A Comprehensive Guide to Finance SEO

It’s no secret that SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is essential for any website.

For finance websites, it can help to drive organic traffic to key webpages and help convert passive users into engaged customers of your product or service.

Finance is an evergreen industry. Just look at the Covid-19 pandemic; whilst economies worldwide were hit hard, businesses within the financial sector such as accountants, financial advisors and investment services still flourished.

It’s a competitive field though, and if you want your website to stand out from the crowd then you need your SEO work to be up to scratch. This comprehensive guide to finance SEO will take you through everything you need to know.

Finance websites, whether they offer a product or service, can reap various benefits from a good SEO strategy. Some of the key benefits that SEO provides are:

Increased traffic – The most obvious benefit of a good SEO strategy for finance websites is an increase in traffic to your website. As you rank higher and higher in Google listings, more users will be presented with your website in their search results, which will subsequently lead to more organic visitors to your website.

An increase in visitors to your website is also one of the easiest elements to track when monitoring your SEO success.

Improved Conversion Rates – The more traffic you get to your website, the more chance you have of converting them. If a user is actively choosing your website from their search results then it suggests that your website is a match for the content they’re looking for.

SEO is a great way to increase conversions thanks to the way it directs actively interested users to your website.

Better Online Visibility – All of the techniques that you use within your SEO strategy will work towards increasing your online visibility. Things like building backlinks from other websites and creating shareable content will not only improve your position in search rankings but also your online visibility as a whole.

The key SEO challenge for websites operating in the financial sector is the stricter content requirements that they face when compared to other websites.

If you’re running a finance website, then you’re probably already aware of the many, many spam and low-quality websites that the industry attracts.

Finance websites fall under Google’s “Your Money, Your Life” (YMYL) category. They are websites that could potentially impact the future health, happiness, financial stability or safety of users.

Google’s content quality guidelines are stricter for websites that fall under their YMYL category. After all, dodgy financial advice can be considerably more dangerous to a user than simply purchasing a coat online that doesn’t suit you!

Pair this with an ever-growing amount of finance websites out there, and getting finance SEO right can be hard. Hard – but not impossible.

So, what steps should you take to improve the SEO of your finance website?

Content Audit – Before you begin creating new content, it’s important to undertake an audit of the existing content you have on your website.

For key YMYL pages, you’ll need to ensure that the content fits within Google’s content quality guidelines.

Consider things such as how up to date the information is, how accurate the content is and whether or not it’s well-structured and easy to digest.

Keyword Research – Keyword research is an essential step in the SEO strategy of any website, no matter the industry.

Keyword research allows you to see what key finance terms people are searching for, helping you to identify new content opportunities to target.

When undertaking keyword research, it’s important to pay close attention to the intent behind the search. What type of content are users looking for when they make that search? Are they looking to make a purchase or to find more information on a topic? This will help you to ensure your content is relevant.

Fast and Secure – Having a secure website is essential for any website, but especially for ones operating in the financial sector. You need to ensure that your website looks after users’ data and that there’s no risk of it being hacked by a third party.

Security and load speed, a.k.a. how quickly it takes for your website to load, are both majorly impactful on your SEO. Google won’t rank a website that isn’t safe or that offers a poor user experience.

Local SEO – Claiming your business on Google My Business (if appropriate) is a great way to optimize for local SEO and further improve your online presence.

A great feature of Google My Business is that users can leave reviews. For finance websites who are fighting against spammy and low-quality websites in the same field, these reviews can help to stand you apart and highlight your trustworthiness in such a renowned industry.

Off-Page SEO – Off-page SEO refers to the SEO tasks that are undertaken away from your website. The key one is backlinks. Having a strong backlink profile (links from other websites that point to your domain) is crucial for SEO success.

However, financial websites can often attract low-quality and spam links which can do more harm than good.

Use a backlink auditing tool such as AHRefs or SEMrush to keep track of your backlink profile. If you spot any new links that you think are suspicious, you can use the disavow tool in Google Search Console to ask Google to effectively ignore them when ranking your website.

Social Chameleon have been helping businesses in the financial sector with their SEO strategy and delivery for over seven years.

Our expert team of digital marketers know everything there is to know about SEO and the delicate steps that need to be taken when optimising a website in the financial industry.

To find out how we can help you with your finance SEO, get in touch with the team at contact@socialchameleon.com or via the enquiry form on the contact page.