SEO for Financial Services: A Comprehensive Guide for 2024

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Banking, investment, insurance, and other financial services require the help of technical SEO services to boost their businesses’ online visibility.

If you are a financial services owner looking to implement powerful financial SEO strategies to elevate your organic rankings, this guide is for you.

In this SEO for financial services guide, I will share the most effective SEO tactics you should use to reach your target audiences.

The Importance of SEO for the Financial Services Industry

Here are the top reasons why SEO is crucial for financial services and bank marketing:

• Client Trust and Decision-Making: In finance, trust is everything. 90% of loan and mortgage consumers begin their search online. People want to ensure they are entrusting their assets or financial planning to reputable institutions. High rankings in search results, particularly for informative content, can significantly impact perceived trustworthiness and authority.
• Highly Specific Client Segments: Financial services cater to diverse needs, from retirement planning to investment banking. Financial SEO allows for precise targeting, ensuring that institutions appear in searches for the specific services they excel in, thus attracting the most relevant clientele.
• Complexity of Products: Financial and banking sector products and services often require considerable explanation. Institutions use financial services SEO to lead potential clients to detailed, informative content that explains these services comprehensively, helping to educate the client and aiding in decision-making.
• Integration with FinTech: Fintech marketing is crucial for digital-first financial services to compete in the digital arena. Taking the assistance of FinTech SEO services is critical for these institutions to remain competitive against nimbler, often more digitally savvy FinTech companies.
• Market Volatility and Rapid Changes: The financial services market can change rapidly. A robust SEO for financial services strategy helps institutions quickly update their clients and the market about new services, changes in regulations, or shifts in their financial products, keeping content relevant and timely.
• Content Depth and Quality: Content must be more than just promotional in finance services SEO. Users expect in-depth analysis, insights, and thought leadership. Financial SEO strategies focus not just on keywords but on the quality and depth of content, aligning with the audience’s expectation for high-value information.
• Long-term Client Relationships: Online searches for “financial advisor” have increased by over 70% in the last few years, hinting that people are looking for long-term financial relationships with wealth planners and advisors. Good SEO for finance helps build these relationships from the first click, leading potential clients through a journey from awareness to consideration and finally to trust and commitment.

The Most Effective SEO Strategies for the Financial Services Industry

Here are the top finance SEO tactics to follow:

Improve Your Site’s E-E-A-T

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Think of it as a way for search engines like Google to understand how much trust they should place in a website or content.

You should create content that is helpful and reliable and prioritizes the needs of people over search engine rankings.

As Google highlights in its E-E-A-T guide, you should evaluate your content based on “Who,” “How,” and “Why”:

• Who: Refers to the author of the content. Knowing who created it, their expertise, and their background adds credibility and trust.
• How: Pertains to the method of content creation. It’s about the process, research, and work that goes into making the content, which helps establish its authenticity and reliability.
• Why: Focuses on the purpose of the content. Content must be created to inform or help people, not just to rank well in search engines. Understanding and conveying the intent behind the content aligns with user-first principles and enhances trustworthiness.

Run Comprehensive Keyword Research

Comprehensive keyword research is vital for financial services, as it helps you understand what terms or phrases people use when searching for services you offer.

75.5% of marketers use keyword research to create intent-specific content for consumers.

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, SERanking, or Moz to begin your keyword research to amplify your SEO for financial services strategy.

For instance, if your company issues various types of loans, such as a car loan, home loans, consumer loans, etc., you should enter each unique primary category keyword into the search bar to generate the best keyword ideas for every service category.

Here are some examples of keyword variations on the topic “personal loan”

Next, analyze the list to identify variations and long-tail keywords which are longer, more specific phrases that are less competitive but highly targeted.

For example, “personal loans for young professionals” or “how to find lenders for first-time home buyers.” Then, group these keywords into clusters based on similarity and intent. Each cluster will focus on a specific aspect of your services.

For instance, all keywords around “personal loans” can form one cluster, while those around “loan eligibility” can form another.

Afterward, look at what your competitors are ranking for. For example, you can enter the keyword “online personal loan” to see the sites that are ranking on the first page of Google:

Once done, you can enter competitor URLs into the same keyword tool to discover which keywords they’re targeting and ranking for.

Finally, prioritize your keywords based on search volume, service relevance, and keyword difficulty. Start creating content around these keywords, ensuring that each piece of content is focused and comprehensive enough to address the user’s intent behind the keyword.

Analyze Your Site Structure

Once your keyword list is ready, the next step is to analyze your site’s structure and perform keyword mapping.

Look at your website’s current structure, focusing on how the content is organized across various pages. Identify the main categories and subcategories, as these will guide where to map specific keywords.

Assign the most relevant and high-impact keywords to your main category pages. These are typically your services or product pages. For example, the “Personal Loans” page should target primary keywords like “personal loans” and closely related terms.

Each page should target keywords that are directly relevant to the page’s content. The keywords should naturally fit into the content, titles, meta descriptions, and headers. The goal is to ensure that users find exactly what they want when they land on the page from a search query.

Create Separate Landing Pages for Each Keyword Cluster

if necessary, instead of one landing page, the required number of pages should be created and optimized so that they correspond to specific terms and topics associated with different keyword clusters. This will help improve your website’s relevance and performance in search engine results for various related search queries.
For example if your company issues various types of loans, such as a car loan, consumer loan, etc. but your site only has a general Credits page, you should create separate landing pages for each keyword cluster

Example keywords for the Personal Loan page:

Example of search results:

Example keywords for the Auto Loan page:

Example of search results:

Create High-Quality Expert Content

High-quality content is important to improving a website’s ranking. A study by SEMrush suggests that publishing relevant content is the number one strategy to boost SEO rankings.

You should follow the best content optimization tactics to create high-quality content to elevate your SEO for financial services strategy.

Know who you’re writing for. Are they individuals looking for personal loans, small businesses seeking expansion capital, or perhaps students searching for education loans?

Understanding your audience helps tailor your financial content’s tone, complexity, and topics.

For instance, content for business loans might delve into interest rates, repayment schedules, and impact on business credit. In contrast, student loan content might focus on eligibility, federal vs. private loans, and repayment options post-graduation.

Highlight authors’ credentials, experience, and other contributions to the finance community to build trustworthiness and authoritativeness.

Lastly, each piece of content should offer a deep dive into the topic. For example, if you’re creating content about “Home Equity Loans,” cover what they are, how they work, pros and cons, typical rates, and how they compare to other types of loans.

Implement Micro Markup

Implementing structured data, or “micro markup,” on your website helps search engines understand the text of your pages better, enabling them to display it more prominently and attractively in search engine results pages.

Moreover, searchers click on rich results 58% more than non-rich results.

To add micro markup to your website, identify the schema from Schema.org that matches your content type.

For instance, to provide a micro markup for aggregate reviews, indicating a combined rating

based on multiple reviews, you’d use the “AggregateRating” schema from Schema.org. This allows you to display a collective rating from several reviews, such as “2200 reviews with an average of 4.5 stars.”

Here’s an example of how you might structure the JSON-LD for a loan service with aggregated reviews:

<script type=”application/ld+json”>

{

“@context”: “http://schema.org/”,

“@type”: “Product”,

“name”: “Personal Loan Services”,

“aggregateRating”: { “@type”: “AggregateRating”,

“ratingValue”: “4.5”, “reviewCount”: “2200” }

}

</script>

This code should be placed within the HTML of your webpage, ideally in the <head> section.

You can read this guide to learn more about structured data and how to implement it on your website.

Conduct a Сomprehensive Technical Audit of Your Website

Conducting comprehensive technical site optimizations is crucial for improving its performance in the organic search results.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to doing a thorough technical audit:

• Crawl Your Website: Use tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to crawl your website. This will give you a snapshot of various technical aspects: broken links, error pages, redirect issues, etc.
• Check for Indexing Issues: Use Google Search Console to identify pages that aren’t being indexed. Look for crawl errors, sitemap problems, or security issues that might prevent search engines from accessing content.
• Analyze Site Speed: Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or WebPageTest to analyze the loading times of your pages. Slow pages can frustrate users and lower search engine rankings.
• Assess Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
• Perform On-Page Optimization: Check for proper use of tags like titles, meta descriptions, headers, and alt text. Ensure they’re optimized for relevant keywords and correctly structured.
• Evaluate Internal and External Links: Look for broken links, improper redirects, or orphaned pages. Also, analyze the quality and relevance of external sites linked to your content.
• Secure Your Site: Implement HTTPS on your website. Check for any security vulnerabilities or issues that could risk your site and users.
• Check for Duplicate Content: Use tools like Copyscape or Siteliner to find duplicate content on your site. Plagiarized content can lead to Google penalties and lower your organic rankings.
• Audit Website Content: Evaluate the quality and relevancy of your site’s content. Check for outdated information, poorly written pages, or content that doesn’t align with user intent.
• Analyze User Experience: Assess the overall user experience of your site. Look at navigation, layout, color schemes, call-to-action buttons, and anything that affects how users interact with your site.
• Create an Action Plan: Prioritize issues and create a detailed action plan based on your findings. Address critical technical issues, such as site speed and security, then move on to SEO improvements and content updates.

Focus on Local SEO

86% of users conduct online searches to find a local business. Focusing on Local SEO for finance ensures that your services like banking, loans, financial planning, or investment advice are visible to potential clients in your area.

Claim and verify your Google Business listing. Accurately list your financial service offerings, hours of operation, and contact details. Regularly update the listing with posts about financial tips, news, or seminars.

Research and use local keywords relevant to the financial sector. For instance, financial planners can Include terms such as “mortgage advisor in [City Name],” “[City Name] retirement planning,” or “investment services in [Neighborhood].” Integrate these local keywords into your website’s meta tags, content, and blog posts about local financial topics.

Don’t Forget to Update and Refresh Old Content

Financial laws, tax regulations, and market data frequently change. Ensure your articles, guides, and service descriptions reflect the latest legislation and market analysis. This includes updating interest rates, loan terms, and investment product details.

Also, search engine algorithms love recently updated content. Hence, you should regularly refresh the SEO elements of your content. Update keywords to match current search trends in the financial sector, optimize meta titles and descriptions for better click-through rates, and ensure internal links point to your most current and relevant pages.

Finally, review user comments and feedback on your financial content. Update FAQs, guides, or blog posts to address common questions or misconceptions. This not only improves content value but also demonstrates responsiveness and expertise.

Build High-Quality Backlinks From Reputable External Sources

Building quality backlinks by leveraging Off-page optimization techniques help your site to rank at the top in organic results. It is one of the top SEO factors for ranking higher in Google Search. Here are some of the best ways to build high-quality links to your finance website:

• Guest Post On Reputed Financial Industry Publications: Establish relationships with reputable financial magazines and online publications covering financial services. Contribute articles or expert commentary on current financial issues, financial services market trends, or economic forecasts. These publications often have high domain authority and can boost your link building strategy.
• Participate in Financial Webinars and Conferences: Engage as a speaker or sponsor for webinars and conferences related to finance. Event organizers often link to your site from their event page, press releases, or related blog posts. This provides a backlink and enhances your brand’s visibility and credibility.
• Create In-Depth Financial Guides and Reports: Produce comprehensive guides, whitepapers, or research reports on market analysis, investment strategies, or financial planning. These resources are highly valuable and likely linked to by financial advisors, educational institutions, and industry bloggers seeking to provide their audience with detailed information.
• Offer Financial Tools or Calculators: Develop and offer useful financial tools or calculators, such as mortgage calculators, investment returns calculators or budget planners. These tools are highly linkable assets as they provide ongoing value to users and are often referenced by various financial services or advice sites.

Regular Monitoring and Analysis of Results for Strategy Correction

Regular monitoring and analysis are vital for refining and improving your financial services SEO strategy. It involves tracking key performance indicators, understanding the impact of your efforts, and making informed adjustments.

Use platforms like Search Console and GA to track website traffic, SEO rank, backlink profiles, and user behavior. Ensure you’re capturing all relevant data that reflects your SEO performance.

Monitor crucial SEO metrics such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, click-through rates, bounce rates, conversion rates, and backlink quantity and quality.

Based on your analysis, continuously refine your on-page SEO and link building strategy. Update your keyword targeting, create new content based on user interest, optimize existing pages, and build more quality backlinks to elevate your off-page SEO strategy. Regulations, products, and consumer needs can change rapidly in financial services, necessitating frequent adjustments.

Trust the SEO promotion of your financial product to the professionals from Ninjapromo.

Our approach involves a comprehensive and strategic blend of services tailored to the financial sector. Our fintech marketing agency offers advanced website optimization, insightful content marketing, robust social media management, and high-ROI search engine marketing, all designed to increase the visibility and credibility of your financial offering.

We start by deeply understanding your financial services, goals, and target audience, enabling us to craft a personalized financial services SEO growth strategy that aligns with industry standards and your unique value proposition.

Our commitment to innovation and staying updated with the latest search engine optimization trends means continually adapting and refining our strategies to ensure maximum impact. With Ninjapromo, you can trust that your financial product is positioned to excel in the competitive online landscape, leveraging our expertise and dedication to drive SEO success.

Conclusion

2024 financial services SEO is not just about keywords and backlinks anymore; it’s about building a comprehensive strategy that aligns with user experience and building a powerful brand.

As the digital world becomes increasingly central to financial services, the right SEO strategy will not just be an option but necessary for any financial services looking to succeed and grow in 2024 and beyond.