Welcome to the latest episode of At the Forefront: Fintech Conversations!
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In this episode, Forefront VP and Head of Content Sam Belden sits down with Senior Account Executive Victoria Sanseverino to discuss how B2B fintechs can most effectively leverage search engine optimization (SEO) to improve online visibility, bring prospects into the sales funnel and cement their authority in the industry.
To begin, Sam defines SEO as the process of enhancing your website or webpages to increase their visibility and improve their ranking on search engines, primarily Google. SEO is designed to increase organic, unpaid website traffic, as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM), which involves paid advertising to increase visibility.
SEO is a highly complex process, as there are a multitude of factors that influence how well a page ranks. Google’s goal is to provide its users with a useful experience, so its algorithms will look for not just the keywords you’re using to talk about your company or product, but also the quality of the website content itself. In fact, Google views keyword stuffing as spammy – the ideal keyword density rate is 1-2% (that’s 10-20 mentions for a 1000-word webpage) for a search term you want to rank for.
Sam lists a few other factors that can influence search rankings – use of terms that are semantically related to target keywords, use of subheadings for a smoother reading experience and the strength of your backlink profile (how often third parties are linking to your site) are just a few things to consider. Technical elements, such as website load time, image rendering and other UX features, play an important role as well.
Next, Sam addresses a common misconception around SEO for B2B fintechs. When people think about typical SEO use cases, they often envision retail offerings with rapid conversions – clothing, consumer electronics, etc. B2B fintech, by comparison, requires much longer sales cycles. However, Sam argues that it’s still essential to rank highly on Google for your firm’s name and core product offerings, as well as relevant search terms prospects might use as they look to solve their business challenges. Even if searchers aren’t immediately converting to clients, this visibility can bring people into your funnel and provide them with logical touchpoints to make an initial engagement. Search volumes may be lower than in the consumer space, but when people do search for your niche fintech offering, they are often doing so with a clear intention to buy. Your firm needs to show up alongside – and ideally, above – your competitors.
Lastly, Sam provides some practical tips for firms looking to put their best foot forward on SEO. He recommends installing the Yoast SEO plugin on your website’s backend, optimizing the H-tag structure on each page of your website and using plenty of hyperlinks in your website copy, whether internally to past content and product pages or externally to partner sites and news articles. He emphasizes that SEO does not exist in a vacuum – copywriting, design and technical work all play a role in achieving a delicate balance of art and science. Above all, Sam stresses that it’s most important for your website to stay on topic, communicate your unique offering and earn the trust of your audience. While SEO should always be part of the equation, the quality of your content should remain your north star.
See below for a breakdown of what was discussed. Happy listening!
Timestamps:
0:55 – Defining SEO
2:44 – Key SEO ranking factors
7:58 – Why SEO matters for B2B fintechs
12:10 – Tips for B2B fintechs looking to improve SEO
16:05 – How to balance the art and science of SEO
