SEO Case Study for Financial Advisors

A previous client referred this financial advisor to us because of our proven track record of delivering significant results. The website received only about 50 organic visits from Google, which did not reflect the company’s 30-year tenure in the industry.

This financial advisory firm is dedicated to serving high net worth individuals and business owners, offering a comprehensive range of services including financial planning, pension planning, investment services, and business exit planning.

The preferred geographic area is Dublin and south to Wexford.

SEO Campaign Details

The primary goal of the SEO campaign was to increase the firm’s online visibility to attract more qualified leads.

There were no initial KPIs apart from getting more business via the website. The client is clear on their market but less so on keywords and topics related to this market.

Initial SEO Situation

As is usual in these situations, the website needed a lot of work:

• Keyword research
• Rewriting duplicate content
• Changing website hierarchy
• Writing new pages and posts that better reflected their service
• Fixing broken pages and setting WordPress up correctly
• Onpage optimisation across the whole website
• Internal links

When a website is in this condition, there is almost nowhere to go but up. I also needed to reassure the client that what I encountered was fairly standard on a website with no SEO optimisation to date.

The website had low authority due to a lack of links from other websites.

Content Strategy

A robust content strategy was developed, focusing on creating valuable and informative content for potential clients. This included:

• Weekly blog posts on topics like retirement tips, investment strategies, and tax-saving advice.
• Detailed service pages for each financial service offered.
• Case studies and client testimonials to build trust and credibility.

On-Page Optimization

On-page SEO efforts included optimising meta tags, headings, and URL structures for target keywords. Internal linking was improved to enhance site navigation and spread link equity. Specific pages, such as the homepage and service pages, were prioritised for optimisation.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO improvements ensured the website was fast, mobile-friendly, and secure. Key actions included:

• Enhancing site speed through image optimisation and caching.
• Installing an SSL certificate to ensure site security.

Link Building

A strategic link-building campaign was launched to acquire high-quality backlinks. Tactics included:

• Guest posting on reputable financial and business websites.
• Building local citations in business directories.
• Publishing articles in local news websites across Ireland

Results and Analysis

The results during the first year were slow due to budget restraints and the huge number of pages that needed to be rewritten. (The budget has since trebled) 

During the first year, the website’s traffic was around a few hundred per month. By the end of the second year, it was over two thousand per month. Since then, we have experienced around a 30% year-on-year growth in traffic.

The website now ranks highly in a very competitive market for many directly relevant keywords. 

The combination of excellent content and high traffic has resulted in a high level of inbound leads, so much so that they do not need any other form of prospecting.

Future SEO Plans

AI has helped speed up content optimisation and the creation of new content by providing detailed briefs. The company intends to go deeper into content marketing by targeting zero-volume keywords. (Keywords that show as zero on keyword tools, but we know have some intent due to Google Search Console data)

We have been engaged in link-building since the beginning of the project. We are now including PR outreach to improve the strength of the website.

Need more depth? Read our guide SEO for financial advisors.