Table of Contents
Like any kind of service visibility and a strong internet presence is very important. That’s why today we’ll be going over SEO for financial services that will help you improve your online presence and drive your business to the next level.
In this situation, SEO does not mean “seasoned equity offering.” When it comes to internet marketing, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it does exactly what the term implies: it optimizes your content and website for search engines, specifically Google. There are various phases to financial service marketing, but one that cannot be overlooked is SEO. So, how exactly does SEO work?
By employing the proper techniques, you will persuade Google that your website is reliable and viable. You will target certain keywords and phrases and then create content based on these terms. When consumers use Google to search for these terms and words, your website will be on the top page. SEO may be used for a variety of pages on your website. With the appropriate words in the proper locations and some links, you’ll be well on your way to a successful SEO for financial services strategy.
SEO for financial services is a long-term investment, unlike Google advertisements and PPC campaigns, which can be turned on and off with the flick of a button. It’s a flywheel that takes longer to spin up, but it rewards your patience with a significantly higher ROI than sponsored channels can.
Importance of SEO for financial services
Let’s begin with Google’s 2018 Medic Algorithm Update. The upgrade was particularly designed for “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) websites. Furthermore, Google’s quality raters began to hold YMYL sites to higher Page Quality (PQ) requirements. According to Google, every website that may have an influence on the user’s current or future well-being (health, financial, safety, etc.) should be more thoroughly assessed for E-A-T. (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness). Websites addressing financial services, such as banking, investing, and insurance might easily come under the “Your Money, Your Life” banner.
It’s also worth noting that Google’s Quality Evaluator Guidelines were modified in May 2019. They now refer to E-A-T as a component within PQ rather than as a distinct entity. In other words, if you’re delivering financial advice, it had better be good, trustworthy, and prepared by an expert. SEO for financial services necessitates a thorough, methodical, and cautious approach to content marketing. It is vital in your sector to pay great attention to quality and trust considerations. If you disregard them, innovative small business finance organizations, financial consultants, and internet publishers will outrank you.
How to improve SEO for financial services?
Begin with a thorough website audit to identify and prioritize any issues that may affect crawlability and usability. Certain technological objectives, like with any other website, will be clear. If any of the following are impacted by technical concerns, you should prioritize the fix:
Page speed
Page load time is a ranking factor in Google SEO. With this in mind, it is vital that your web pages load quickly and do not make your visitors wait. Aside from that, speed affects consumer trust and usability, which is especially crucial in the financial services market. When people are only viewing articles or blog entries, they may forgive a sluggish website. They will be less patient, though, if your website crashes when they need to access any of the services that you provide. If this occurs more than once, they may seek out another service.
Slow websites with bad user experiences might become an unconscious sign of the whole digital customer experience for the customer. In other words, ensure that your website is mobile-friendly and operates as smoothly as a new sports car. To learn more about page load speed and how it affects SEO for financial services, be sure to check out how page speed affects your rankings.
Security
When considering SEO for financial services, website security is critical. However, regular security measures conducted during an SEO audit are insufficient. An effort in SEO for financial services must do more than simply certify that you are utilizing HTTPS and the most recent version of your CMS software. Check for indexed subdomains and sites that you don’t want to appear for branded search queries.
Sometimes websites are exposed to data breaches because they simply do not understand they are sharing it. As a result, a comprehensive site crawl and Google SERP analysis are required. In addition, to comfort site visitors, you may wish to place a security service notice in your global footer. “Norton Secured,” “SiteLock Secure,” or “DigiCert Trusted,” for example, let users know they’re safe.
Privacy
The importance of privacy in SEO for financial services cannot be overstated. However, being too secretive about your website might harm your SEO efforts. Some financial services firms store material behind a firewall, accessible only to individuals who have logged in. Although the intention is nice, Google cannot crawl anything behind a firewall! If Google can’t crawl it, there’s no way for that material to be found, which will affect your SEO results.
URLs
It’s understood how URLs might get muddled due to the requirement to arrange information and technological constraints. If you want to rank high in organic search engine results, your URLs must be visible to Google. If your URLs look like the examples below, you might want to improve upon them.
- https://agents.example.com/?_ga=2.4835822.23433.4213483
- https://www.example.com/equity/?linkLoc=fn?
We have covered URLs and how they affect your SEO for financial services endeavors in another article, so we strongly suggest that you take a look at what Google thinks about your URL.
Structured data
Google is quite capable of interpreting what is posted on your web pages. However, it is not without flaws. Schema, or structured data, assists search engines in better understanding and categorizing your content. Schema.org is a joint project between Google, Bing, Yahoo!, and Yandex to enhance the web by developing structured data markup. Structured data allows your website to appear in “rich snippets” in search engine results pages (SERP). Furthermore, Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper Tool and Testing Tool are important for correctly designing and deploying structured data.
On-page SEO for financial services
On-page SEO for financial services methods are about more than just resolving technical difficulties. They also comprise content optimization for a certain keyword or collection of keywords. Search phrases should be chosen based on their search volume, alignment with search intent, competition, relevance, and funnel stage. It’s less probable that you’ll have thin, duplicate material if each page targets a different keyword category. Be aware, though, that this is not a simple process. You must optimize the following:
- URLs
- Category pages
- Title tags
- Meta descriptions
- H1, H2, H3… tags
- Image alt tags
- Internal links
- On-page content
Meta data optimization
One of the most significant and successful tactics in SEO for financial services is metadata optimization. Metadata in site HTML such as title tags and description elements are not only utilized by search engines for rankings, but they also play a significant role in click-through rate (CTR) and appeal to user psychology through search “snippets.”
Creating appropriate search-optimized title tags is one of the reasons why on-page SEO for financial services is vital in financial services marketing. Because title tags are one of the most important algorithmic ranking elements – and search engines use them to select keywords – a strong SEO for financial services strategy should incorporate keyword research, content development, and metadata. Good title tags should:
- Highlight target keywords to improve ranking on typical target-audience searches.
- Be truthful and accurate about what the website is about; erroneous titles result in poor SEO and a greater bounce rate.
- It should be one-of-a-kind and written in a natural, human-like language.
- Clear and concise; if they are too long, search engines may truncate them (about 60 characters).
- Keyword stuffing should be avoided.
- Don’t utilize or duplicate boilerplate metadata.
- CTR is higher for title tags that are the proper length or that are optimized for SEO for financial services.
Meta descriptions should be prepared with the same methods in mind, indicating what the page is about, and providing the information that people may be seeking by using crucial keywords. After all, pages with personalized meta descriptions receive more hits than those that do not.
Consider your rankability
When determining the rankability of a keyword or phrase, there are two important variables to consider: search volume and competition level.
What is search volume?
Here, you might be able to make some assumptions. The number of times the term is searched for each month is referred to as the search volume. This result may be filtered to show searches by area, state, or nation. There is a significant opportunity if a phrase is searched 50,000 times each month. In contrast, if a term gets searched 100 times, you may be in danger.
The sole exception to this rule is if a specific phrase or a word is searched for 100 times every month. This is known as a long-tail keyword. Long-tail keywords will connect you with a limited yet targeted set of people. When it comes to SEO for financial services, it’s a realistic alternative.
What is the competition level?
The amount of competition for a term relates to how many other financial firms are chasing that word. The more competitive a phrase, the more difficult it is to obtain the top SEO position and Google results. A phrase with a high search volume and a high degree of competition is a very costly keyword. There’s a lot of opportunity if you can work your way up the SEO ladder. This set of variables also influences the cost of a Google ad for this exact keyword. SEO for financial services may be thought of as a free alternative to a Google ad.
Off-page SEO for financial services
Off-page optimization is all about link-building, which is the technique of encouraging other websites to connect to yours. It is critical for a website to have connections from unrelated websites since Google considers these links to be ‘votes’ for the quality of the connected site’s content. Subject matter context is derived by search engines from the anchor text (the clickable words that are normally highlighted in blue and turn purple when clicked) assigned to a link on another website; when the user clicks on that anchor text, they are sent to the connected website.
However, not all links are made equal. The Google PageRank algorithm includes a component that measures the overall quality of a page or site, which is best stated using a metric known as “page authority” (which evaluates a single web page) or “domain authority” (which examines a set of pages that make up an entire site). Links from sites with high page or domain authority are more useful to the site being linked to than links from sites with lower authority.
While there are companies out there that provide tools for assessing the authority of a domain or page, it’s very simple to discover high-authority sites. They are often quite rich in content and produced by businesses or individuals who are well-known in a given sector or on a specific subject. In general, the best strategy to encourage high-ranking authority sites to link to your site is to provide high-quality content that is relevant to your target market.
People will want to connect to and spread it as a result. However, the most effective link-building does not happen by itself. It entails reaching out to and networking with thought leaders and influencers in your sector, as well as providing them with a reason to connect to you.
However, link-building operations do not always have to include chasing whales. Local websites and the CPAs, attorneys, and other related professions with whom financial advisers share leads are terrific places to start. If calling or emailing them for a link feels weird, consider building a “resources” or “partners” page to your site with connections to their sites, and then contact them to seek permission to include their link (or let them know you’ve already included them). If they have a comparable page, they will most likely be willing to reciprocate. If they don’t have one, it could spark their interest.
Links from high authority sites can help rankings, while links from low-quality or ‘spammy’ sites can actually hinder them. To avoid this, avoid SEO suppliers who send unsolicited emails or robocalls promising first-page rankings and/or a large number of backlinks. If they’re employing dubious strategies to sell a site, they’re probably utilizing unethical SEO for financial services tactics as well. These unethical, sometimes called “black-hat” SEO tactics are harmful to your site and should be avoided. Always employ ethical SEO practices, and if you want to learn more about what they are, visit our comprehensive guide on ethical SEO to boost rankings.
Now you know the basics and what you should consider about SEO for financial services. If you feel what you have learned here is too complicated to employ, you can take a look at how much SEO specialists make, so you can think about hiring one. Also, if you want to learn more about SEO and its ideal practices, make sure to check out understanding competitive intelligence for SEO to improve rankings or the best SEO tools for your website.
