10 Essential Ways to Boost SEO for Financial Services

SEO for financial services isn’t optional in today’s competitive market. Experts predict that by 2027, the financial service market will grow to $37484.37 billion! To stand out in a crowded field, your SEO strategy will propel you to the top of search results.

SEO for financial services is a way to optimize your website to increase organic traffic among people looking for financial assistance. A combination of technical on-site SEO and creative off-site SEO tactics help qualified users find your company through search engines. Your financial SEO strategy should routinely involve keyword research. Quality backlinks and useful financial content will help your company earn authority on search engines.

In this guide, we’ll help financial service companies learn how to apply an effective SEO strategy to their company. Off-site, on-site, and local SEO strategies will help your company rank higher on search engines.

What are the benefits of SEO for financial services?

Think about it: when customers are looking for a financial services company, they’re looking for someone to trust with their hard-earned money. SEO helps establish your company as a trustworthy leader at the top of search results. Establishing trust is critical in your industry. Because SEO is an organic way for users to find you, SEO can be perceived as more trustworthy than bombarding users with ads.

Customers see your company front and center when looking for a financial services company, generating both traffic and conversions to your website. Considering that 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, it’s a good idea to get your business in front of customers with SEO. We’ll learn how to establish yourself as a financial services industry leader through on-site, off-site, and local SEO strategies.

10 Steps to Boost SEO on-site for financial services

Good SEO starts with your website. Follow these 10 steps to boost your on-site SEO for financial services.

1. Optimize website structure and navigation

Websites aren’t just for decoration. Especially when establishing trust with clients in the financial industry, your website must be accessible. Your website’s design has a critical relationship with SEO. Choose a CMS with a logical site structure for navigation. User experience needs to be a top priority when redesigning your website for SEO. A user-friendly website allows for easier indexing with Google Search Console and ultimately helps your SEO.

2. Conduct keyword research

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers: what keywords would they search when looking for financial services? Keyword research is a critical element of your SEO strategy. SEO for financial services means optimizing toward high monthly search volume. A service such as SEMRush can help you analyze these keywords. Once you have an idea of what people are searching for, think about long-tail keywords you can try to rank for. For example, “financial services in Miami” will be more realistic to rank for than “financial services.”

3. Develop a content marketing strategy

Content marketing is an SEO marketing strategy designed to build authority among search engines and help users find useful information. Make a list of relevant topics and long-tail keywords relevant to your business. Blogging and relevant pages can help you rank for these topics. For example, a mortgage company may want to rank for the long-tail keyword of “current mortgage interest rates.” Updated web pages and specific blog posts about interest rates can help you rank for the topic.

After creating a new website and ongoing SEO for financial services work, Mediaboom redesigned the content marketing strategy for Runway Growth Capital. Learn how our content marketing strategy for Runway Growth Capital resulted in an 85.8% increase in web traffic.

4. Create high-quality blog posts

Blogging is an excellent way to complement your SEO strategy over time. Like content marketing, your persona will help inform what your blog should be about. Create long-form blogs that help answer questions and inform your target audience.

For example, a financial service company might make blog posts for people debating whether to use a certificate of deposit or a high-yield savings account given current interest rates. As users search for questions like these in search engines, your engaging blog post helps them find your company and navigate to your site.

5. Create strategic landing pages

An SEO goldmine lies within strategic landing pages. Use keywords from your research that target a person’s search intent within the awareness, consideration, or conversion stage. These focused landing pages are simplistic and targeted toward where a person is in the sales funnel. A call to action is also placed at the bottom of every specialized landing page to motivate users to act.

SEO for financial services might include landing pages like applying for a mortgage loan. The page would mention keywords like “current mortgage rates” and offer an application at the bottom of the page.

6. Optimize meta tags, titles, and descriptions

SEO for financial services requires technical aspects like meta tags, titles, descriptions, and more. Meta tags are small snippets of text that describe a page’s content. Targeted keywords in your title can help boost search results. Finally, descriptions help describe what the page will be about. Create focused meta tags, titles, and descriptions so users can differentiate your pages from auto loans to home loans. 

7. Improve website speed and performance

Customers are busy people, so you shouldn’t expect them to wait around for a slow website. Your website could be fascinating, but no one will know it if it takes too long to load. As you continue to add content to your financial services website, optimize towards speed and performance. Use the PageSpeed Insights tool to get real-time data on how fast your pages load.

If you’re struggling to keep your financial services website both informative and fast, contact us at Mediaboom. Our expertise in website design and SEO will help you optimize toward both goals.

8. Implement schema markup

Technical SEO for financial services helps search engines better understand what users are looking for. This is where schema markup can make a huge difference in rankings for financial services companies. Schema markup is a snippet of code that helps search engines yield richer results for users. For example, financial services companies may write SEO schema for reviews on their pages.

9. Focus on user experience and engagement

Remember that your user experience is paramount to the success of your website and your overall SEO strategy. You want to make sure that you’re providing useful information to users on your landing pages, content strategy, and more. Provide useful financial information to users to keep them engaged while on your website. From content about taxes to blog posts on preventing bank fraud, find valuable information to answer your users’ questions.

10. Regularly update and refresh content

Once your on-site SEO strategy is established, it’s never complete. High-quality SEO for financial services requires an evolving strategy. Regularly provide new financial content. Optimize your landing pages based on what’s performing well. Find new keywords to rank for based on tax season. Don’t be afraid to experiment based on what’s working well with your SEO strategy.

Mediaboom increased digital leads by 852% for Guilford Savings Bank by constantly refining its digital strategy. A responsive website and evolving local SEO strategy allowed the bank to generate a 170% increase in new users as well.

2 tips to Boost SEO Off-site for financial services

Once your on-site SEO strategy is in place, it’s time to create an off-site SEO campaign. Follow these 2 tips when creating off-site SEO for financial services.

1. Build high-quality backlinks

Think of backlinks as the backbone of your off-site financial service SEO strategy. Backlinks are incoming links from one website to another. Google considers quality backlinks as a way to build authority for your site. The more high-quality backlinks you get, the more Google begins to “like” your website. Combined with your other SEO efforts, this can tell Google to make your company the top search result.

Some ideas to build high-quality backlinks are working with a local newspaper to get a press release or hosting a fundraiser for charity. Get people talking about your business and see the backlinks roll in.

2. Share on social media for social signals

Search engine optimization may be a major pillar of your digital marketing strategy, but don’t forget about your social media accounts. Social media marketing is a brilliant way to amplify your SEO efforts across platforms. Not only do you start building authority in your local market, but you can learn more about what your target audience is looking for on your social media accounts. For example, if people on your social networks continuously are looking for auto loans, you may want to create an optimized landing page on your website to help answer this query.

For more help optimizing your social media strategy with your off-site SEO for financial services strategy, contact the digital marketing experts at Mediaboom.

Local SEO for financial services – 4 best practices

Local SEO is critical for small financial service firms looking to connect with their communities. Start your local SEO strategy with these 4 tips.

1. Create a Google Business Profile

Google Business Profiles are goldmines for local SEO. If you haven’t made one yet, create a Google Business Profile with your business’ name. By adding your address, phone number, and photos, your financial service company instantly becomes more visible among local customers. Google recommends keeping your profile as detailed and up-to-date as possible for the best results.

2. Get listed in local directories

Local directories provide an excellent opportunity for financial service firms. Work with your local Chamber of Commerce to become a listed partner. Your presence on their directory will help build backlinks and authority locally. Plus, joining an organization is a stellar way to network with local companies offline!

3. Ensure NAP

It may sound simple, but forgetting contact information is easy to forget. Your company’s name, address, and phone number should be present across every online platform. From Google to Facebook, make sure customers can always find you to improve your local SEO for financial services.

4. Contact a Professional

In a competitive local market, local SEO can take your business to the next level. A professional local SEO agency can create a customized local SEO strategy for your business based on your current challenges. If you’re local SEO tips for financial services, contact Mediaboom for a personalized local SEO strategy.

How to track SEO performance for financial services

After you create your SEO for financial services strategy, monitor it with metrics to ensure it’s working. These tools can help you understand what optimizations are necessary for your SEO campaigns.

1. SEMrush

SEMRush is a powerhouse of information for your SEO strategy. Their user-friendly dashboard allows users to see their organic traffic, keywords, indexed page reports, backlinks, and much more. Competitor information is also prevalent on the SEMrush platform, allowing you to see what other financial service firms are up to.

2. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is the hub of all things SEO. This is where you submit your sitemap and index your website. But the platform can also give you information on usability errors, performance reports, and perform keyword research.

3. Google Analytics (GA4)

For a deep dive into analytics, look no further than Google Analytics (GA4). This customizable platform shows detailed reports on traffic, conversions, and more. Create funnels to better understand your user’s journey on your website with this platform.

Let Mediaboom Boost your SEO for financial services

In the bustling world of finance, you may not always have the time necessary to build a robust SEO strategy. With your calendar full of investor meetings, leave digital marketing to us. We specialize in creating customized websites that are optimized for closing financial deals. Contact Mediaboom to work with an SEO agency for financial services.