SEO for financial advisors
We get advisory firms ranked for the searches prospects actually make: “financial advisor near me,” “fiduciary advisor in your city,” and the planning questions your ideal clients type into Google. One industry since 2010, measured in booked meetings rather than traffic.
Who is searching
Search is not a channel for firms that cannot get referrals. It is where referred prospects go to check the referral, and where the wealthiest households increasingly start.
- 96%
- of prospects research an advisor online before the first call, even after a strong referral Wealthtender, 2025
- 50%
- of investors with $5M+ found their current advisor with no referral involved Ficomm Partners, 2026
- 25%
- of advised investors under 45 used an AI tool such as ChatGPT in their search Ficomm Partners, 2026
- ~$10K
- a year in fees from one retained $1M-AUM client, for a decade or more 1% AUM fee, indicative
What the first eighteen months look like
Advisor SEO has a shape, and firms that know the shape do not quit at month five. Rankings move first, on long-tail planning questions. Inquiries follow. Predictable lead flow is a year-plus outcome, and it keeps compounding after that.
Shape of a typical engagement, not a projection. Firms starting from a new domain sit to the right of this curve.
Composite of client engagements since 2010. Individual timelines vary with market size and starting authority.
Where advisor SEO goes wrong
Most advisory firms that tried SEO and gave up were pointed at the wrong target.
The keyword target
Rank for “financial advisor”
A national term owned by Fidelity, Schwab, and NerdWallet. Even a top-ten ranking sends visitors who are nowhere near you and not yet choosing anyone.
Rank for the searches with AUM behind them
“Fee-only advisor Boise,” “IRMAA brackets 2026,” “what to do with RSUs before an IPO.” Smaller numbers, real intent, and a page you can win in months, not years.
What's included
Every engagement covers all of it. There is no lighter version with the technical work left out.
- 01
Keyword strategy for advisory niches
The queries with AUM behind them: retirement income, equity comp, exit planning. Not vanity traffic.
- 02
Local SEO and Google Business Profile
Maps rankings for near-me searches, where high-intent local prospects start.
- 03
Technical and on-page work
Schema, site speed, crawlability, and clean architecture: the foundation everything else compounds on.
- 04
Content roadmap
Pages and posts mapped to what prospects ask at every stage, written for your niche.
- 05
Plain-English reporting
Monthly reports in the units that matter: rankings, qualified leads, booked meetings.
1,450%
organic traffic growth in eleven months
A Wisconsin fee-only firm went from 156 to 2,418 monthly organic visits between November 2023 and October 2024, and the visits turned into scheduled consultations. The work was the checklist above, done in order.
Read the case studyHow the work runs
- Month 1
Audit
Baseline rankings, technical health, and AI visibility against the firms holding the results you want.
- Months 1 to 4
Fix and build
Technical repairs first, then content and authority work in priority order. No busywork.
- Every month after
Compound
Iterate and report. Rankings move in 2 to 3 months; lead flow builds over 12 to 18.
This isn’t an add-on. It’s part of the work.
SEO isn’t a line item you can bolt onto a cheaper plan, and we don’t sell it on its own. Search visibility fails in the gaps: great content on a slow site, perfect technical work with no authority behind it, top rankings for a firm whose reviews scare prospects off. AdvisorRankings runs one engagement covering all of it, or we’re not the right fit.
Every day you’re invisible, another advisor gets the call
Advisors only · Since 2010 · Limited active client list