SEO for Financial Services: 3 Steps to Success
If you work in financial services, you’ll know that you’re in one of the biggest markets in the world – and one of the most competitive.
To stay ahead of the pack, companies need to use every skill in their arsenal, which means having robust multi-channel marketing campaigns to compete with sectors such as insurance and wealth management.
And this is where search engine optimisation for financial services can really take the reigns in steering your marketing campaigns towards online success.
Research from BrightEdge suggests that 53% of all online traffic comes from organic search engine results and that it generates more than 40% of all online revenue. For business-to-business traffic, the share is even higher. B2B companies, including those in the finance sector, can generate 2X more revenue from organic search than any other channel.
This makes SEO for financial services one of the principal methods for generating sustained online growth and finding those all-important qualified leads.
What is financial services SEO?
SEO for financial services is the process of improving organic performance and rankings for finance companies, including accountants, insurance brokers and investment companies.
To put it simply, SEO, or search engine optimisation, helps drive natural traffic to your financial services site by tapping into relevant organic searches.
If you’re going to rank higher than your competitors, you need to provide your target audience with useful content, ensure your site is safe and secure, and earn valuable backlinks from high-authority sites. This is where SEO comes into play. A well-rounded SEO strategy will help you achieve all of these things and more.
With that said, it’s important to remember that SEO is just one branch of digital marketing. While focusing on organic search is a great way to generate leads in a competitive industry, you’ll also want to make sure you’re covering all other aspects of digital marketing to maximise your sales funnel.
When executed properly, your financial services SEO strategy can help you come out on top in search results. This increased organic visibility will boost your credibility and reputation, while simultaneously driving more leads and conversions to your business.
3 steps to success with SEO for financial services
The benefits of SEO for the financial sector really do speak for themselves.
When investing in SEO, your finance company has the opportunity to increase reach and visibility in a saturated market. You will also be able to capture targeted and high-quality leads at a reduced cost compared to PPC.
To put things into perspective – the keyword “financial advisor” has an average CPC of £7.05. Similarly, mortgage brokers can expect to pay £5.62 when bidding on the keyword “mortgage broker”. As a highly competitive market with large potential returns, the financial sector can expect to pay a premium if they want their ads to appear for their core keywords.
Investing in SEO can, therefore, be a powerful way to deliver long-term, scalable results at a low cost.
So how can you start reaping the rewards of SEO for financial services?
The short answer: by finding top-performing finance keywords, optimising your content marketing plan, and amplifying your reach with a multichannel approach.
Let’s look at each of these in more detail to really help you take your finance company to the next level.
1. Find top-performing finance keywords
Finding top-performing finance keywords is an important part of your approach for SEO for finance.
Last year saw the number of online searches for finance-related keywords reach an all-time high. The keyword “financial services”, for example, returns approximately 1,740,000,000 searches in Google search results.
Taking these numbers into consideration, you’ll need to be strategic if you are going to take advantage of the most searched financial keywords around.
Keyword research is vital for making sure your finance company reaches the right people, at the right time, with the right message. Think of keywords as the lynchpin between what people are searching for and the services you provide.
When taking the plunge with keyword research, make sure you use an SEO tool, such as SEMRush, to research keywords and topics that your ideal audience is actively searching for. Your keywords should be related to your core financial offerings. Liaising with your sales and customer support teams can also be a great way to uncover untapped keywords that you might not have originally considered.
You will also need to focus on both high-volume (i.e. the most searched finance keywords) and low-volume keywords, as they both have the power to strategically boost your SEO for financial services.
High-volume keywords mean that more searchers will find you, but may be less relevant. Meanwhile, low-volume keywords work on a much smaller scale but are more likely to be highly targeted, which has the potential to drive more relevant traffic to your site.
It can take time to decide on the right keywords to use for finance SEO, but this groundwork lays the foundation for your overall SEO strategy, and help you map out your content plan.
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2. Optimise your content marketing plan
Content marketing is crucial for any business. Your on-site content can be the difference between securing that top spot on Google and not appearing in the search results at all.
In such a saturated market as the financial sector, you need to make sure you’re giving your business every opportunity to turbocharge performance. Taking the time to optimise your content marketing plan is one key technique for improving your online performance.
Content marketing for financial services gives you a chance to turn your keyword research into results.
Your content marketing plan should be specifically tailored to the financial services that you offer to your ideal audience. Moreover, it needs to be tailored to the search intent of your audience.
When developing your content marketing plan, don’t forget to also carry out competitor research and analyse your existing performance to highlight any content gaps or missed opportunities.
If you’re looking to maximise your online potential with SEO, remember that high-quality content is king. This is especially true in marketing for financial services, where brand authority and legitimacy are of utmost importance.
You should therefore aim to incorporate E-A-T content into your content marketing plan. This means focusing on content that will help your business become an Expert, Authoritative, and Trustworthy. While these may not be direct ranking factors, they are used by Google to determine the quality of your site content.
Content that fits this criterion isn’t just better for search performance – it can also improve brand reputation. E-A-T content can also help move audiences through the sales funnel towards conversion.
Topics that could potentially impact an individual’s financial situation are considered Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topics. Demonstrating E-A-T is crucial for on-site content that focuses on YMYL topics.
So, when creating content for your financial website, consider what level of expertise is required for the topic at hand.
3. Amplify reach with a multichannel approach
As powerful as SEO can be for the financial industry, it can’t work alone. And this is where a multichannel approach comes into play.
When we refer to a multichannel approach, we are talking about owned, earned and paid media; SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, PR, and link building. These marketing channels should form the basis of your digital marketing.
In our increasingly mobile economy, customers interact with brands and services across a huge variety of platforms and channels. If businesses are going to successfully engage with customers and accelerate growth in saturated industries, they need to do everything they can to ensure they gain a competitive edge.
Adopting a clear multichannel approach gives your finance company a vital opportunity to increase reach and efficiency, and effectively communicate your brand value to your target audience.
It’s not about throwing all your ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks; it’s about developing a clear, unified message that reaches your ideal customer, regardless of the devices or platforms they may or may not use.
When assessing a potential multichannel strategy, be sure to consider whether your audiences will be provided with consistent experiences across all channels. Customer experiences should be seamless, so take time to ensure that each of your platforms deliver a clear, unified message from on-site content optimised for organic search to paid ads and email marketing campaigns.
Final thoughts on SEO for financial services
SEO for financial services isn’t a dark art – it just requires a considered approach.
Each of the techniques we’ve shared in this post will give your finance company the opportunity to break away from your competitors and find those all-important customers who fit your niche.
For companies that are serious about maximising their revenue, investing in SEO is vital in today’s digital market. Not only does SEO for finance companies complement other marketing frameworks, but it also amplifies growth at a reduced cost – making it a win-win tactic for your business.
At Common Ground, our expert SEO services help financial organisations unlock the organic potential of their websites. Whether you need site build support or new organic leads, we’re standing by to help you take your finance business exactly where it’s capable of going.
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