The financial services industry has always relied more on a referral system and offline marketing for business expansion rather than SEO and digital marketing. But times have changed.
Undoubtedly, SEO elements like keyword research, SEO audit, and indexing belong in every industry. Still, explaining the importance and value of SEO can be challenging at times.
So, how do you pitch it in a concise way that communicates its value to the business? In this article, we’re going to suggest eight pitches that prove SEO deserves a place in the finance industry.
1. Great Content Builds Trust
Success in the financial industry is easily measured by how trustworthy your business is. And when you emphasise how important quality content is for better SERP ranking, that’s difficult to ignore.
When it comes to financial services marketing, it’s vital to pay attention to “Your Money Your Life” (YMYL) pages. Search engines will take special notice of these pages and scrutinise them more than others.
That’s why creating informative, educational, and useful content that answers essential questions will help you convey trustworthiness to consumers.
2. SEO Helps You Be Relevant
Every business wants to improve its relevance when it comes to content marketing and SEO. In the case of finance, relevance will revolve around what you can provide to your customer.
SEO tactics can help you align your goals with those of your users. But just like with any industry, you can easily miss the mark unless you do in-depth research of the market. And that’s something SEO can help with.
3. Optimising Your Content Brings More Clients
This is an elevator pitch that will stop anyone in their tracks. The bottom line is that if you optimise your content, people will be able to find your financial services business easier, and that will likely lead to more clients.
SEO tactics that include accurate keyword density and research, as well as using relevant links and anchor text will ensure your business will be one listed high on the search engine pages.
4. Regular SEO Audits Provide Valuable Data for Your Business
A financial service business might already have an SEO strategy in place with mediocre results. If those results serve as an argument that SEO doesn’t belong in finance, suggesting an SEO audit is a good idea.
This process analyses the online presence of a business and suggests a plan on how to boost its performance. SEO audits are pretty much standard procedure and can provide valuable insight into the “health” of your website.
5. Technical SEO Guarantees Speed
If your SEO audit proves that your website’s pages are slow to load, technical SEO is there to help. Neither Google, its users, nor the financial industry as a whole, like websites that load slowly.
The expectations are higher by default. With technical SEO, you can get optimised images and text, the right URL structure, and additional privacy.
6. Financial Services Industry Need SEO for Security
Website security is a vital aspect of SEO for finance. And while SEO audits will provide some input regarding security, it’s just not going to be enough.
Opting for an SSL certificate and the latest version of CMS software is something that will benefit you greatly. Your website should also always have a service notice that informs your visitors that it’s protected.
7. Local SEO Is Crucial for the Financial Industry
The purpose of local SEO is to ensure high ranking of a business in a specific area. When someone Googles “Best financial advisers in London”, they’ll see the closest businesses to where they’re located.
A good local SEO strategy should ensure your company is listed among the top three search results. It’s all about providing as much information as possible for your potential clients.
8. Mobile-Friendly Website with SEO
Websites optimised for mobile devices are going to have higher ranking SEO status. Perhaps this isn’t something the financial industry used to worry about, but that’s changing too.
Many people use their smartphones to carry out transactions, do research, and even contact customer service. Optimising your website for mobile devices is just a smart thing to do in the financial sector nowadays.
SEO Can Transform Financial Services Marketing
When you consider that most millennials, and even some boomers, prefer to do their own research when it comes to financial advice, SEO in finance makes a lot of sense. There’s nothing wrong with referrals and word-of-mouth marketing, but they have their limitations in the year 2020.
The financial world is often complicated and a bit intimidating. That’s why providing informative content and an optimised website for your business will put you at a substantial advantage. And ultimately lead to more satisfied customers.