Finance has always been a competitive industry and it has become more so with the advances in technology. The mobile revolution, AI, machine learning, blockchain, etc. are turning things on their head.
Suddenly, people have more options in their hands to understand things a bit better before they make a choice. In most cases, we love to do a bit of research online before we even call up customer service or step into the offices of a finance company. Unless we have already made up our minds, we type in our query and look at a few of the top results that come up.
It is thus crucial for finance firms to rank high in search results for relevant keywords. If SEO is done right, it will make sure that you are right there at the top and have a better chance of engaging the visitor and even turning her into a loyal customer.
A few rules for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) are universal and can be applied to any industry. Some of them include publishing keyword-rich and high-quality content (usually known as SEO-optimised content), using Image Alt Tags, removing broken links, creating unique title tags, structured layout, intuitive navigation etc. However, there are a few industry-based SEO strategies that work well for specific sectors.
Here are a few tips on finance industry SEO that you may not have known before:
Check Your Analytics
It is important to know what type of content is working for you. You can check your analytics and see which keywords or content formats are bringing in more visitors and which ones are actually converting into sales. Streamline your content strategy and concentrate more time in producing content around them.
If a certain social media platform is performing way better than others, you can invest in paid marketing or run other campaigns to get better results from that platform. You can also hire a company offering content writing services to get high-quality (read relevant) SEO-optimised content for your website and social media channels.
Share Your Physical Location
What most finance companies fail to do is take advantage of local web searches. For instance, these businesses must not shy away from sharing their physical location with search engines for customers to find them.
Popular search engines like Google have services where you can register your address and your customers will get your name as the search engine will give local search results first. If you have more than one branch, register them all with the search engines. Make sure the data you give is correct. Quite a few banks show branch phone numbers that are not valid. This leaves a bad impression on the customer.
Use Text for Non-textual Content
Many companies share infographics, photos, and videos frequently on their websites. While these different visually appealing content formats are great to grab the attention of customers, they do not help much to rank you high in search results. Search engine bots need text to understand your visual content.
You can consider using the Alt attribute to explain in words the ‘content’ of the image or infographics you put up and publish transcripts for your videos to ensure that your visual content is also understood properly by search bots. Firms providing SEO services for finance or insurance companies may advise you to use both text and visual elements to share information with your customers.
Try Conventional Advertising Unconventionally
Press releases have been popular for decades in the advertising world. This conventional advertising tactic can be used to gain traction online. You can share a press release about any newsworthy story about you, your website, your business, etc.
You may choose to publish it with different online press release websites or directories. Remember to include a well-written “About” section with a link to your website to help the readers come to your site. If done right, this tactic can get the world talking about you.
To conclude, do not be bogged down or misled by the search results when you get started. You will see reputed banks, comparison websites, private lenders in addition to low-quality websites with copied content, etc. Find a legit competitor and check out their website to see what is working for them. Try to incorporate a few of those things in your SEO strategy as well.
It may take time due to the nature of the industry but if you persevere and work smart, you will see your site move up the search rankings within a couple of months to begin with and become a first-page search results mainstay in 4-6 months.
This post originally appeared on our earlier website: ihusresearch.com