SAN FRANCISCO, CA, and SEATTLE, WA, June 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hearsay, provider of Advisor Cloud solutions for the financial services industry, and Moz, the global leader in SEO software, today released a new research report revealing the top-performing wealth management firms when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO). Titled “The State of SEO: Search Engine Rankings for Wealth Management Firms,” the report also identifies the strategies behind their success.
Consumers expect all businesses to be easily findable online and ready to engage when, where and how they prefer. For financial services firms, appearing near the top of a search engine results page is one of the most important factors for driving new client acquisition. According to the Corporate Executive Board, 57% of purchasing decisions, on average, have been made via search and other online sources before the buyer even engages with a company representative.
“We’re seeing a steady uptick in consumers going online, especially on mobile devices, to find a local financial advisor or financial planning information from an expert source,” said Greg Kroleski, Hearsay data manager. “Wealth management firms that don’t invest in best practices and technologies to boost their advisors’ search positions are missing out on massive group of high-interest prospects. With this report, we wanted to find out which companies are doing it right, and how.”
4 Strategies for SEO Success in Wealth Management
The study uncovered four key strategies among the firms that consistently ranked high in organic, local and paid search:
- Invest in a Combination of Organic, Local and Paid Search: The highest ranking firms utilized a blend of paid, organic and local search.
- Leverage Local Advisor Sites and Online Listings: Properly configured local websites helps advisors – the ones ultimately servicing clients – surface to the top, with the added benefit of appearing on a map.
- Paid Search (Advertising) Alone Has No Guarantees: While it may be easy to assume that paying for the top positions guarantees attention and engagement, there is no assurance.
- Organic Search Offers Untapped Opportunity: Out of the top 25 ranked sites for organic search, only five are owned by wealth management firms. This leaves more than 80 percent of available consumer attention to firms that, with the correct technology, can improve their rankings.
"With more than half of searches going mobile – and, with it, hyper-local – local search results have become as competitive and important as organic and paid results,” said Dr. Peter J. Meyers, marketing scientist at Moz. “Brick-and-mortar wealth management companies still have a tactical advantage in local search results, but the players who dominate those results are the ones who have invested in creating strong, accurate online listings for hundreds or thousands of locations. The winners in 2017 and beyond will be the companies who invest seriously in all three channels – local, organic and paid – across a large number of local markets."
More Information
- Download the full report: “The State of SEO: Search Engine Rankings for Wealth Management Firms”
- Read more on the Hearsay blog
- Read more on the Moz blog
- See the infographic
ABOUT HEARSAY
Hearsay Systems offers leading Advisor Cloud solutions for financial services, empowering advisors to efficiently and compliantly use social media, websites, text and email to engage with customers, build stronger relationships and grow their business. Its prescriptive technology processes and prioritizes data from across digital channels and data systems, providing actionable suggestions for advisors on how they should engage with customers next. Built for the enterprise, Hearsay connects these advisor-client interactions and data to corporate CRM systems and digital marketing programs, and provides efficient compliance supervision and review workflows – all on a secure, enterprise-ready platform.
Hearsay is used by more than 150,000 advisors and agents at the world’s largest financial services and insurance firms including New York Life, Raymond James and Vanguard. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Connect on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the Hearsay blog.
ABOUT MOZ
Moz is the global leader in SEO software. The company provides proprietary and industry metrics like MozRank, MozTrust, Domain Authority, and Page Authority – all of which help marketers better understand the value and ranking potential of domains and webpages. Moz is based in Seattle and loves engaging with its community of over 500,000 marketing professionals. Learn more about Moz at moz.com.
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