies that can’t afford full-time staff but still need quality work done on their website. 

It’s important to allocate a sufficient marketing budget towards digital efforts to ensure success in a competitive landscape. 

Incorporating these elements into a comprehensive SEO strategy will enable financial service companies to overcome resource limitations and achieve optimal results in their digital marketing efforts.

This is why understanding the importance of SEO for financial services cannot be overstated.

It’s crucial for building brand awareness, increasing online visibility and ultimately driving conversions in a highly regulated industry.

Why is SEO Important for Financial Companies

As a finance SEO agency, we understand the highly competitive nature of the financial industry and the importance of optimizing content for search engines.

E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) is necessary for companies dealing with Your Money or Your Life (Y.M.Y.L) topics like finance.

And collecting customer data can give you more power to make data-driven decisions and targeted marketing efforts.

A Highly Competitive Industry Requires Optimized Content

Mastering financial services SEO demands exceptional content. 

It’s an extremely competitive industry where quality content can generate natural links and boost search engine rankings. 

Optimization strategies, such as keyword research, competitor analysis, and on-page SEO techniques, are crucial for any financial website to rank highly on Google. 

However, the importance of creating valuable and informative content cannot be overstated.

When developing content for the financial services industry, it’s important to prioritize E-E-A-T.

This ensures that the content meets Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. 

This is especially crucial in Y.M.Y.L industries like finance where users require information from trustworthy sources.

E-E-A-T is Needed For a Y.M.Y.L Website

Experience, expertise, authority, and trust indicators are crucial for companies operating in the Y.M.Y.L (Your Money or Your Life) space.

Due to the nature of the finance industry, search engines like Google want to make sure that potentially life-effecting information is as accurate as possible. 

One of the biggest factors of this is having an expert write or review the content. 

If an expert such as a financial advisor or someone certified doesn’t have the time to write the content, it should at least be reviewed by them before publishing.

The credentials of the writer or reviewer should be displayed with the article in a bio. 

We also recommend creating an About Us page where possible. Include information about your team such as their experience and qualifications. 

Here are some other things you can do to improve your E-E-A-T:

• Include citations and high-quality links in your content
• Claim your social media profiles and link to them on your site
• Keep your content updated regularly 
• Create clear content that answers the searcher’s question (use headings, FAQs, etc)

With limited internal resources, partnering with an agency that specializes in SEO for the financial services sector can help optimize your website effectively. 

Collecting Data Gives Your Company More Information

By collecting and analysing relevant data, financial services companies can make informed decisions about their marketing strategies.

One of the biggest advantages of using data-driven approaches is the ability to gain insights into customer behaviour and preferences. 

This allows financial companies to tailor their marketing efforts to meet the needs of their target audience and provide a personalized experience.

Google Analytics and Google Search Console should be set up correctly so that they can start collecting data. 

This data can give you information on things such as

• Your top-performing content
• What keywords to optimize for
• What pages convert the most

This will allow you to get new content ideas, improve existing content, and much, much more. 

Link Building Becomes More Important for the Financial Services Sector

Link building is becoming increasingly crucial for financial companies to improve their SEO ranking. 

Effective strategies for link building include backlink outreach, collaborating with industry influencers, and utilizing content marketing. 

However, this can be difficult for finance websites as there’s a reluctance to do this for free as people understand how lucrative the industry is. 

Paying for backlinks is an option, but great care should be taken to ensure the legitimacy of the link.

It’s important to remember that quality over quantity is key. Spam links are a surefire way to get penalised by Google. 

You must prioritize acquiring links from reputable sources that are relevant to your industry and audience.

This is something that our finance SEO agency can help with. We can use our experience to help you outreach the right sources, build linkable assets, and assess link quality. 

Your Technical SEO Should Be Correct

Make sure you’re getting the most out of your website by ensuring that your technical SEO is on point. 

Technical SEO refers to the backend elements that impact search engine visibility, including site speed, mobile responsiveness, crawlability, and other off-page optimization. 

These factors are essential for ranking web pages well in search engines and providing a smooth user experience.

Optimizing your website for mobile devices is crucial since more people are using their smartphones to access financial services online. A slow-loading or poorly optimized website can lead to high bounce rates and lost conversions.

Investing in technical SEO can help improve the overall performance of your website. It will ensure that your website avoids any issues and is set up to succeed. 

Local Search Engine Optimization Can Improve Your Business’s Visibility

Boost your business’s local visibility and reach more potential customers by optimizing your website for local SEO. 

This is essential for local businesses or businesses that have brick-and-mortar locations. 

By using geo-targeted content, you can tailor your messaging to specific regions and attract customers within those areas. 

For example, having a page that targets the keyword “accountants in Sydney” will help you to receive local, highly targeted traffic to your business. 

You can expand this idea to all of the areas and locations your business covers. 

Remember that Google doesn’t like duplicate content, so you’ll need to create content that’s unique enough to not get penalised. 

Citation building can also be important for local SEO, as it involves getting your business listed on other relevant websites in your local area.

Google My Business/Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business, allows important information about your business to be displayed by Google in search results and on Google Maps. 

You should make sure that you have all your locations input and that the information displayed there is accurate and up-to-date.

This will not only improve your search visibility but also build trust with potential customers who are searching for financial services in their area. 

How to Do Financial Services SEO

If you want to improve your website’s visibility in the finance industry, there are several key points to focus on.

Conducting a technical SEO audit will help identify any technical issues that may be affecting your site’s performance.

Keyword research is crucial for understanding what terms and phrases potential customers are using to search for financial services.

Implementing on-page SEO techniques such as optimizing meta tags and creating high-quality content is essential for ranking higher in search engine results.

Building high-quality backlinks from reputable finance websites can also improve your site’s authority and visibility.

Lastly, analysing your competitors’ strategies can provide valuable insights and help you stay ahead in the competitive finance industry.

Technical SEO Audit

To effectively optimize your finance website for search engines, start by conducting a comprehensive technical SEO audit. 

This involves evaluating the different aspects of your website’s structure and performance to identify areas that need improvement.

Here are three key areas to focus on during your audit:

1. Content optimization: Ensure that your website has high-quality, relevant content that’s optimized for search engines. This includes using targeted keywords in your page titles, headings, and body text, as well as optimizing your meta data and tags such as meta descriptions and meta keywords.
2. Website structure: A well-organized website structure is crucial for both search engine crawlers and user experience. Make sure that your site has clear navigation menus, logical URL structures, and properly organized categories and subcategories.
3. Mobile optimization: With more people accessing the internet through mobile devices, it’s essential to have a mobile-friendly website. Optimize your site for mobile by using responsive design techniques, ensuring fast loading times on mobile devices, and providing a seamless browsing experience across different screen sizes.

In addition to these points, don’t forget to assess other technical aspects such as site speed, internal linking structure, XML sitemaps, and canonical tags. 

By conducting a thorough technical SEO audit and implementing necessary improvements based on the findings, you’ll be one step closer to improving your search engine rankings in the finance industry.

Keyword Research

Conducting thorough keyword research is essential for understanding the language and topics that resonate with your target audience. 

This allows you to create content that connects and drives organic traffic to your website. A strong content strategy starts with identifying user search intent and targeting relevant keywords.

By analysing search volume, competition level, and relevance to your business, you can uncover valuable long-tail keywords that have less competition but higher conversion potential. 

This will help you optimize your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) and attract qualified traffic.

To streamline the keyword research process, there are various SEO tools available that can aid in identifying relevant keywords, analysing competitor strategies, and tracking keyword performance over time. 

These tools provide valuable insights into search trends, search volumes, keyword difficulty scores, and related terms. 

Analysing Your Competitors

To gain a competitive edge, take a close look at what your rivals are doing and uncover insights that can help you outperform them. 

Conducting competitive analysis and market research is crucial for understanding the strategies and tactics your competitors are employing to rank higher in search engine results.

By studying their SEO techniques, you can identify areas where they excel and discover opportunities to improve your own website’s visibility. 

Start by conducting thorough industry analysis to identify who your main competitors are. Look for keywords related to the finance industry and see which websites consistently appear on the first page of search results.

Once you have identified these competitors, analyse their websites to understand their SEO benchmarking techniques. 

Pay attention to their site architecture, content structure, keyword targeting, and backlink profiles. This will give you valuable insights into what works well in the industry and help you identify areas where you can differentiate yourself.

Additionally, study your competitor’s content strategy by examining the type of content they produce and how they engage with their audience. 

Are they using blog posts, videos, or infographics? How frequently do they update their content? 

Understanding their approach will help you develop a more effective content strategy for your own website.

By thoroughly analysing your competitors’ SEO strategies and industry presence, you can gain valuable insights that will inform your own marketing efforts. 

Use this information as a foundation for developing strategic plans that will set you apart from the competition in the finance industry.

On-Page SEO

Content optimization plays a crucial role in the success of your SEO strategy in the finance industry.

You might publish a great article but if it’s not getting any traffic, what do you do?

Without continuous optimization, your content will disappear into the void and not be seen by anyone. 

Tweaking a few keywords or adding a few internal links can give life to content that would have otherwise been forgotten about. 

Use on-page SEO software to advise you on content length and the keywords that you should be including in your content. 

Google Search Console can show you what keywords you are getting impressions for but aren’t getting clicks. Including more of these keywords can give your content more chance of getting those clicks you’re missing out on. 

Remember that SEO takes time to take effect and it can work both ways. Articles that are already ranking on page one should be approached with more caution. 

Change one or two things and see what effect it has. Pages that aren’t ranking can be subject to more rigorous changes. 

On-page SEO tends to be more of an art than a science. What works for another website might not work for yours. 

This is why it helps to utilize the experience of an SEO agency that has experience not just in SEO but the finance industry. 

Link Building

Link building is like a bridge connecting your website to authoritative sources.

To establish a strong link profile, you need to develop an effective outreach strategy. 

This involves reaching out to relevant websites and influencers in the finance niche, offering them valuable content or resources that they can link back to.

By securing quality backlinks from reputable sources, you not only improve your search engine rankings but also attract more organic traffic.

One popular method of link-building is guest blogging. 

By writing high-quality articles for other finance websites and including a link back to your site within the content, you can gain exposure to their audience while simultaneously earning a valuable backlink.

Why Use an SEO Agency?

Simply put, high-quality SEO is incredibly important for your business to succeed long term. 

It can drive vast amounts of revenue and build trust and brand image. 

Everybody knows the saying: “You have to spend money to make money.” Investing in an SEO agency is no exception. 

By partnering with experts who understand the intricacies of search engine optimization, you’re setting yourself up for long-term success in the competitive world of finance.

Maybe you don’t have the resources or time to dedicate to SEO, or perhaps you’re not getting the results you desire. 

An SEO agency provides a solution to all of these issues while driving results for your finance business. 

SEO Finance Experience

Partnering with an SEO agency allows you to tap into their expertise and stay ahead of competitors.

It also allows you to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and algorithm updates in the constantly changing world of search engine optimization.

While your expertise is in finance, an SEO agency knows how to rank businesses in Google. 

You should look for agencies that have SEO finance experience specifically. 

When finance companies come to us, we have success stories that we share to demonstrate our experience. Any prospective SEO agency should be able to do the same. 

Tailored Digital Marketing Strategy

When you work with an SEO agency, you get another point of view. 

Someone that comes into your business with a technical mindset and the sole goal of improving your website’s organic search. 

When we work with finance companies we devise a specific strategy that is not only tailored to the finance industry but the specific company. 

This means we go through your website with a fine tooth comb to see what’s missing and what opportunities there are. 

It can be difficult to do this, even at large companies, if you don’t have finance SEO experience or time. 

SEO Support

Having an SEO expert on hand when you need them can be incredibly useful. 

Have a question or idea that you need to run past someone? Or need to outsource your tasks so your team can concentrate on the creative side of things?

This is one of the reasons our finance clients love working with us and stay our clients for years.