What Financial Advisors Should Focus On To Improve SEO in 2022
This article originally appeared on Advisorpedia on February 18th, 2022, and can be found here.
How To Produce Quality Content with Great SEO in 2022
SEO is one of the most crucial statistics when it comes to marketing and sharing your website. Financial advisors everywhere rely on it to boost their sites and bring new clients to their firms. A variety of ranking factors determine which sites are listed and whether you’re on the front page or page 1,456 will depend on how well these factors are met. Blog writers and article creators have written thousands if not tens of thousands of posts claiming that certain tips and tricks are the keys to getting that renowned front page spot, but it’s not as simple as it might seem.
SEO is an algorithm and that means it’s always changing, like a chameleon adjusting their scales to achieve its best chance of survival. The constantly shifting state of SEO is a puzzle, and figuring out how it works is a challenge even for the most experienced financial advisor.
Fear not though, while 2022 brings new SEO changes, people all around the world have been working hard to deliver actionable tips specifically designed to improve YOUR SEO. Continue reading for 5 Tips That are Sure to Improve Your SEO Game.
5 Tips To Improve Your SEO in 2022
1. Master Google’s 2022 Core Web Vital Scores
The first question you may have is “What exactly is a Core Web Vital Score?” In simplest terms, a core web vital score is a subset of factors that Google uses as a tool to gauge your page’s overall UX (User Experience Design). In 2021, this scoring system was introduced and has been on the rise since. In 2022, it’s become a major factor in highlighting great Google Search experiences. The scoring has three parts; Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).
LCP is how long it takes for a page to completely load all of its content. The longer it takes, the more negative the impact on your CWVS (Core Web Vital Score). Higher times can be caused by a variety of factors such as big image sizes, third-party scripts, and certain page elements. The best ways to improve your site LCP are:
- Remove unnecessary third-party scripts
- Set up lazy loading (Images only loading as someone scrolls down the page)
- Remove large page elements
- Scale down image sizes
Use Google PageSpeed Insights to check your LCP score and make improvements.
FID is the amount of time it takes for sites to respond to an interaction. An example would include a visitor clicking a button and the time it would take for the input to be recognized. A good FID score is 100ms or less. Increase your sites FID score by:
- Remove any unused or unnecessary files
- Use a browser cache
- Decrease text file sizes
ONELY does a great job explaining the ins and outs of FID along with ways to refine it even further.
CLS is how stable a page is when it loads. If elements on your page move around as it loads, that means your CLS is high, which is not a good thing.
Some of the best ways to lower your CLS are:
- Use the set size attribute for any media
- Make sure Ad elements have reserved spaces
- Add new user interface elements
2. Spotlight Your Site with Featured Snippets
Featured Snippets are a wonderful component that Google uses as a podium for search results. It takes a website that Google has indexed and inserts them at the top of the first search page as a shortcut to what they best believe fits the query. According to SEMrush, 6% of all search results in 2022 have a featured snippet. So keeping up to date with current featured snippets trends will be crucial to landing yourself there.
Featured snippets are a reward from Google for picking strategic SEO keywords. Choosing keywords is important, but it’s also important to know that the more keywords you use, the greater your chance of being selected as a featured snippet. Semrush research shows the percent chance of getting a snippet based on the number of words used.
3. E-A-T for SERP Boosting
Google has various systems and algorithms in place designed to optimize the search engine. EAT has been cited as one of the most significant ranking variables, and is widely respected on the SEO Periodic Table published by Search Engine Land, especially in 2022. EAT has stayed consistent with what it looks for, but as more companies and firms enter the market, it becomes more important. EAT refers to three ranking factors that are used to determine a site’s content quality. The three factors include expertise, authority, and trust.
EXPERTISE
Expertise means exactly what you think it would. It refers to the creator of the content and what qualifications they have. Expertise is important because search engine rankings look at the creator and their credibility. For example, if someone is searching for healthcare blogs, Google is going to recommend blogs written by experts, not someone who has no qualifications. Would you rather get your medical advice from an experienced doctor or someone making up their own medical diagnoses? The same goes for financial advisors, Google wants to show off the experts, so make sure that your final content has credibility.
AUTHORITATIVENESS
Much like having expertise, being an authority in your field is crucial to mastering EAT. Proving that your site is an authority in the subject area is a great way to increase search engine ranking. Backlinks from other relevant, authoritative sites are one of the most common ways to establish authority. How do I increase my authoritativeness? The best way to increase authority is to create quality content that other sites want to link to. Craft a utility, that can be anything from an informative blog or a free online tool. For example, FMG Suite has a blog available to anyone about anything and everything marketing-related, specifically for financial advisors.
TRUST
Trust between a consumer and a company is of the utmost importance. Most people will not conduct any business with someone they don’t trust. This is why it might be the most important factor of EAT. It not only takes into account public image but also the website itself. Trust can be demonstrated by having a secure domain that protects user information. This is usually through customer reviews, the more positive reviews you get, the higher your ranking. But it also goes the other way, too much negative feedback and the search engine starts to interpret your site as poor quality and untrustworthy. The best way to increase your website’s trust is just to be transparent. Be upfront with buyers and gain their trust to encourage them to leave positive feedback. Consistently garnering confident reviews will greatly boost website trust on SERPs.
4. Writing Dominates in 2022
Content comes in many different shapes and sizes. Blogs, articles, videos, images, etc. Billions of pieces of information float across the digital sea we call the internet, ranging from current trends to small niches. The problem that YOU face as an advisor is that all those pieces of media are your competition. They’re fighting over the same keywords as you and trying to suck the views into their vacuum. Some professionals on the internet will say to expand your portfolio and dive into different forms of content. But in 2022, writing content is king. Not just any ordinary writing though, you have to create amazing articles and blogs featuring unique perspectives. Competition is fierce and it’s up to you to inject your writing with creativity, relevant information, and new perspectives. Being a good writer just isn’t enough anymore, you have to really know what you’re saying and care about it. Readers want to see what you think and why. The key to increasing your SEO in 2022 is astounding written content and you can do that by experiencing and learning new things within the industry and then writing about it.
5. Acting on the Algorithm
Every year, the algorithm calculations change and Google implements new and exciting ways to work with SEO. 2022 has seen pretty noticeable differences in how the Google SERP works and what it looks out for. The point of these 4 tips was to get financial advisors prepped to have an amazing year of growth and engagement. Bringing in new customers and retaining old ones with substantial website design and SEO improvements. New challenges arise every year because technology is ever-changing, what matters is how your firm handles it. If you ever feel like you need a refresh or want to learn something, come back to this article and blog. We’re always researching ways for you to enhance your marketing tactics.