10 SEO Questions Financial Advisors Are Too Afraid to Ask

By now you know just how important your SEO ranking is when it comes to creating a website for your advisory firm. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more important than ever to ensure that you have a strong website so that you can be sure that you are ranking high in search engines. With most businesses working remotely, everyone is relying on digital communications, so it’s time to really get down to business when it comes to your SEO. So, here are 10 essential questions financial advisors should be asking in order to create a strong website that drives traffic and boosts SEO rankings.

10 SEO Questions Financial Advisors Were Too Afraid to Ask

It may seem like a simple concept, but there is a lot that goes into creating strong SEO rankings. Here are the 10 questions that you were financial advisors didn’t want to ask.

Question 1: What Is SEO?

You hear the word all the time, so you probably think that you should know it by now, right? That’s not necessarily true, and this is a great question! How can you really know how to optimize for it if you don’t know what SEO is. It stands for Search Engine Optimization and it’s constantly changing and evolving. It refers to techniques that help your website rank higher in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). This, in turn, makes your website more visible to people who are looking for solutions in search engines that your business can provide to them. Once you know what SEO is, then you can really begin to tailor your website content accordingly.

Question 2: What Are Meta Descriptions And Are They Important?

Meta descriptions are incredibly important and can be described as ad copy for your content that can compel searchers to click. If you write a strong meta-description then this will boost your SEO rankings as readers will be much more likely to click on your site if they like what they read.  A couple of things to keep in mind are:

1. They Should Be 160 Characters or Less

If you write any more than that then Google is just going to cut off the rest of the meta description, so make sure you keep it short and sweet.

2. They Should Contain Keywords

The other thing is to think about the audience that you’re writing the overall blog post web page for, and then include keywords that would be important to them in your meta description.

Twenty Over Ten client, Financial Freedom Planners‘ meta description shows that they offer fee-only financial planning and investment advice, additionally, Richmond, VA is included in their title tag, so you can immediately see where they are located.

Question 3: Should My Domain Name Include Keywords?

You might think that it should, but your primary domain should not include a keyword just for the sake of keyword optimization as this can hurt your SEO. However, if your company name has a keyword in it already, that’s fine, but you shouldn’t be buying one or putting one unnecessarily.

Question 4: How Many Internal Links Should Be Included On A Page?

As we mention below when it comes to using keywords on your page, you shouldn’t use too many, and that goes the same for internal links. While you want to include links to create a flow and hierarchy on your website, you don’t want to stuff too much on one page. Only use links when can provide valuable information and boost the reader experience.

Question 5: How Do You Approach Mobile With SEO?

Mobile should always be a part of the conversation when you are creating your website and overall strategy. Mobile phones are quickly becoming the main way that clients interact with businesses, and according to a study done by the Pew Research Center:

•  84% of affluent Americans own a smartphone.
• Of those, 97% said they use smartphones for text messaging
• 92% use it for phone calls
• 89% for internet access, 88% for email
• 75% for social networking.

Keep these in mind when it comes to creating a website, as it’s pertinent that yours is optimized for mobile devices. Make sure that you:

1. Create a mobile-optimized website
2. Optimize the experience of the site when visitors land on it
3. Make sure you are creating ample content

 

Twenty Over Ten client, North Country Wealth Management has a website that is optimized for any type of screen as you can see in the image above. If someone lands on your website, and the site is not optimized for mobile, loads slowly, etc. they will most likely leave and check out the site of a competitor.

Question 6: What Is Alt Text And Why Should You Include Them On Images?

Alt-text is being used within an HTML code to describe the appearance and function of an image on a page, so it basically describes what an image is about. Search engines are getting more and more advanced, however,  they cannot read images, but they can read the text. So, it helps people to figure out what the images are all about. Additionally, if a page doesn’t load for some reason, people can still find out what the image is by reading the alt text.

You can easily add these in using the Twenty Over Ten platform.

Log into your Twenty Over Ten account.

Step 1: Select the image you want to add alternative text to.

Step 2: Access your “alternative text” button from your sidebar.

Step 3: After you have added the content of your choice, click the update button.

Step 4: After you have clicked the update button, click the save changes button.

Question 7: What Is The Difference In Organic Versus Paid Results?

Organic results are what you see in the search engines that come up for free based on the algorithms, whereas, paid results are the links that you see on different search engines based on what advertisers have paid for.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a free tactic, however,  it can take longer to build and show results. Pay Per Click costs money but it can generate more results much quicker. What are the pros and cons, and which should you use for your site?

Organic Pros:

• It increases your brand awareness
• It’s free, which is great if you are on a budget
• You see strong long-term results

Organic Cons:

• It takes more time than PPC
• There is an uncertainty to it
• It can be hard to scale by yourself

PPC Pros:

• You see instant results
• It is easier to master
• It’s easy to scale
• It is buyer-oriented
• There is no uncertainty

PPC CONs:

• It costs money
• There is a steep learning curve
• There is a lower ROI, as once you quit paying, you stop seeing results
• There is less trust and control

Question 8: How Many Keywords Should You Use On Your Web Pages?

There isn’t a set number of keywords that you should use, however, it’s good to make sure that they are used naturally. Don’t just place keywords where they don’t really fit, and if you use too many on a page, this is known as “keyword stuffing,” and Google can actually penalize you for this. It may seem like a way to fill your page with relevant keywords and that it can boost your rankings, but in reality, it can actually hurt your content.  So, when creating your web pages, create content that will answer the questions of your visitors, cater to your niche and remember that quality is better than quantity.

Twenty Over Ten client, Meridian Special Needs Planning focuses on a very unique niche and focuses on individuals and families that have a loved one with a disability. This is very clear on the homepage through the strong use of keywords.

Question 9: How Do you Incorporate SEO Into Your Overall Marketing Strategy?

The companies that do the best with their SEO and marketing, are the ones who see the biggest picture and incorporate SEO into the overall marketing strategy. It goes together content and social media marketing activities that can, in turn, be used for an effective link-building strategy. It’s important to collaborate with the other teams, such as marketing, social media, sales, designers, and then you should have a basic plan for integrating efforts into the other overall initiatives.

Question 10: How Long Does It Take To See Results?

This all depends, and there are some different factors that will determine at what speed results will come in. Some important aspects of this list are:

• How much content you create
• The quality of the content
• How the content resonates with your audience
• If you’re a big or small site with strong or weak domain authority

Wait at least a week, but realistically probably closer to a month, before you consider changing your SEO strategy. Good things take time, and that is no different for when it comes to creating a strong SEO strategy.

The Takeaway

When it comes to creating a website with strong SEO that really drives traffic, there is no such thing as a dumb question! Even if you are a seasoned pro, you’re still going to have a question from time to time, and the only way to improve is to constantly try to find out the best methods.