In a recent Search Off the Record podcast, Google tackled the big question: Is AI making SEO irrelevant? Their take? SEO is alive and well. But, for those of us who are up close and personal with Google—especially for pros doing SEO for the finance industry —it’s not quite that simple.
What SEO practices still matter for financial firms today?
SEO consultants like me aren’t ready to retire—just yet. Instead, these are the SEO strategies financial service companies, financial advisors, fintech startups, and accounting firms should prioritize as we navigate the era of AI and LLMs (large language models).
Creating crawlable, indexable, and relevant content
Your website needs to be structured in a way that’s easy for search engines to read and see if it’s relevant to search queries. No orphaned pages or random PDFs, but instead, a website that is:
- Organized
- Fast loading
- Mobile-friendly
- Easy to navigate
An in-depth SEO audit can help uncover these issues and form the foundation of a successful SEO campaign. For SEO in the financial service industry, this means eliminating technical SEO barriers that prevent search engines from accessing valuable service pages optimized for local SEO, informative blog posts, or resource libraries.
Holistic SEO strategy (thinking of your clients AND the search engines)
Today's keyword research is a mix of psychology and analysis. Keyword research is now about identifying the questions your audience is actually asking and using that intel to craft content that supports both organic traffic growth and user intent. Effective SEO for the finance industry requires a blend of a well-executed finance SEO strategy and substance, ensuring your site structure supports discoverability while your content addresses client concerns directly.
That means your site must reflect E-E-A-T—Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Especially in Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) industries like finance, where poor advice can affect someone’s financial stability.
The days of generic content are long behind us. Now it’s all about Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (Google’s E-E-A-T), which means content must be highly relevant and tailored to specific search terms.
But AI’s impact on ranking signals, authority, and relevance can’t be ignored.
Three key SEO shifts to watch across the finance industry
1. Organic SERPs are evolving.
The traditional “top 10” search results are replaced by AI-generated summaries and dynamic results.
or accounting firms, financial institutions, and the financial services sector, this shift means your website may not get direct clicks from Google as often—especially for broad financial topics—as users find answers directly in the search results.
That’s why financial services SEO today isn’t just about ranking #1. Ensuring your content is clear and authoritative can also increase the chances of being included in those AI summaries on the search engine results page.
2. Natural language queries are taking over.
Search behavior is changing. Prospects ask conversational, complex questions, not just keywords like “best CPA firm near me.”
Instead of optimizing for broad keywords like ‘CPA firm,’ firms need to create content answering detailed questions like, ‘How do I reduce my small business tax liability?’ or ‘What financial statements are required for a loan application?’
This level of depth and specificity is critical for strong SEO for the finance industry today.
3. AI-driven algorithms are unpredictable.
Whether you're navigating financial services SEO or local rankings, volatility is the new normal. Frequent updates make rankings unstable and unpredictable.
The key to navigating these changes is focusing on evergreen strategies—building high-quality content, earning backlinks, and engaging visitors. Tracking results regularly with tools like Google Analytics and SEMRush ensures you can adapt quickly to shifts.
SEO is Constantly Evolving—Is Your Financial Firm Keeping Up?
The bigger question isn’t just about SEO. It’s about the web ecosystem. How do accounting, private equity, and financial firms thrive when the rules are shifting at a breakneck speed?
Successful SEO for financial firms means adapting to AI-driven search and focusing on authority, trust, and relevance. It means creating a website that has a good user experience (UX) tied with content that is written with client intent in mind—not just what the search engines are looking for—but what your ideal clients want to spend their time reading.
What’s your firm’s plan to stay ahead of these changes?
Need help refining your SEO strategy to attract more leads and build authority?
Work with a freelance SEO strategist who provides a boutique SEO agency experience. Let’s develop a data-backed SEO campaign tailored to your company’s goals.
Whether it’s a complete SEO audit, applying off-page SEO tactics, optimizing your Google Business Profile, or building content that ranks, now is the time to strengthen your financial SEO foundations to show up in Google, ChatGPT, and LLMs.
