SEO for Mortgage Brokers
Being a mortgage broker, your website faces tough competition and falls under a YMYL niche. To get to the top you need a mortgage broker SEO strategy to separate you from the rest.
That’s where our expertise comes into play. With years of experience, our SEO agency understands the financial sector’s unique challenges. We’ll use that experience to share the tactics we use when doing SEO for mortgage brokers.
SEO for Mortgage Brokers
Now more than ever it’s necessary to thoroughly understand SEO to ensure your website is prominently displayed in search engine results.
Effective mortgage website SEO means improving your online presence so that when potential clients search for mortgage-related services, your site is easily found. The higher your placement in search results, the greater the number of visitors to your site. This is a huge factor for business expansion and staying competitive.
Keyword Research
Finding the search phrases potential homeowners use when hunting for mortgage advice is your key goal in keyword research. Your mission is to make your site into a go-to hub for mortgage guidance. This will increase website traffic and your site’s credibility with Google, potentially pushing your pages up in the search results.
Make sure to highlight what makes your mortgage brokerage stand out. These services are your pillar pages which will be landing pages for your main services. Utilise SEO tools like Ahrefs or Answer the Public to generate ideas for content clusters that fully cover everything related to your mortgage broker services.
For example, if “First-Time Home Buyer Tips” is one of your specialties, you might want to focus on content like:
- Essential Steps for First-Time Home Buyers
- How to Choose the Right Mortgage Plan
- Navigating Home Buying: A Guide for Newbies
With these topics in hand, it’s time to craft informative content and establish a network of internal links.
Internal Linking Structure
Internal linking is more than just connecting pages; it needs to be a methodical approach. By guiding visitors through your marketing funnel, you’re not only making their experience better but also strengthening how search engines understand your site’s structure.
An outline of your keyword and internal link structure could be as follows:
Homepage > Pillar Page > Articles
Homepage > First-Time Homebuyer’s Guide > Navigating the Mortgage Pre-Approval Process
This would be the initial structure for building out one topic cluster. You would then need to write all the articles for each pillar page. The internal linking structure could then look something like this:
- Each article links to the pillar page
- Each article receives at least one link from another article in the cluster
- Each pillar page links back to the homepage
There’s no need to over-optimise when internal linking so avoid using exact match anchor text too often. For example, if your article is targeting the keyword “Is a mortgage broker necessary”, you don’t want to use this phrase for links too often; vary it up.
Also, internal linking distributes link equity throughout your site, which could positively affect the search rankings of various pages, not just the homepage.
Relevant Content Strategy
We’ve spoken about how to develop a strategy but you also need to put that strategy into place. How is the content going to be created? How often? Where do you start?
Your strategy should begin with things that are going to move the needle for your mortgage broker business the most. Establish what your main services are and what has the most return on investment. From there it should be easier to decide on where to go first.
Also, come up with a plan for how the content should look. Remember to produce content that exhibits your company’s expertise, you’ll attract more visitors to your site and build credibility with your audience.
Regularly update your blog with the latest industry developments and useful advice to give readers a reason to keep coming back. This not only maintains their interest but also prompts them to consider your services more seriously.
Your strategy should also include:
- Structured data
- Keyword rich headings
- Meta descriptions
- FAQs
A robust SEO strategy isn’t only focused on keywords; it’s about offering valuable content that encourages visitors to stay, learn, and ultimately, select you as their mortgage provider.
Local SEO for Targeted Leads
Improving the visibility of your mortgage brokerage in local searches can be hugely valuable if your mortgage business operates in specific areas.
Make sure your Google Business Profile is up to date and includes keywords relevant to your business. This will allow you to show up on Google Maps and gather reviews.
Your reputation on the internet holds significant weight. Urge your content clients to post positive reviews, as these can sway prospective customers and better your search result rankings.
As part of your local SEO strategy, you can also create pages for local search results such as “Mortgage Brokers in Sydney”. Repeat this for all the areas that you operate in remembering to keep the content different enough to avoid content duplication.
High-Quality Link Building
By obtaining high-quality backlinks from respected sites, you signal search engines that your content is of high value, which can improve your ranking. This is especially true for mortgage brokers as you’re in the YMYL (your money, your life) niche according to Google. This means that this type of content can be held to stricter guidelines as it has the potential to affect people’s lives.
There are several ways to build links:
- Digital PR
- Guest posts
- Infographics
- Collaborations
It’s important to aim for a variety of backlinks from sources related to your industry to strengthen your mortgage broker website credibility. Successful link building does more than just support SEO—it can also increase your brand’s recognition and trust among consumers.
Technical SEO
If you have a small website technical SEO is likely to be less important for your business. However, it’s still something that everyone should get right so it pays to crawl your website at least once a year.
This can be done with software such as Screaming Frog that will audit your website. Page Insights from Google will take a look at your site speed and how you can improve it.
Here’s the minimum you should be considering:
- Check your website loads quickly.
- Make It Mobile-Friendly
- Secure Your Site
- Keep URLs short, readable, and keyword-relevant.
- Ensure search engines can crawl your site without issues.
- Use Structured Data
- Handle Duplicate Content
- Ensure Website Security
- If applicable, use hreflang tags for multiple languages
Understanding the Market Dynamics
Understanding the constantly changing market will help mortgage brokers who want to offer the best advice and loan options to their clients. It’s important to keep up with factors such as interest rates, housing trends, and economic indicators, which are central to the mortgage industry.
These factors influence not just the demand for mortgages but also the terms and conditions under which financing is made available to both potential homeowners and those looking to refinance. By creating content on these changes it will allow you to capitalise on topical and relevant search traffic.
SEO Challenges for Mortgage Brokers
Mortgage brokers are faced with the challenge of achieving high search engine rankings despite being surrounded by many competitors. The constant updates to search engine algorithms can also disrupt your SEO strategy without warning, forcing you to adapt swiftly or see your rankings slip away.
Local SEO brings its unique challenges. As a mortgage broker, you must cater to several different areas, each with distinct characteristics and search patterns.
In the crowded field of the mortgage industry, establishing your credibility is a significant obstacle. You’re competing with well-established firms that have the resources for comprehensive SEO strategies. Overcoming this hurdle involves producing strategic content and dedicating yourself to earning your audience’s trust.
What are the Benefits of SEO?
Well-executed SEO can greatly enhance a mortgage broker’s presence on the internet. This attracts more visitors and produces valuable leads. Search engine optimisation is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies available when done right.
When you refine your website and content, you’re not only boosting your position in search engine results; you’re also simplifying the process for potential customers to locate your services.
A strategic SEO plan doesn’t just reach a broader audience; it precisely engages the right demographic. By incorporating specific and relevant keywords that your potential customers are looking for, you draw in people who are already interested in mortgage services. Such targeted marketing betters the calibre of your leads, increasing the likelihood that they’ll become your clients.
The more your brokerage appears in searches for mortgage information, the more recognisable and reputable your brand becomes. It’s an investment in time, but the rewards are substantial, establishing you as a knowledgeable authority in your sector.
How Long Does SEO Take?
The variability in timeframe can be attributed to a multitude of factors, including the age of your website, the intensity of competition within your niche, and the efficacy of your optimisation efforts.
For those with newly launched websites, it will require time for search engines to recognise and trust your content. Whereas, those working on an already-established site may witness improvements more swiftly.
SEO isn’t a one-time event. It’s a continuous process that requires ongoing attention, tweaks, and content refreshes to sustain and enhance your rankings over time. There are opportunities for quick progress by targeting keywords with less competition and improving the technical setup of search engine optimization on your website.
Yet, in the mortgage brokerage sector, where there are plenty of strong websites, reaching a level of significant SEO success could take time.
Need Help With Your SEO?
Here at Prosperity Media, we’ve built one of Australia’s most established SEO agencies. We’re the organisers of Australia’s biggest SEO conference and have a decade of experience in building sustainable SEO campaigns.
If you’d like to know what we can do for your mortgage broker company, then reach out to our team. We’d be happy to share some case studies and take a look at your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can SEO do for Mortgage Brokers?
SEO for mortgage brokers refers to the process of optimising a website to improve its visibility in search engine results. For mortgage brokers, this means enhancing their online marketing presence to draw in more potential clients.
How Do I Market Myself as a Mortgage Broker?
SEO is one of the best ways to market yourself as a mortgage broker. It allows your business to show up every time potential clients are searching for help. This can be done by providing optimised, relevant content and getting your clients to share positive experiences.
How Do You Get Clients as a Mortgage Broker?
To attract clients as a mortgage broker, it’s important to build a strong professional network and ensure your current clients are so satisfied that they recommend your services to others. An optimised website can also draw a continuous supply of new clients.
What Makes a Successful Mortgage Broker?
To succeed as a mortgage broker, it’s important to have a deep knowledge of the market, establish robust connections within the industry, communicate with clarity, be adaptable to changes in the market, and keep up to date with the latest regulations and opportunities for professional growth.
Matthew Barby, Senior Director of Acquisition at HubSpot
"Whenever I have companies ask me if there are any great agencies in Australia, I always point them to Prosperity Media. James and team are always pushing out incredibly impactful work, and their depth of knowledge around SEO and content marketing is up there with the best in the world."