Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving visibility and traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing.

SEO traffic is also referred to as ‘organic’ search to differentiate traffic from 'paid' search advertising.

A good SEO strategy helps your website become more visible, making sure your website can be easily discovered and understood by search engines like Google.

To gain trust from search engines, it's crucial for your business to establish a positive online reputation. This involves getting reputable websites to link to yours, receiving positive reviews, and getting mentioned by others. These factors improve your website's visibility and credibility online, increasing the chances of appearing higher in search engine results pages.

First, ensure your website is high quality, secure (HTTPS), fast and optimised for mobile devices.

Second, create engaging, expert and informative content that’s structured in a way that helps both search engines and customers understand your products and services.

Third, aim to generate natural links and mentions from trusted websites and gain reviews and recommendations from customers and other experts.

At 71a, we excel in all aspects of SEO and specialise in growth marketing, placing a strong emphasis on product-first strategies. With our expertise in engineering, conversion rate optimisation (CRO), customer experience (CX), user experience (UX), and development, we have a unique understanding of how to drive organic success for your financial services or fintech product.

Many signals can help improve your website's ranking on search engines like Google. These signals, called "ranking factors, " require a broad approach to cover effectively. Some techniques require web development knowledge (technical SEO), while others require content creation expertise and link-building.

Here are some examples of how you can make improvements:

• Structuring your internal links, managing redirects, and using tags correctly to help search engines, such as hreflang or canonical tags.
• Acquiring external links and mentions from other websites.
• Enhancing your online reputation and improving sentiment around your brand through reviews.
• Implementing structured data to provide additional context to search engines.
• Making effective use of Google My Business for local visibility and building trust.
• Enhancing the quality, structure, uniqueness, authority, and quantity of your website's content.
• Improving site usability, load speed, and ensuring its reliability.

Improving these elements in the financial services industry can greatly increase your chances of achieving higher positions in search results, attracting more traffic, and generating more conversions and sales.

E-A-T stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trust, representing three essential factors that Google's quality raters consider when assessing and evaluating websites.

In 2022, Google introduced an additional "E" to the criteria for evaluating content, which stands for ‘experience’. Quality raters are now instructed to assess the relevant experience of the person or business behind the content when it comes to a specific product or subject. This means that Google emphasises not only the content itself but also the expertise and experience of the creator behind it.

E-E-A-T holds significant importance, especially in the financial services industry, where website content typically falls under the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) category.

Your Money Or Your Life (YMYL) is how Google classes content that may significantly impact a person’s financial situation or health.

According to Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, YMYL refers to sites and content which “could potentially impact a person’s future happiness, health, financial stability, or safety”.

To improve your organic traffic in the financial services sector, it’s crucial to understand the Your Money Or Your Life (YMYL) criteria. You will need to develop strategies that align not only with search engine algorithms but also with the guidelines set by Google, which are followed by their well-trained and experienced staff.

As an agency focused on driving performance for financial services, we prioritise Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust (EEAT) along with the YMYL considerations in all our SEO efforts for our clients.

The timeline for seeing SEO results in the financial sector varies based on several factors, such as website history, competition, and keyword competitiveness.

As a general rule, noticeable improvements might be seen within a few months, but substantial improvements often take 6 to 12 months to show.

SEO is an ongoing process, and continued efforts in things like content optimisation, technical enhancements, and link-building will help sustain ranking progress and increase organic traffic.

Success in an SEO campaign can be gauged through various metrics beyond rankings and traffic. Key performance indicators can include conversion rates, lead generation, return on investment (ROI), engagement metrics (such as time on site and bounce rate), and the acquisition of high-quality backlinks.

Additionally, tracking improvements in brand visibility, SERP (Search Engine Results Page) ranking, and organic growth in competitive keywords are vital indicators of a successful SEO campaign. Regular monitoring and analysis of these metrics are essential to ongoing optimisation and improvement.