SEO, as you may already know, is the bread and butter leading to any website’s success, and it can be extremely competitive for any industry, but especially for financial services SEO.

This is because the stakes are significantly higher for financial services, and for an insurance provider or a bank, for example, a failed SEO strategy can result in lost trust and traffic. Here, we’ll go into the deets on why your next financial services SEO strategy needs to be bulletproof.

Unfortunately, your typical SEO tactics are simply not enough…

There are two non-negotiables when it comes to all things SEO and finance, and those are regulatory compliance and Google’s E-E-A-T framework. So, if you’re tired of investing in SEO that results in zero, stay with us. We’ll show you how to change this.

The unique challenge of financial SEO: YMYL and regulation

Here’s the sitch – Google classifies financial advice, investment portals and banking information under its most big-brother-watching category, known as Your Money or Your Life (YMYL).

So, if you’re giving out advice, your content has the potential to harm a person’s financial well-being or safety, which prompts Big Brother (*ahem* Google) to hold your site to account and to an exceptionally high standard.

So, what does this mean? Well, your financial SEO strategy needs to be watertight if it’s going to contend with regulatory scrutiny and Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) requirements.

Google ensures that the content you chuck out there is legally audited by regulatory bodies so that misstatements or guaranteed claims are dealt with appropriately.

Further to this, Google demands that any content published on your financial services site is accurate and written by experts and housed on a website that is ethical and trustworthy.

Content velocity

As you can imagine, the moment a piece of content goes live, it becomes a piece of digital communication that is subject to scrutiny. This  is how we recommend you focus on being compliant-first with your financial content:

• Avoid high-risk claims: avoid using language that guarantees returns, promises risk-free investment, or uses exaggerations that can’t be backed up legally. Also, financial SEO should exclude keywords that trigger compliance red flags.
• Mandatory disclosures: Make sure you always include clear and legally required disclosures regarding risks, fees and terms with your content. This is especially important when promoting products.
• Digital archiving: Make sure all of your digital communications with customers are recorded and archived.

Mastering E-E-A-T

You need to ensure that the content you put out there is written by an expert; this is a non-negotiable in finance. Google always looks for content that has been written in a way that can be trusted and understood by its readers. If your content is anonymous or generic, it unfortunately won’t rank against content that is written by established firms or reputable news outlets.

Expertise – who wrote that article?

As mentioned above, every piece of content should be written by and attributed to a credible and licensed professional. So, when it comes to SEO for financial services, make sure your content pieces have verified author bios linked to them with a detailed bio page explaining who they are and their credentials. This shows Big Brother that the content can be trusted and is written by someone who knows what they’re talking about.

You also need to make sure that your schema markup is implemented through the use of organisation and person schema. This way, you’ll be able to clearly label your firm and its authors to search engines, which will automatically solidify your expertise.

Authoritativeness – the reputational signal

The way to weave authoritativeness into your content is to make sure that you pull in external validation through external validation from high-quality sources. Here’s how:

• High-value backlinks: getting backlinks from credible sources, such as financial news sites, academic institutions or government portals, is a great way to bring authoritativeness to your website and tells Google that others within your industry trust your firm.
• Media mentions: You should also be seeking out media mentions and PR opportunities because this way, you’ll raise your website’s domain rating (DR).

Trustworthiness – the technical and ethical foundation

The last step in Google’s E-E-A-T framework is trustworthiness, which is brought to life with your audience having a positive user experience, rooted in the site’s security and through transparency.

• Technical integrity: Make sure that your site has a valid SSL certificate and fast page loading speeds. Technical SEO health is definitely a foundational trust signal for Google.
• Transparent policies: Ensure your privacy policy, terms of use, and any regulatory disclosures are easily accessible and clearly written.
• Reputation management: Showing your reviews online is another way of being able to show Google you can be trusted.

Advanced keyword strategy and intent

So, now that you’ve sorted out your reputation management, you can focus on driving valuable traffic to your website with financial SEO keywords that bring in fresh clients.

The trick here is to use keywords that offer solutions to problems for your audience. So, ensuring you use the right keywords is your best option. Also, ensuring your Google Business Profile is updated with the right information (like your opening hours and your address) will help with targeting those ‘near me’ searches.

At Assisted, we’ll help you target those golden keywords that convert. SEO for financial services is something we are experts in, bringing to life your E-E-A-T metrics and helping your business grow through trust and transparency.  We specialise in building financial SEO campaigns that tick all of the boxes of the financial sector.

Ready to establish your authority and capture high-value clients safely? Schedule a financial SEO audit with our specialist team today at Assisted, or get in touch with us at 01788 288020.