SEO for Financial Services: The Ultimate Guide

Most customers search for banking and financial solutions online. Studies say 76% of people look online for services before visiting in person. If you offer financial services like banking, accounting, mortgage, tax consultation, or financial consulting, you need better online visibility, and SEO for financial services can help you gain that.

A well-rounded SEO effort can give websites of finance companies the traction on the SERPs that they require and add significantly to the profit.

Financial services SEO is not hard to get right. As a financial advisor, getting SEO right is not a tough deal. Of course, you would need some knowledge of the technical considerations and property, banking, and tax laws of your state.

What is Financial Services SEO?

SEO for the financial services involves all efforts that aim to gain more organic traffic to the websites of financial companies. Like all other SEO processes, this one, too, requires superb content, mobile optimization, link building, technical considerations, etc.

However, the point at which SEO for money related websites differs is that these websites come under the YMYL (Your Money Your Life) category. As these pages can have an impact on people’s financial stability, one has to be extra cautious with the website content. You have to create people-first content by following Google’s guidelines.

Designing a well optimized website that delivers an outstanding user experience is another aspect of SEO success.

3 Benefits of SEO for Financial Services

There are many constraints when you try SEO for the financial services industry. However, overcoming all the hurdles is worthwhile as you can profit immensely from it.

Let’s take a look;

1. Get More Traffic

SEO for financial services upscales the search rankings. It translates to better online visibility. Once a website ranks on page #1 on the SERPs, the organic footfall would automatically increase. Statistics say that the first result on the search results get 38.9% of CTR! A good search ranking bestows better online visibility of your website, which means more organic traffic would visit your website.

2. More Conversion Ratio

Surveys suggest that websites that rank higher enjoy better trust from customers. They have a higher click through rate and a better conversion ratio. Financial services companies highly depend on customer conversion for functioning, which is exactly what a solid SEO strategy offers!

3. Increases Trustability

Web surfers tend to trust high ranking web pages more than those that don’t. The high click through rate signals search engines about positive user behavior patterns. If visitors spend time on your webpage, search engines will further boost your rankings on the search engine results pages!

Top 3 Challenges of SEO for Financial Services

The majority of the financial sector has stuck to the flat marketing of the traditional type for decades. While this is not progressive for business, there are reasons why this is the case.

Let’s delineate the various challenges that one might face while doing search engine optimization for financial services;

1. Excessive Red Tapes/ Compliance Challenges

As finance is a serious matter that holds immense importance in people’s lives, there is an excess of red tape or regulations surrounding it. Finance websites fall under the YMYL (your money, your life) category, so one has to be extra cautious while optimizing SEO.

2. Breakneck Competition

In the final sector, there are various bifurcations, like banking, advisory, wealth management, and insurance. Even with the branching out of the financial sector, there is no dearth of competition. For every bank that offers a service at a certain rate, there would be five other financial institutions coming up with competitive pricing to cut the competition. This makes optimizing SEO for financial services a quite a challenge

3. Specialized Content Requirement

Consider banking, investment, or financial advisory services. All of them come in the critical zone where a single sentence can change a person’s life. Hence, writers need to be extra cautious while writing content for the financial service industry. It requires specialized writers who know legal matters to get the job done.

11 Best SEO Strategies for Financial Services

If you want to optimize your own website’s SEO, we are here with a complete guide. We are going to discuss all the important steps to upgrade your financial website’s SEO.

Let’s take a look;

1. Run a Website Audit

Running a website audit is primary if you want to do SEO for financial services website. It gives you important data regarding the present condition of your finance website’s SEO. While on it, ensure you get a 360-degree audit of your website. It should include all issues with on page, off page, and technical SEO.

Look for duplicate, thin, or poor-quality content on your website that is not generating any traffic. Check whether any ink on your website pointing to your website is broken, as the 404-broken links can hurt search rankings.

As far as the technical optimization is concerned, an audit can find issues with mobile optimization, page loading time, and canonical tags, if there are any.

The insights from a technical audit offer valuable data that can help in formulating a better digital marketing strategy.

Website Audit Checklist

• Monthly organic traffic
• Top search keywords
• Complete on-page SEO audit
• Best landing pages
• Audit of the backlink profile
• Complete technical SEO audit

2. Time Spent on Keyword Research is Time Spent Mining for Gold!

Relevant keywords with high search volume and low competition are nothing short of pure gold. The challenge that most financial services face is that most of the relevant keywords are already very competitive.

Hence, the trick here is to spend time fishing for keywords to skyrocket SEO for your financial services website. Here, you cannot just shoot your darts in the dark. The best way for keyword research for a financial service website is by using tools for keyword research.

These SEO tools are available in both paid and free versions. The best free tool is perhaps Google Keyword Planner. Some of the best premium SEO tools for searching keywords are SEMrush and Ahrefs.

Considering SEO does not require much money as such, especially if you are optimizing it on your own, setting a small budget for a premium keyword should not be a tough task.

Remember, highly targeted keywords also have the highest competition. If you are new in the Financial services industry, it is better to stick to keywords with average search volume but have low competition.

Keyword Research Checklist

• Use keyword research tools
• Find keywords with high search volume
• Target long-tail keywords

3. Perform SWOTs Analysis to Gain Market Knowledge

Analyzing the market before forming a campaign is imperative for SEO success. It is all the more important for a tight industry like financial services. Always perform a SWOTs analysis. SWOTs stand for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

First, you have to analyze the strengths of your website and understand the USPs of your financial services company. The next step in SWOTs analysis is to gauge the weaknesses in your current marketing campaign.

Probe into the market opportunities that you can cash in. This analysis will help you identify the possibilities that can be realized for better profit for your financial services firm.

The final step is to analyze the threats or your competitors. This step essentially incorporates comprehending their SEO strategy, their USPs, and the marketing gimmicks they are using to boost their business.

This type of market analysis can prove to be very effective for the financial sector.

The SWOTs analysis differs from the competitor analysis. It lets you introspect about your own strengths and weaknesses. Apart from that, you can take heed of the opportunities and eliminate the threats once you recognize them. Also, after understanding your competitors’ strengths, you can devise your own strategy based on it.

• Understand the company’s USPs
• Identify your company’s weaknesses
• Seize upcoming opportunities
• Analyze competitors’ strengths

4. Engage in Blogging: A Little Preaching Goes a Long Way

Having dedicated service pages that highlight the different financial solutions you offer is great! But that is not enough. Start maintaining a segment for finance blogs. It is a powerful way of adding value to the SEO for financial services you are trying to optimize.

Finance topics are anyway a tad tough to comprehend for the average human. Simplifying matters and offering accurate information. Once you understand the technique, your content marketing strategy will not only help the visitors but also boost your ranks on the search engine results pages.

If your competitors are ranking well, creating a high-quality blogging segment in the financial niche is where you can gain an edge over your competitors.

Checklist for Creating High Quality Content

• Create blogs on relevant topics
• Use high quality content in your blog
• Simplify complex financial matters in the blogs
• Use on page SEO best practices
• Use meta tags, alt tags, and meta descriptions

5. Focus on Improving E E A T Signal

Google E E A T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. E E A T is an important aspect of Google’s core algorithm. It analyzes the page or these signals. The page sending the strongest signal is ranked higher.

E E A Ts entail offering a superb user experience. It means improving your website’s core web vitals and building a responsive design. You will have to demonstrate your expertise in the niche by creating wholesome content on various finance related topics.

Establish your website’s authoritativeness with high quality content. However, it does not stop there. You will also have to punctuate the content with relevant external links and the experience of the content creator.

In the financial services sector, it is best to hire a professional writer who has experience in writing finance related topics. A writer who also specializes in legal matters would be a bonus. Remember, the most important ranking signal for Google now is Content Quality! Hence, it is best never to compromise on that.

Augment your website’s trustworthiness by offering accurate information, relevant posts, and citations. Also, ensure that your website is SSL encrypted to strengthen this signal.

Checklist for Strengthening E E A T Signal

• Demonstrate industry experience with wholesome content creation
• Update the writers’ bio on your website
• Improve the core web vitals
• Give both internal and external links
• Website security should be your top priority

6. Create a Responsive Website

According to Statista, 96.5% of people use the mobile phone at some point in a day to browse the internet. Hence, catering the best user experience to the majority should be your top priority.

Besides, when you are dealing in a sector as important as finance, where people will switch their preference in favor of competitors at your slightest mistake, neglecting mobile optimization is not an option! Besides, a responsive website design is very beneficial to SEO for financial services.

When the content is not sized correctly for the viewport, users may have to zoom out or might have to look at their device horizontally for a better view. Both of these can add negatively to the UX. Hence, ensure the financial services content is sized well to the viewport.

Creating a responsive website that adjusts to several screen sizes isn’t a tough deal. All you have to do is use fluid grids instead of fixed layouts. Doing so ensures that your website auto-adjusts to every screen size, mobile, tabs, desktop, or laptop!

The second aspect of creating a responsive website design is adding new media queries in the CSS. With this, you can adjust the page margins, background colors, font settings, and many more.

Resizing images to all screen sizes can be a challenge. However, you can get that done with the help of CSS max width property. When the width is set to 100 percent, the images will automatically resize themselves.

Checklist for Responsive Website Design

• Conduct third party, navigation and small device testing
• Choose fluid grids
• Ensure content is in sync with the viewport
• Add new queries in the CSS

7. Optimize Core Web Vitals: Don’t Keep the Visitors Waiting

One of the greatest blunders you can do with SEO for financial services is to keep the visitors waiting. Optimizing website speed might not hail you as the king of the SERPs. Optimizing the core web vitals is one of the major aspects. It is practically one of the aspects of technical SEO that aims to offer the best user experience to web surfers.

A thriving core web vitals can help you secure a better rank on the SERPs, give quicker conversions and diminish bounce rates.

For financial service providers, keeping the core web vitals in check should be one of the primary things to look out for. Core web vitals consist of 3 major metrics— LCP (latest content paint), INP (interaction to next pain), and CLS (cumulative layout shift).

According to Google’s guidelines, to provide a good user experience, try to keep the LCP under 2.5 seconds. INP, on the other hand, measures the latency of all the tasks and clicks.

While optimizing your financial services website, it is best to keep the INP under 200 milliseconds. However, a figure up to 499 milliseconds is okay. In case it exceeds 500ms, you need to work on your website.

Cumulative layout shift is an important metric in the core web vitals as well. It measures the layout stability of your website. It is a user centric metric that determines user experience.

Top Notch Core Web Vitals Checklist

• Aim for an LCP under 2.5 seconds
• A good CLS value is 0.1
• INP should be under 200 milliseconds
• Eliminate any intrusion to your website
• Secure website with HTTPs
• Make mobile optimization a top priority

8. Dominate the market with a Robust Backlink Profile

A solid backlink profile sends EEAT signals. It establishes the credibility and authoritativeness of your website. As you are in the finance industry, you need to make all efforts to build a backlink portfolio as best as you can to secure a higher rank on the search results.

A backlink profile in the finance niche would mean establishing a one-way link to several relevant websites to boost the domain authority.

Poor quality links acquired over a short span of time can lead to a Google penalty. As you are in the highly competitive zone, it is easy to get low quality backlinks. Steer clear of those. Focus on building backlinks naturally in an ethical way. You can take the help of a guest blogging service to help you build a solid backlink portfolio. 

Checklist for Building Backlinks

• Build links naturally
• Reclaim broken links
• Claim brand mentions
• Link back to relevant websites
• Avoid spammy link building practices

9. Improve Local SEO

Establishing a local presence can be highly beneficial for a financial services company. Local SEO aims to pump up your website in the local search results. The first step in your local SEO campaign should be to claim your Google Business Profile. Target local keywords and link back to local (and relevant) websites.

This way, when anyone searches with words like ‘best financial services’ or ‘financial services company near me,’ your website would rule the SERPs.

If your target audience is from the locality, the chances of conversion increase. This is because people tend to trust companies that are near them more.

However, local SEO is not a simple cakewalk. There are hundreds of similar websites trying to assert their dominance in the same field. Hence, your local SEO strategy should be flawless.

Checklist for Improving Local SEO

• Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile
• Choose the right business category
• Maintain consistent NAP across all platform
• Use GEO targeting to reach your target audience
• Engage in local link building
• Target local Keywords

10. Build Trust & Credibility Through PR

As a financial services provider, your image means the word to you. However no matter what you do or how good advice you offer, there will always be a bitter customer who would leave a negative review. 

You might think a single review to be nothing amidst the scores of positive reviews on your website. But trust us it matters! One scathing review can send off various potential clients to your competitor. However, public relations services can save you from such incidents. These services delve deep and mitigate the root cause of the issue. They also help in building a positive image by positioning your financial services as one of the best ones! However, you have to be wise while choosing a good public relation agency. 

Checklist for Choosing a PR Agency

• Choose an agency with years of experience
• Look at their clientele before choosing
• Pay heed to the online reviews
• Do not splurge; staying within budget is the best

11. Keep Track of the KPIs

SEO for financial services requires constant monitoring. Hence, you need to be on your toes to monitor the KPIs. These key performance indicators show how your SEO efforts are doing.

Besides, Google’s search engine algorithms keep changing from time to time. Hence, keeping pace with the changing ranking format is a must! You can use the Google Search Console to track the key performance indicators. In case you see a dip in the ranks, you can tweak your SEO strategy to one-up your competitors.

As a financial service provider, you are already treading dangerous waters! When it is coupled with the tremendous competition in this industry, it calls for immense care and caution while performing SEO on a financial website.

Make a checklist for the KPIs for Financial Services SEO and keep a tab on them to understand and implement an effective SEO strategy.

Checklist of KPIs to Track & Monitor

• Conversion rate
• Organic traffic/ sessions
• Keyword ranking
• Click through rate (CTR)
• Website loading time
• Bounce rate
• Number of backlinks
• Page views

6 Reasons to Hire an SEO Agency for Financial Services SEO

The main drawback of the financial service industry is the tough competition. Hence, securing a higher visibility on search engines becomes all the more important.

As higher online visibility can contribute to your business profit, it is better to entrust an expert in this matter. An SEO agency has the experience, expertise, and necessary resources to shoot up your SERP rankings.

Let’s cast a glance at how hiring an SEO company can be profitable for your business.

1. An Expert Team handles Your SEO

A good SEO company has expert teams that specialize in handling financial SEO websites. These experts can capsulize an unbeatable SEO strategy that can catapult your organic traffic!

They have the expertise to understand which SEO strategy will work best for you. A good SEO company runs a website audit to understand your current SEO situation. They understand the on-page requirements, technical considerations, and off page SEO requirements that will propel your website’s rankings.

2. Cost-Effective Marketing Strategy

When you set out to optimize your own website’s SEO, you are likely to encounter some hurdles unless you are a pro yourself! Also, as a beginner, you might need several tools and consultations to get it wired up. Working your way up the SERPs might take longer and cost more money than you budget for it.

An Agency, on the other hand, charges a nominal amount to give you the best services. When you opt for an Best SEO package, the professionals use premium SEO tools for optimizing financial websites for a reasonable price. Hiring an SEO company not only renders quicker results but is also cost effective in the long run.

3. Better Website Ranking

Nothing short of the best SEO campaign would cut it, especially if you are new in the financial industry! With the help of a reputed SEO company that specializes in the financial niche, you can aim for the stars.

They employ an effective SEO strategy that works for your brands and delivers better organic rankings, higher traffic volume, and lower bounce rates. They take note of the current SEO challenges you are facing and resolve the issues for better online visibility.

4. Professional Financial Content Marketing

High quality content is one of the top most priorities of all search engines. Hence, you have to be super relevant in this strategy to beat your competitors.

SEO hubs have in house writers of varied niches, including financial and legal writers. These agencies can create high quality content using relevant keywords that rank.

The content marketing strategy is marked by strategic, relevant, and unique content creation. These agencies also update the existing content to keep your SEO campaign fresh.

5. Sustainable Results

Financial SEO requires specialization. Besides, there are legal considerations for this type of YMYL website. Hence, often the case with these websites is that the webpage rankings keep changing frequently.

If you want sustainable results, switching over to an expert SEO company is perhaps a good idea. They tailor SEO strategies according to the specific needs of the business to secure rankings that last for months.

6. Constant Monitoring & Tracking

With an up & running financial services business, keeping a constant tab on the SEO can be a hassle. As search engine optimization requires time, entrusting it with an SEO agency will not only buy you free time but also give you the assurance that the campaign is being monitored constantly.

These agencies have dedicated experts who report to you on the progress of the campaign from time to time. Keeping an eye on the constant monitoring of your financial SEO campaigns is one of their main tasks. They do the necessary SEO adjustments when there is a need after consulting you.

FAQs

Final Words

SEO for the financial services industry can need a lot of effort. Creating content, keyword research, met gads, technical optimization, link building, and local SEO are some of its critical parts. However, there is no need to worry. You can acquire the necessary SEO skills to optimize your website with a bit of patience and time.

However, relying on an experienced SEO company is a good solution if you want to focus more on your core business. Remember to choose an SEO agency after reading proper reviews and consulting them. Be transparent about the SEO package. The most crucial part is that no matter what you do, your SEO efforts should always be ethical for sustainable results!

Additional Resources

• SEO for Accountants: The Ultimate Guide to Boost Your Online Presence