Local SEO for Alternative Lenders:
If you’re not utilizing local SEO, you’re likely missing out on a significant number of potential clients. Every day, individuals are turning to search engines to find local lending options, with many typing in “alternative lender near me.”
Without a solid local SEO strategy, those potential borrowers are finding your competitors instead.
But don’t worry! In this guide, we’ll explain how local SEO for alternative lenders can help boost your local search visibility and connect you with clients who are actively seeking your services.
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What Is Local SEO for Alternative Lenders?
Local SEO helps optimize your online presence to attract potential clients within your specific area.
When people search for terms like “alternative lender near me” or “lenders in [City Name],” having a well-optimized local presence ensures your business shows up at the top of search engine results.
Much like traditional SEO, it involves thorough keyword research and optimizing your website with the right relevant keywords in the right places.
However, local SEO is more than just focusing on your website. You also need to pay attention to key factors like your Google Business Profile and other local SEO techniques, which we’ll dive into in this guide!
Why Local SEO for Alternative Lenders Matters
Local SEO for alternative lenders gives you a direct way to connect with borrowers who are actively searching for your services in the areas you serve.
When someone needs a loan, they often require assistance quickly. Local SEO ensures that your business appears exactly when they’re looking for solutions, whether it’s a personal loan or mortgage option.
Here’s what local SEO can do for your lending business:
- Attract clients in your area who need lending services now
- Increase your visibility in your local market, whether it’s a town, city, or state
- Stand out from larger competitors in local search results
- Boost your credibility with client reviews and a complete business listing
- Establish a strong presence on Google Maps, where local borrowers are searching
- Connect with potential clients specifically looking for a local lender
- Strengthen your reputation in the local financial community
If you’re ready to add local SEO to your digital marketing strategy but aren’t sure where to start, check out our local SEO services.
Prefer to handle it yourself? We’ve got 10+ local SEO strategies to help you climb to the top of organic search results – keep reading!
Want to see our work in action?
What Is the Best Strategy for Local SEO?: 10+ Strategies
1. Focus on Local Keywords
Your website content should reflect the specific terms that local borrowers are searching for. Every search engine optimization strategy varies, but if you want to improve your local search rankings as an alternative lender, this often means incorporating your city, neighborhood, or service area into your primary keywords.
For example, instead of simply using “personal loan lender,” use “personal loan lender in Los Angeles” or “mortgage lender in Brooklyn.”
Here are some key places to add local keywords:
- Page titles and headings
- Meta descriptions
- Image alt text
- Service pages
- Blog posts
- Contact page
Focusing on the right local keywords will enhance your local search visibility, but make sure to avoid keyword stuffing. It’s essential to use these keywords naturally, so they don’t appear forced or overused.
Excessive use of keywords can hurt your SEO performance, as Google may penalize pages for unnatural keyword usage. Keep it balanced to ensure you’re helping search engines understand your content while still appealing to your readers.
2. Optimize Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is a key factor in driving local SEO success. A fully optimized profile ensures your business appears in Google Maps and local search results. Here’s how to make the most of it:
- Complete every section of your profile
- Upload high-quality, relevant photos of your business location
- Keep your business hours accurate and up to date
- List all the services you offer
- Regularly post updates about your business activities
- Choose the most accurate business categories
- Add special attributes like “free consultations,” “emergency services,” or “same-day appointments”
Here are examples of well-done Google Business Profiles for alternative lenders in New York City.
3. Create Location-Specific Pages
If your alternative lending firm serves multiple locations, it’s important to create dedicated pages for each area. For example, if your business has branches in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, you could create pages like “Personal Loan Services in Los Angeles” and “Personal Loan Services in San Francisco.”
Each page should include detailed information about that specific location, such as your address and the services offered. Consider adding local content, like area-specific lending regulations or community resources to make the page even more valuable. This will help improve your local SEO and make your website more relevant to potential clients in those regions.
4. Get Local Reviews
Reviews from past clients are a crucial factor in your local search engine ranking. When finishing up with clients, make sure to ask them to share their experience and leave a review on Google.
You should also:
- Respond promptly to every review
- Handle negative feedback professionally
- Make it easy for clients to leave reviews by providing direct links
- Thank clients who take the time to share their feedback
Online reviews serve a dual purpose: they enhance your local SEO and help establish trust with potential clients, making it easier for them to choose your alternative lending services.
5. Maintain NAP Consistency
NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number, and it’s essential for local SEO and overall business success that this information is consistent and accurate across all online platforms.
Make sure your NAP is the same on:
- Your website
- Google Business Profile
- Social media accounts
- Business directories
- Professional association profiles
- Review sites
Even small inconsistencies can hurt your local SEO and cause missed opportunities, as potential clients may struggle to reach you if your details are incorrect. Consistency is key to improving your local search rankings and making sure clients can easily contact your alternative lending services.
6. Create Local Content
Just like traditional SEO, your local SEO can greatly improve by starting a blog and consistently publishing valuable, location-focused content.
You can write detailed articles about local financial trends, state-specific lending regulations, or tips on securing a loan in your city, all topics your local audience is likely searching for.
Aim for a good balance between traditional SEO and local SEO content. If you’re unsure where to begin, check out our SEO blogging and content marketing services for more guidance!
7. Optimize for Mobile
Most people use their phones to search online. Statistics show that 64% of searches are conducted on mobile devices, compared to just 35% on desktops. This makes it crucial to ensure that your website looks good and functions properly on all screen sizes for better online visibility.
Many website builders automatically adjust for mobile view, but sometimes, important details can be overlooked. Make sure that:
- Your website layout automatically adapts to different screen sizes
- Buttons are functional and easy to use
- Business information is clear and easy to find
- All internal links are working properly
- Load times are fast
- Interactive maps function well on smaller screens
It might not seem like it, but mobile optimization is critical for a successful SEO campaign. Google and other search engines may lower your rankings if your website isn’t properly optimized for mobile users.
8. Monitor Local Competitors
Understanding your local competition is key to finding ways to stand out. Take a look at other alternative lenders’ websites to see what services they highlight, how they present themselves, and which SEO keywords they rank for. Tools like Ahrefs can help you gather this information.
Don’t just copy your competitors’ strategies. Instead, focus on finding gaps in their content that you can fill. For instance, if your competitors aren’t covering local lending regulations or community-specific financing options, this is your chance to position yourself as the go-to local expert in those areas.
9. Build Local Backlinks
A backlink is when another website links to yours. When this happens, it’s like that website is telling Google “This business is trustworthy and worth checking out.”
Local backlinks are especially valuable because they come from other businesses and organizations within your community. They signal to search engines that you’re an active, respected part of the local business ecosystem.
Here are a few ways to build local backlinks:
- Join local business organizations and have them list your website
- Participate in community events and include a link to your website in the event description
- Partner with local schools or libraries
- Write guest posts for local business blogs
- Contribute content to local news websites
- Create relevant content for community newsletters
We can help you build effective backlinks as part of our SEO services.
10. Clean Up Your Technical SEO Foundations
Creating high-quality content is essential for search engines, but Google won’t rank it on the first page if there are technical issues with your website. In some cases, Google might not even be able to crawl (or find) your content.
A comprehensive SEO audit should include checking these important technical elements:
- Proper title tags and meta descriptions
- Short, readable URLs that include your target keywords
- Working links (no broken or dead links)
- Clear website structure and easy navigation
- XML sitemap submission to search engines
- No duplicate content issues
- Optimized images (size and alt text)
- Internal linking between pages
Technical SEO can be tricky, and it’s often one of the main reasons businesses hire SEO experts to ensure everything functions correctly.
11. Track & Analyze Your SEO Strategy
Your SEO strategy will constantly evolve, making it essential to track what works and what doesn’t. Tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and keyword research platforms like Ahrefs or Semrush can help monitor performance and refine your approach over time.
Traditional SEO vs Local SEO
You’ve likely heard about traditional SEO, which optimizes websites to rank well in search engines. However, local SEO is often overlooked, even though it can deliver impressive results. This strategy helps more people in your area discover your alternative lending services, making it easier to connect with local customers and improve search visibility.
Traditional SEO
Traditional SEO is all about boosting your website’s visibility in national or global search results. For example, writing content on “alternative lending options for small businesses” would mean competing with lenders across the country.
Traditional SEO is a great marketing strategy for alternative lenders. It helps you to:
- Attracting potential clients looking for lending services across the US or even globally, depending on your focus and goals
- Creating valuable evergreen content that continues to drive long-term traffic
- Building overall domain authority, which supports all your SEO efforts
- Establishing your business as a leader in specific lending niches
- If you aim for high Google search rankings, targeting relevant SEO keywords for alternative lenders is essential.
- However, traditional SEO is highly competitive and can take time to deliver significant results. Additionally, it may attract leads from areas outside your service range, which is why local SEO is often a more effective strategy for alternative lenders aiming to reach specific target markets.
Local SEO
Local SEO is all about attracting clients in your specific location. Instead of competing for broad search terms like “small business loan options,” local SEO focuses on more targeted searches, such as “small business loans in Chicago.”
Many alternative lenders tend to prioritize broader marketing strategies, local SEO can offer exceptional results when done right.
Research reveals that 80% of consumers use search engines to find local businesses, and 60% of mobile users take action, like reaching out to a business, after seeing it in the search results. Local SEO helps you connect with potential clients nearby who are looking for lending services right now.
Additional local seo Services We Offer For alternative lenders
In addition to these services, we offer:
Our Framework for local seo for alternative lenders
VISION
When you’re ready to have your financial brand grow through your content, we’re here to help you become more visible as an authority in your niche by creating your content backed by our three pillars below.
Our goals when implementing content marketing strategies for alternative lenders are to increase traffic, leads, and conversions for your organization. Allow us to operate in our areas of expertise by creating content that converts and optimizes your content with SEO.
When you take these two things off your plate, you can focus your time, energy, and resources on YOUR areas of expertise. It’s time to stop stressing and overburdening your internal team. Outsource this area of your business to us and get it right the first time. Because not only are we experts at content and SEO, we’re experts in the finance niche.
STRATEGY
You deserve to experience what it’s like to work with us because we understand the big picture. A piece of alternative lending content marketing is never one and done.
We create content that connects to your audience, your other content, and your overall sales and marketing goals.
EXECUTION
Allow us to implement your strategy by taking massive action with one or multiple of our packages.
It’s time for you to save hours spent researching, crafting, ideating, and guessing because when it comes to your content ranking, it’s not just about your great ideas. It’s about how you execute your ideas.
ANALYTICS
We constantly keep a pulse on what’s going on data-wise in the alternative lending industry and keep you informed too.
We do this by regularly monitoring analytics through Google Analytics and Google Search Console, sending reports to our clients, taking action based on the data, and keeping content fresh and updated over time.
We’d never claim to be experts, but we are aware of the strict compliance standards within the financial industry. Moreover, refreshing content is crucial since numbers, regulations, etc., change in the financial services industry sometimes yearly.
Get A Proposal
Turn leads into customers and get started today. We’ve partnered with finance and real estate brands around the globe with digital marketing campaigns, including SEO, content creation, lead generation, and beyond. Get results with the pros in your niche – we’re not a generic agency that works with everyone.
How Long Does It Take for Local SEO to Work?
Local SEO is a long-term investment in the growth of your alternative lending business, not a quick solution. Our clients typically see meaningful results within 3-6 months, but the timeline can vary based on several key factors:
- Your starting point (whether you’re building SEO from scratch or enhancing existing efforts)
- The competitiveness of your local lending market
- The current state of your website and online presence
- The number of locations you’re targeting
- The frequency and quality of your content updates
- The completeness and activity of your Google Business Profile
- The number of reviews you collect
- How consistently you implement SEO strategies
Some changes, like updating your Google Business Profile, can yield results in just a few weeks. However, other aspects, such as building local authority through backlinks and content, take longer to develop.
Reach out to us, and we’ll provide a more accurate estimate of what you can expect!
Local SEO Services for Alternative Lenders: Are They Worth It?
You could handle your local SEO on your own, but partnering with an SEO expert provides several advantages. Local SEO for alternative lenders involves many aspects, from technical optimizations to ongoing content creation, all requiring expertise.
By working with a professional SEO team, you can avoid costly mistakes that could hurt your rankings and free up time to focus on serving your clients. Learn more about our local SEO services or check out the Resource Hub if you prefer to take the DIY approach!
Frequently asked questions
Q: Do Alternative Lenders Need SEO?
A: Absolutely! Many potential clients start their search for alternative lending services by turning to search engines. Without proper SEO, your business misses out on these valuable opportunities, no matter how great your services are. Even if most clients come through referrals, SEO is crucial in validating their choice. It ensures your business has a professional online presence that showcases the quality of your lending services.
Q: Is Local SEO Paid?
A: No, local SEO is not the same as paid search. Local SEO focuses on organic (non-paid) strategies to boost your visibility in search results. While you might invest in professional services or tools to execute SEO effectively, the rankings are earned through optimizing your online presence rather than paying for ad space like with Google Ads. The visibility you gain through local SEO comes from improving your website and content to meet search engine requirements, not from purchasing ad placements.
Q: Is Doing Local SEO Worth It?
A: Yes, local SEO is essential if you only provide services in a specific region. Many clients prefer working with local lenders who understand their area’s financial landscape and lending regulations. When someone searches for terms like “alternative lenders near me” or “lending services in [city name],” local SEO ensures your business appears in those results. This results in a steady stream of qualified leads actively searching for your lending services.
Q: Do I Need a Website for Local SEO?
A: Yes, a website is key for local SEO. It is the foundation for all your SEO efforts, allowing you to create dedicated service pages for different locations and publish relevant, location-specific content on your blog to improve rankings. Maintaining other important local SEO components, like your Google Business Profile, is essential for improving your visibility in local search results.
Q: How Is Local SEO Different from SEO?
A: Local SEO for alternative lenders helps improve visibility within a specific geographic area. Unlike traditional SEO, which targets broader searches, local SEO ensures that when potential borrowers search for terms like “alternative lenders near me” or “lending services in [city name],” your business appears in their results. This approach attracts qualified leads actively seeking financial services in your area, ultimately helping you stand out against competitors.
Q: How to Rank High in Local SEO?
A: Local SEO involves several key factors, such as optimizing your website with local keywords that match search intent, setting up and maintaining your Google Business Profile, and showcasing positive reviews from past clients. It’s also important to start a blog and consistently publish high-quality, location-specific content while actively building local backlinks to improve your rankings.
Hire an SEO Agency for Alternative Lenders
Local SEO can be an extremely valuable digital marketing strategy for alternative lenders.
SJDS Digital Solutions specializes in local search optimization and the unique requirements of the lending industry. Discover our local SEO services, or contact us today to learn more!