Local SEO for B2B Lenders:

The Ultimate Guide

If your B2B lending business isn’t taking full advantage of local SEO, you’re missing out on key opportunities to attract potential local clients. Every day, local companies are searching for local lenders, likely by typing terms like “B2B lender near me” into Google search.

Without an effective local SEO strategy, these prospects are finding your competitors instead.

Don’t worry, though! In this guide, we’ll show you how local SEO for B2B lenders works and how you can use it to reach prospective clients exactly when they’re searching for the services you provide.

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.

What Is Local SEO for B2B Lenders?

Local SEO optimizes your online presence to attract potential clients in your specific geographic area.

When business owners search for “B2B lender near me” or “small business lender in [city],” a well-optimized local presence ensures your business ranks at the top of the search engine results pages.

Like traditional SEO, you’ll need to conduct keyword research and optimize your web pages with relevant local keywords in the right places.

However, local SEO goes beyond just your website. You’ll also need to focus on factors like your Google Business Profile, business listings, and other local SEO efforts that we’ll cover in this guide!

Why Local SEO for B2B Lenders Matters

Local SEO for B2B lenders offers a direct way to connect with potential clients who are actively searching for lending services in your specific geographic area.

When businesses search for lending services, they often need assistance urgently, whether it’s securing a business loan or managing cash flow. Local SEO ensures your business appears in front of these potential clients at the perfect time.

Here’s what local SEO can do for your business:

  • Attract ready-to-convert clients in your area who need lending services now
  • Build visibility in your town, city, or state
  • Stand out against larger B2B lenders in local search results
  • Boost credibility with client reviews and complete business listings
  • Create a strong presence on Google Maps where local clients search
  • Reach potential clients who specifically want a local lender
  • Strengthen your reputation in the local community
local b2b lenders seo strategy
seo for b2b lenders local market

If you’re ready to incorporate local SEO into your digital marketing strategy but aren’t sure where to begin, learn more about our local SEO services.

Want to DIY? We’re sharing the ultimate guide to local SEO for B2B lenders that’ll get your business on top of organic search results below!

Want to see our work in action?

What Is the Best Strategy for Local SEO?: The Ultimate Guide

1. Focus on Local Keywords

Your website content should include the terms that local clients use when searching online. Every search engine optimization strategy is unique, but to improve local search rankings for your B2B lending business, this often means incorporating your city, neighborhood, or service area into your main keywords.

For example, instead of just “business loan services,” use “business loan services in New York” or “commercial lending in downtown Chicago.”

Here are a few 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 help boost your local search rankings, but be careful to avoid keyword stuffing. Only use your targeted local keywords where they feel natural and relevant.

Overusing keywords can negatively impact your rankings, as Google may penalize your page for excessive keyword use, ultimately harming your SEO performance.

2. Optimize Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is crucial for the success of local search engine optimization (SEO) strategy for B2B lenders. A complete and accurate profile ensures your business appears in Google Maps and local search results, increasing your visibility to potential clients. To fully optimize your profile, make sure to:

  • Fill out every section of your profile
  • Upload high-quality photos of your office or business location
  • Keep your business hours up to date
  • List all the services you offer
  • Post regular updates about your business to engage with your audience
  • Choose the most relevant business categories
  • Add special attributes (such as “minority-owned” or “family-owned,” if applicable)

Here are examples of well-done Google Business Profiles for B2B lenders in New York City.

Local SEO for b2b lenders example.

3. Create Location-Specific Pages

If your B2B lending firm serves multiple areas, it’s important to create dedicated pages for each location. For example, if your firm has offices in both Chicago and Los Angeles, you might create pages titled “Business Loan Services in Chicago” and “Business Loan Services in Los Angeles.”

Each page should provide detailed information about that specific office, such as your address and the services available. You can also make the page more valuable by adding area-specific content, such as local business resources or relevant lending information tailored to each location.

4. Get Local Reviews

Reviews from past clients play a significant role in your local search engine ranking. So, when offboarding clients, always ask them to share their experience and leave a review on Google.

You should also:

  • Respond to every review promptly
  • Address negative feedback professionally
  • Make it easy for clients to leave reviews by providing direct links
  • Thank clients who take the time to review your services

Online reviews serve a dual purpose: they improve your local SEO profile and help build trust with potential customers.

5. Maintain NAP Consistency

NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. For local SEO and overall business success, it’s crucial that this information is accurate and consistent across all online platforms.

Check these places:

  • Your website
  • Google Business Profile
  • Social media accounts
  • Local business directories
  • Professional association profiles
  • Review sites

Even small inconsistencies can negatively impact your local SEO and cause you to lose leads who may try to contact you using an incorrect email address or phone number.

6. Create Local Content

Just like with traditional SEO, your local SEO can greatly benefit from starting a blog and regularly publishing valuable, location-specific content.

You can create detailed articles about local tax deadlines, state-specific business regulations, financial considerations for businesses in your city, and any other topics that your local audience might be searching for.

Strive for a healthy mix of traditional and local SEO content. If you’re not sure where to start, learn more about our SEO blogging and content marketing services!

7. Optimize for Mobile

Most people use their phones to search online. In fact, statistics show that 64% of searches are carried out on mobile phones, compared to just 35% on desktops. So, ensuring that your website is optimized for all screen sizes is crucial for online visibility.

Many website builders automatically adjust for mobile view, but sometimes important details can be lost in the process. Make sure that:

  • Your website layout automatically adjusts to different screen sizes
  • Your 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
  • If you have interactive maps, ensure they work well on smaller screens

It might not seem like it, but mobile optimization is essential for a successful SEO campaign. Google and other search engines may lower your rankings if your website is not functional on mobile.

8. Monitor Local Competitors

Understanding your local competition is key to identifying opportunities to stand out. Analyze other B2B lenders’ websites to see what services they emphasize, how they present themselves, and which SEO keywords they rank for. You can use tools like Ahrefs to check this.

Don’t simply copy your competitors’ strategy. Instead, look for gaps in their content that you can fill. For example, if competitors aren’t creating content about local lending regulations or industry-specific challenges, this could be your opportunity to become the go-to local expert in these areas.

9. Build Local Backlinks

A backlink occurs when another website links to yours. When this happens, it’s like they’re telling Google, “This B2B lender is trustworthy and worth checking out.”

Local backlinks are especially valuable because they come from other businesses and organizations in your community. They signal to search engines that you’re an active, respected part of your local business scene.

Here are a few ideas on how to build local backlinks:

  • Join local business organizations and have them list your website
  • Start participating or sponsoring local events in the community and include a link to your website in the description.
  • Partner with local schools or libraries
  • Write guest posts for local business blogs
  • Contribute to local news websites
  • Create content for community newsletters

We can help you build 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 issues with your technical SEO. In fact, it might not even be able to crawl (=find) your website or the content you’ve created.

Consider doing a comprehensive SEO audit of your website and checking these key 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 navigation
  • XML sitemap submission to search engines
  • No duplicate content issues
  • Image optimization (size and alt text)
  • Internal linking between pages

Technical SEO can be tricky, and it’s often one of the most important reasons businesses hire SEO experts.

11. Track & Analyze Your SEO Strategy

Your SEO journey will be an ongoing process of change and evolution, so it’s crucial to understand what’s working and what isn’t. You can use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and keyword research tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush to track your SEO performance and refine your strategy accordingly.


Traditional SEO vs Local SEO

Most are familiar with traditional SEO, which focuses on improving your website’s visibility in search engines, local SEO often doesn’t get as much attention, but it can be a game-changer. This powerful strategy helps your B2B lending services stand out to people in your local area, making it easier for potential clients nearby to find you.

Traditional SEO

Traditional SEO focuses on boosting your website’s visibility in national or global search results. For example, if you create a blog post on “business loan options for small businesses,” your content will compete with lending websites nationwide, or even globally, depending on the scope of your target audience.

Traditional SEO is a powerful marketing strategy for B2B lenders, helping you to:

  • Attract potential clients who need lending services from across the country (or even globally, depending on your focus and goals)
  • Create valuable, evergreen content that continues driving web traffic long-term
  • Build your overall domain authority, which benefits all your SEO efforts
  • Position your business as an expert in specific lending niches

If you want your website to rank higher on Google search results, start with the right SEO keywords for B2B lenders.

That being said, traditional SEO for B2B lenders is highly competitive and can take longer to produce meaningful results. You may also attract leads from areas where you don’t offer services or aren’t licensed to operate.

Local SEO

Local SEO focuses on attracting potential clients within your specific geographic area. Instead of competing for broad terms like “business loans,” local SEO targets location-based searches, such as “business loans in Phoenix.”

Many B2B lenders overlook local SEO in favor of broader marketing strategies, but when executed correctly, it can be a highly effective and profitable marketing approach.

Research shows that 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find other local businesses, and 60% of mobile users have contacted a business directly based on the search results. This highlights how critical local SEO is for driving local leads and business growth.

Additional local seo Services We Offer For b2b lenders

Our Framework for local seo for b2b 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 strategy that supports the growth of your B2B lending business, rather than offering immediate results. Typically, our clients begin to notice significant improvements within 3-6 months, but the timeline can differ depending on several factors:

  • Your starting position (whether you’re building SEO from scratch or refining existing efforts)
  • The level of competition in your local 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
  • How complete and active your Google Business Profile is
  • The volume of reviews you gather
  • How consistently you apply local SEO tactics

Some changes, like refreshing your Google Business Profile, may show results within a few weeks. However, enhancing local authority through backlinks and content creation can take more time to yield significant outcomes.

Reach out to us, and we’ll give you a more accurate timeline based on your unique needs!

Local SEO Services for B2B Lenders: Are They Worth It?

You might consider handling your local SEO independently, but collaborating with an SEO professional provides several distinct advantages. SEO, particularly local SEO for B2B lenders, encompasses many aspects, including technical adjustments and ongoing content creation.

Working with experts helps you steer clear of costly errors that could negatively impact your rankings, while also freeing up your time to focus on serving clients. To learn more about our local SEO services, or if you prefer a DIY approach, check out our Resource Hub for helpful guides!

Still Curious?

Frequently asked questions

A: Absolutely! Many of your potential clients turn to search engines as their first stop when searching for B2B lending services. Without SEO, your business misses out on these valuable opportunities, no matter how great your services are. Even if most of your business comes from referrals, SEO enhances your online presence, allowing those referred clients to verify their decision by showcasing your professionalism and the quality of your services.

A: You can track your local SEO performance using tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google My Business Insights. These tools help you monitor key metrics like website traffic, local search rankings, click-through rates, and engagement from local customers.

A: Yes! If your business serves multiple locations, it’s essential to create individual pages for each area. This allows you to target location-specific keywords and provide content that resonates with each local audience, improving your chances of ranking in local search results.

A: Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can be used to engage with local customers and businesses. Post content about local events, promotions, or community involvement, and include location-based hashtags to improve your visibility. Social signals also help improve local rankings.

A: While paid ads like Google Ads won’t directly impact your organic SEO rankings, they can complement your local SEO strategy by driving more local traffic to your website. Paid ads can increase your visibility, and when paired with strong local SEO efforts, they can enhance your overall online presence and lead generation.

A: There are several key aspects to focus on when it comes to local SEO, such as optimizing your website with relevant local keywords that align with search intent, enhancing your Google Business Profile, and showcasing positive reviews from past clients. Additionally, starting a blog and consistently publishing high-quality, location-specific content is essential, along with actively building local backlinks to strengthen your online presence.

Hire an SEO Agency for B2B Lenders

Local SEO can be an incredibly effective and profitable digital marketing strategy for B2B lenders.

At SJDS Digital Solutions, we specialize in local search optimization and understand the unique challenges that B2B lending businesses face. Discover more about our local SEO services, or feel free to reach out to us directly!