Local SEO for Financial Advisors:

Guide to Effective SEO Strategies

If you’re not using local SEO for financial advisors to your advantage yet, your financial advisory practice is likely missing out on valuable client opportunities. Prospective clients are actively searching online for local financial services every day. Some are probably typing “financial advisor near me” into Google search as you read this!

Without a strong local SEO strategy, these valuable client opportunities go directly to your competitors.

But don’t worry! We’ll explain what local SEO for financial advisors is and how you can use it to connect with potential clients at the exact moment they’re searching for your expertise.

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What Is Local SEO for Financial Advisors?

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

When prospective clients search for “financial advisor near me” or “wealth management in Chicago,” a well-optimized local presence helps your financial advisory practice appear at the top of the search engine results pages.

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

But local SEO goes beyond just your website. You’ll also need to focus on other key aspects like your Google Business Profile and additional local SEO efforts that we’ll cover in this guide!

Traditional SEO vs Local SEO

You’ve likely heard about traditional SEO – the practice of optimizing your website to rank well in search engines. Fewer people discuss local SEO for financial advisors, but this powerful strategy often delivers outstanding results and helps more local clients discover your financial advisory practice in your specific geographic area.

Traditional SEO

Traditional SEO focuses on improving your website’s visibility in national or global search results. For instance, you might create a blog post about “investment strategies for small businesses,” which would compete with financial advisor websites across the country.

Traditional SEO is a strong marketing strategy for financial advisors, helping you to:

Attract potential clients seeking financial advisory services from across the country (or even globally, depending on your focus and goals)
Create valuable evergreen content that continues driving organic traffic over time
Build your overall domain authority, benefiting all aspects of your SEO efforts
Position your financial advisory practice as a thought leader in specific niches within the financial services industry

To rank higher in search engine results, start with relevant SEO keywords for financial advisors.

However, traditional SEO for financial advisors is highly competitive, and it may take longer to see significant results. You might also attract leads from areas where you do not offer services or lack the necessary licenses.

Local SEO

Local SEO targets potential clients in your specific geographic area. Instead of competing for broad terms like “investment planning,” local SEO focuses on location-based searches such as “investment planning in Miami” or “financial advisor near me.”

Many financial advisory practices overlook local SEO in favor of broader strategies, but when done right, it can be an incredibly lucrative marketing approach.

Research shows that 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information, and 60% of mobile users have reached out to a business directly using the search results.

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Why Local SEO for Financial Advisors Matters

Local SEO for financial advisors gives you a direct way to connect with potential clients who are actively searching for your services and are based in a geographic area you serve.

When someone searches for financial services, they often need assistance quickly—whether it’s retirement planning or investment advice. Local SEO ensures that your firm is in front of these potential clients at the exact right moment.

Here’s what local SEO can do for your financial advisor practice:

Attract ready-to-convert local clients who need financial services now
Build visibility in your town, city, or state
Stand out against larger financial advisory firms 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 financial advisor
Strengthen your reputation in the local business community

If you want to add local SEO to your digital marketing strategy but don’t know where to start, learn more about our local SEO services.

Want to DIY? We’re sharing 10+ effective strategies that’ll help you dominate local search rankings below!

What Is the Best Strategy for Local SEO?: 10+ Effective SEO Strategies

1. Focus on Local Keywords

Your website content needs to include terms that local clients use when searching for financial advisory services online. Every search engine optimization strategy is unique, but if you want to improve rankings for your financial advisory practice, this generally means adding your city, neighborhood, or service area to your main keywords.

For example, instead of just “financial advisor,” use “financial advisor in Chicago” or “retirement planning services in downtown Philadelphia.”

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 improve local search rankings, but be careful to avoid keyword stuffing. You should only use your targeted local keywords where they feel human and natural.

Google can drop your page rankings if you’re overusing keywords on purpose, so overdoing it can actually hurt your SEO performance.

2. Optimize Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile is crucial for local SEO success. A complete and accurate profile helps you appear in Google Maps and local search results. Make sure to:

Fill out every section of your profile
Add high-quality photos of your office
Keep business hours up to date
List all your services
Post updates about your firm regularly
Choose accurate business categories
Add special attributes (like “independent financial advisors” or “veteran-led” if applicable)

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

3. Create Location-Specific Pages

If your firm serves multiple locations, it’s crucial to create dedicated pages for each area. For example, if your financial advisory practice has offices in New York and Los Angeles, you could create pages titled “Financial Advisory Services in New York” and “Financial Advisory Services in Los Angeles”.

Each page should include detailed information specific to that location, such as the office address and available services. To add more value, consider including location-specific content like local financial resources or tips for financial planning in New York. This will not only enhance your local SEO but also provide relevant, localized content for potential clients searching for financial advisor services in New York.

4. Get Local Reviews

Reviews from past clients are essential for improving your local SEO for financial advisors. When working with clients, make sure to encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews on Google and other local business listings.

Here are a few tips to manage reviews effectively:

Respond to every review promptly to show engagement
Address negative feedback professionally to improve your reputation
Make it easy for clients to leave reviews with direct links on your website content and local directories
Thank clients who take the time to share their experience

Online reviews not only help you improve your local search rankings but also build trust with prospective clients. By accumulating positive feedback, you’ll increase your online visibility, attract more local clients, and strengthen your financial advisor business in the community.

5. Maintain NAP Consistency

NAP (Name, Address, and Phone number) consistency is crucial for local SEO for financial advisors. Having accurate and identical NAP information across all online platforms helps improve local search rankings and ensures your financial advisor practice appears trustworthy to search engines and potential clients.

Make sure your NAP information is consistent on:

Your website content (especially on your contact page)
Google Business Profile and other local business listings
Your social media accounts
Relevant business directories and professional association profiles
Review sites and local directories

Even small discrepancies in your NAP details can negatively impact your SEO efforts and cause potential clients to lose trust, or worse, contact the wrong number or visit the wrong address. Double-checking your NAP across all platforms will help you dominate local search results and make it easier for prospective clients to find your financial services.

6. Create Local Content

Just like with traditional SEO, local SEO for financial advisors can significantly benefit from starting a blog and publishing valuable, location-specific content.

By writing detailed articles about topics like local tax deadlines, state-specific business regulations, financial planning tips for businesses in your area, and other relevant keywords for your target audience, you’ll attract local clients actively searching for financial advice.

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, with statistics showing that 64% of searches are carried out using mobile devices, compared to just 35% on desktops. So, making sure that your website looks good and is functional on all screens is very important for online visibility.

While many website builders adjust for mobile views, important details may sometimes be overlooked. To improve your local search rankings, make sure that:

Your website layout adapts to various screen sizes
Buttons are functional and user-friendly
Business information is easy to find
All internal links are working correctly
Page load times are fast
Interactive maps work well on smaller screens

Mobile optimization is essential for a successful SEO campaign. Google and other search engines may lower your rankings if your website is difficult to use or slow on mobile devices. Prioritize mobile functionality to enhance your search visibility and local SEO efforts!

8. Monitor Local Competitors

Understanding your local competition is a key part of improving local SEO for financial advisors. By analyzing other financial advisory practices’ websites, you can see what services they focus on, how they present themselves, and the SEO keywords they rank for. Tools like Ahrefs can help you identify which search terms your competitors are targeting.

However, it’s important not to just copy your competitors’ strategies. Instead, look for gaps in their content and opportunities to offer something unique. For instance, if your competitors aren’t covering local financial regulations or state-specific tax rules, this could be your chance to become the go-to local expert in these areas, ultimately boosting your local SEO rankings and attracting local clients.

9. Build Local Backlinks

A backlink is when another website links to yours, signaling to Google that your financial advisor practice is trustworthy and relevant. Local backlinks are particularly beneficial because they come from businesses and community organizations. These backlinks show search engines that your practice is an active and respected part of the local business scene, boosting your local SEO efforts.

Here are a few strategies to help you build local backlinks:

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

We can help you build backlinks as a part of our SEO services.

10. Clean Up Your Technical SEO Foundations

Creating high-quality content is important for search engines, but Google won’t rank it on the first page if there are issues with your technical SEO. It might not even be able to crawl (=find) your website or the content you create.

Consider doing a comprehensive SEO audit to check these key technical SEO elements:

Proper title tags and meta descriptions that include relevant keywords for your financial advisor business
Short, readable URLs that include your target local keywords and make it easy for users to understand your content
Ensure working links, with no broken or dead links that affect user experience and search engine rankings
A clear website structure and navigation that helps search engines easily crawl and index your pages
XML sitemap submission to search engines like Google to improve crawlability
Avoid duplicate content issues, which can harm your search engine rankings
Image optimization, including appropriate size and alt text, to improve page load times and enhance content relevance
Internal linking between related pages on your website, which helps Google understand your content hierarchy and improves the overall SEO performance

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

11. Track & Analyze Your SEO Strategy

Your SEO journey is going to be constantly changing and evolving, so it’s crucial to track what’s working and what needs improvement. Leverage seo tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and keyword research tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to monitor your SEO efforts and adjust your strategy for optimal results.

Additional local seo Services We Offer For financial advisors

In addition to these services, we offer:

Our Framework for local seo for financial advisors

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.

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How Long Does It Take for Local SEO to Work?

Local SEO is a long-term commitment to growing your financial advisor practice, not a quick fix. Clients typically begin to see noticeable results within 3-6 months, though the exact timeline can vary based on several factors:

Your starting point (whether you’re building SEO from scratch or improving existing efforts)
The competitiveness of your local market
The current state of your website and online presence
The number of locations you’re targeting
The quality and frequency of your content updates
The completeness and activity of your Google Business Profile
The number of online reviews you gather
The consistency with which you implement SEO strategies

Some improvements, like updating your Google Business Profile, can yield results within weeks. However, other aspects, such as building local authority through backlinks and high-quality content, take more time to show impact.

Get in touch with us, and we’ll give you a better estimate of what to expect!

Local SEO Services for Financial Advisors: Are They Worth It?

You could potentially handle your local SEO on your own, but working with an SEO expert offers distinct advantages. Local SEO, particularly for financial advisory businesses, involves various aspects, from technical optimizations to consistent content creation.

Professional SEO services help you avoid mistakes that could negatively impact your rankings while allowing you to focus more on serving your clients. Learn more about our local SEO services or browse the Resource Hub if you want to DIY!

Still Curious?

Frequently asked questions

Q: Do Financial Advisors Need SEO?

A: Absolutely! Many of your potential clients turn to search engines first when looking for financial advisory services. Without SEO, your firm misses out on these valuable connections, no matter how excellent your services are. Even if most of your business comes from referrals, SEO ensures that those referred clients can validate their decision by finding a professional online presence that accurately reflects the high quality of your financial planning services.

Q: Do I Need to Be Active on Social Media for Local SEO?

A: While social media doesn’t directly influence local SEO rankings, it supports your overall online presence and visibility. Sharing your local content on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram can engage local clients and encourage them to visit your website. Social signals can also indirectly affect your local SEO by driving traffic and engagement to your site.

Q: How Can I Track My Local SEO Progress?

A: To track your local SEO progress, use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor website traffic, keyword rankings, and user interactions. Keep an eye on metrics such as local search queries, clicks, and conversions. Additionally, regularly check your Google Business Profile insights to see how often people find your business via Google Maps or local search results.

Q: Is Local SEO Paid?

A: No, local SEO is not the same as paid search. Local SEO primarily involves organic, non-paid strategies to improve your visibility in search results. While you may invest in professional services or tools to implement effective SEO strategies, the rankings themselves are not paid for, unlike with Google Ads. The actual search visibility you achieve is earned through optimizing your online presence, not through paying for ad space.

Q: Can I Rank for Multiple Locations with Local SEO?

A: Yes, you can rank for multiple locations by creating separate, dedicated pages for each of the areas you serve. Ensure each page has location-specific content, such as office addresses, services, and local financial tips. This helps search engines understand that you serve multiple areas and improve your visibility in those locations.

Hire an SEO Agency for Financial Advisors

Local SEO is a highly effective digital marketing strategy for financial advisors.

SJDS Digital Solutions is an SEO agency that understands both local search optimization and the unique needs of the financial services industry. Learn about our local SEO services or get in touch!