Technical SEO for Finance Websites

Technical SEO for Finance Websites

21 Aug 2024 | Finance, SEO

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Did you know that the average load speed of top-ranking Google pages is 1.65 seconds? It can’t be a coincidence that this is around a second slower than average speed across the internet, with those snappy sites constantly scooping up the best spots on the SERPs. 

It all boils down to technical SEO, the unsung hero of digital marketing that’s constantly working away behind the scenes. It’s not flashy, it has no frills, but it does do a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of your website rank.

To learn more about technical SEO for finance websites, we’ve put together this guide to provide an understandable overview of what the technical SEO element is all about.

What Is Technical SEO?

Technical SEO involves improving the foundations and functionality of your finance website. Through a range of different technical strategies, we make it simpler for search engines to find, understand, and rank your website. In turn, you’ll see your site moving up through the ranks, landing those coveted top spots that get around 55% of all clicks (28.5% of which go to the first result). 

A lot of technical SEO focuses on back-end development (the coding side of your site). Some of the core components include:

This a coding-heavy strategy that tends to be more complex than keyword optimisation or writing meta descriptions (both of which are important for on-page SEO). You need an intricate knowledge of how websites are built and improved, making it a job for our SEO experts at Woya Digital.

Why Do We Conduct Technical SEO?

Technical SEO for finance websites is an essential, heavy-duty part of any SEO strategy that takes a lot of time and knowledge. 

Improving Site Performance

Techniques like optimising site speed, improving responsiveness (how a website adjusts to different devices), and creating secure connections all improve the performance of your website.

By implementing technical SEO, websites become snappier and more user-centric. Think of it like polishing your digital presence until it sparkles, which reflects wonderfully on your brand image and improves the way in which your website fulfils its purpose.

Our finance SEO services will also uncover faults in your site. Little errors can impact your site performance, and by fixing them we create a more seamless experience for a site (and business) that’s taken seriously.

Enhancing User Experience (UX)

Those wonderful site performance benefits we’ve just mentioned also have a direct impact on the user experience. By improving performance, we also improve the useability of your platform from the customer’s perspective, making it easier and more enjoyable to navigate

It’s well-known, for example, that over half of users will abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load (and it can be even less when browsing on smaller devices). The fact, therefore, that technical SEO improves load speeds makes it more likely that your visitors will be happy to stick around.

Search Engine Crawling and Indexing

Technical SEO techniques improve the crawlability of your site. This refers to the method search engines use to analyse different web pages, ‘crawling’ them for information in order to index and rank the pages. The better your technical SEO, the easier it is for your web pages to be crawled and understood by Google, and the higher they’re likely to rank.

We implement a number of different clever tactics to make your website easier to crawl. For example, we might do a cleanup of your site structure and create a clear, logical sitemap to submit to Google. We also use internal linking to better map out your website, ensuring that none of your content is missed when the search engines come crawling.

Boosting Search Ranking

As with all of our finance SEO services, the desired result of technical SEO is to help your website rank higher in the SERPs and provide an improved user experience *(UX).

Each method we utilise is known to influence rank, and with our experience of financial SEO services, we can put a tailored spin on your strategy for the best results.

Benefits of Technical SEO for Finance Websites

We’ve taken a look at some of the main reasons we carry out technical finance SEO, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s hone in on some more of the specific benefits you can expect:

  • Better mobile experience: We focus on responsive design when carrying out technical SEO. This ensures that your website instantly adapts to different devices, including smartphones and tablets, without losing any functionality. All of your features will be in the correct place and your website will work seamlessly to cater to all of your leads, no matter how they browse.
  • Better search engine visibility: By improving your technical SEO, we make sure your web pages are clearly visible to search engines. This ensures that all of your keyword-rich blogs and locally optimised content are indexed quickly, adding countless SEO points to your website and boosting visibility.
  • Enhanced website security: Google wants to present results to its users that they can trust, which is why it favours sites with solid security in place. As part of our finance SEO services, we use SSL certificates, firewalls, HTTPS, and other security measures to keep your users and your data safe.
  • No duplicate content: Duplicate content is a big no-no. Search engines penalise or at best, ‘ignore’ pages or websites that use duplicate content. This includes content published on other websites and on different pages throughout your website. As part of our technical SEO for finance businesses, we’ll check that your site contains original content only to avoid search engine penalties.
  • Easier navigation: Technical SEO creates better-functioning websites, including in terms of navigation. By creating logical site structures and navigation breadcrumbs, exploring your site becomes intuitive for users and potential leads can find the information they need to convert with ease.
  • Reduce bounce rates: By improving site speed and navigation, you should see a reduction in your bounce rate. This is the percentage of users who leave your site without having clicked on another page. A high bounce rate indicates to search engines that your website isn’t fulfilling user needs, which can trigger a decline in your rank. A low bounce rate has the opposite effect, improving your SERP position and boosting conversions.

A Quick Look at Our Technical Finance SEO Services

At Woya Digital, we offer comprehensive finance SEO services for businesses looking to increase their online visibility. Drive high-quality leads to your website and boost conversions with our SEO experts.

To give you a quick overview of what to expect when working with us, here are the steps in our SEO Marketing Success Strategy:

  • Discovery and strategy – we start every technical SEO project by sitting down for a chat with your business to identify goals. We’ll then create a detailed strategy that aligns your requirements with an evidence-based approach to boost your rank.
  • Technical SEO analysis and audits – we’ll carry out an audit of your website to highlight the areas that need to be improved, pinpoint opportunities for quick SEO gains, and identify issues to fix.
  • Implementing technical SEO techniques – after analysing your site, we’ll begin the complex technical SEO strategies to improve the back end of your website. This can include improving your load speeds, removing duplicate content, and creating index-friendly sitemaps.
  • Analytics and reports: to ensure our technical SEO is doing what it should, we’ll constantly monitor analytics to gain insights into your rank position, bounce rate, lead generation and more. We provide you a monthly SEO report to show you how things are progressing.
  • An agile process: we put insights and metrics to good use, using data to direct the future of your technical SEO campaign and constantly streamline our processes to bring the best results to your business.

Technical SEO is an ongoing process, so the work doesn’t stop here! We’ll continue improving your website performance and indexing new content constantly.

Taking the Next Steps in Technical SEO

Technical SEO is complex and should be carried out and managed by a SEO experts who know what they are doing.

That’s where we come in. With our experienced team on your side, you don’t have to worry about load speeds, internal links, and sitemaps because we’ve got it all covered. Sit back, relax, and watch your site skyrocket towards the top of the SERPs with our technical SEO for finance businesses.

Ready to move forward? Get in touch with our team at Woya Digital and let’s give your finance business a well-deserved boost.

Link Building Strategies in SEO for Finance Businesses

Link Building Strategies in SEO for Finance Businesses

30 Jul 2024 | SEO

Reading Time: 5 minutes

At its core, search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies are all about making sure your website looks its best in the eyes of Google. From boosting your load speeds to keyword research, these strategies come together to make up your overall SEO strategy, to create a pretty impressive website with a clear focus on customer experience.

But, not every financial services sector SEO tactic takes place on your website. There are some techniques that work hard behind the scenes to push your business up the search rankings, one of which is link building. To make sure you don’t skip this subtle but mighty tactic within your SEO strategy, we’ve put together a no-nonsense guide with everything you need to know.

What Is Link Building?

In the world of SEO, link building is sort of like collecting green flags for your website. Every time an authoritative site adds a link that points to you, a little (metaphorical) green flag pops up next to your name, letting search engines know that you’re a more credible source.

The more credible the website that links to you, the bigger your green flag will be. Secure a link from a government page, online newspaper, or industry leader and you’re winning at financial services SEO. This can increase your domain authority (DA), which in turn boosts your overall SEO. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If lots of other quality websites trust your content enough to link their audiences to it, it must be good, right? Google thinks so, anyway.

There are different types of links to be aware of during link building, including:

  • Backlinks: These are the links that point to your website from a third-party site. For example, if a local, online newspaper publishes a story about your business opening and includes a link to your website, this would be a backlink.
  • Outbound links: These are links that point from your website to a third-party site, and they’re often used to source statistics or claims. By adding credible outbound links, you highlight the reliability of your content.
  • Internal links: These are used to link to other pages within your own website. For example, when writing a blog you might link to your financial services pages, giving your readers a quicker way to learn more about the services you’re discussing. Internal links also come with SEO bonuses, helping Google find, index, and organise your site pages.

In the financial services industry, link-building is particularly important. You need to prove that you’re following legal guidance and different financial authorities, like AAT and ACCA. Adding authoritative links to financial resources makes it easier to prove your compliance and boost your SEO simultaneously.

Why Do We Conduct Link Building?

Link building is a crucial part of the work we do when carrying out financial services SEO. To give you a little insight into what you can expect from these strategies, let’s take a look at some key reasons it’s an SEO priority.

Boost Your SERP Ranking

The number and credibility of your backlinks drastically increase your DA, making it clear to search engines like Google that your site is worth ranking. In fact, the top result in Google has an average of 3.8x more backlinks than others in the top 10 positions, showing just how crucial this is for finance SEO.

It can also highlight your relevance for industries and topics, helping search engines match you to target audience search queries.

Drive Referral Traffic

Securing a backlink from a high-traffic website can put your financial business in front of a large audience. If you manage to earn a link from a relevant website – like a financial paper or blog – you’ll be tapping into a pool of your specific target audience, driving high-quality leads to your financial business.

Build Credibility and Trust

Backlinks and outbound links can drastically increase your credibility, both in the eyes of Google and your target audience. In terms of SEO for financial services companies, backlinks tell search engines you’re a trustworthy source. The more trustworthy you are, the higher you’ll rank

Your outbound links also signal credibility to your audience, showing you’ve done your research, backed up your claims, and are fully-fledged industry experts. You’re proving that you know what you’re talking about which, in the financial industry, is a strategy that can’t be underestimated.

Benefits of Link Building in SEO for Finance Businesses

What can your financial business expect to see from link building? Just some of the benefits include:

  • Increased online visibility: Shine the spotlight on your website and boost your finance SEO success, using links to push your website up the SERPs. By securing a higher spot for relevant search results, you’ll earn valuable online visibility and gain a competitive edge.
  • Higher-quality organic traffic: Show off your business to a targeted audience with backlinks from relevant sites, tapping into a pool of high-quality leads who are already interested in what you have to offer.
  • Strengthened brand authority: Earn gold stars from reputable websites and show the financial industry that you’re a key player, using backlinks to boost the authority of your brand. This works both for search engines and your target audience, helping you cover all of your bases for a winning SEO strategy.
  • Networking opportunities: Build partnerships and create a network of industry players, collaborating on projects to become an industry leader. From guest posts to sponsorships and everything in between, your connections can become valuable assets for your business growth.

Effective Link-Building Strategies for Finance SEO

The trickiest aspect of link building is, of course, securing those all-important links. This is a strategy that relies on third parties and, without a bit of industry know-how, it can be difficult to secure the links you’re looking for.

This is why a lot of financial businesses hand the task over to the experts, like our link-building services team at Woya Digital. To boost your SEO, drive high-quality traffic, and increase your credibility, we focus on:

  • Guest blogging on reputable financial blogs – We contact relevant businesses and publishing platforms, building up a network of external websites to publish our financial blogs. Each blog will include links straight back to your website.
  • Creating high-quality financial services content – By publishing new, informative, and credible quality content to your website, we can naturally build backlinks to your site.
  • Listing your website in industry directories – Directories with a high domain authority are a useful source for building your backlinks. They also help you reach your target market and increase your online visibility, making them highly beneficial for your business growth strategies.
  • Building relationships with other industry leaders – By networking with other businesses, we’ll put your website on the map. This can lead to partner projects, such as a collaboration whitepaper or guest posts.
  • Sending out press releases – We’re experts in all things PR. We’ll send out press releases for newsworthy events (link a new service or a business milestone) to relevant publications, generating media coverage that naturally creates backlinks.
  • Creating comprehensive guides and whitepapers – Larger publications give us a chance to dive deep into financial topics and create informative research papers, incorporating statistics and facts that other financial businesses will love to link to. This naturally builds your backlink portfolio and shows off your industry insights.

We can carry out each and every one of these strategies, using a multi-pronged approach to secure you a whole network of high-quality backlinks and organically drive traffic to your website. It’s time-consuming and complex, but it’s a finance SEO strategy that gets results.

Kickstart Your Link-Building Strategy

Ready to add green flags, yes votes, and a big old thumbs up to your website? Give search engines a clear sign that your business is credible and reputable with link building, driving a whole lot of positive attention your way. It’s a core aspect of a financial services SEO strategy, instantly boosts your DA, and places your website directly in front of the audience you’re trying to reach.

At Woya Digital, we carry out comprehensive link-building strategies for financial businesses. From guest posting and digital PR to listing your site on all the relevant directories, we take care of your links so that you can get on with running your business.

Ready to give your brand an online boost? Get in touch with our financial services SEO team today and let’s talk links.