201 Keywords for Financial Advisor SEO & Search Ads

Keywords are... dare we say "key" to understanding how people find your website and see your online ads.
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One of the most cost effective strategies for financial advisors to reach new clients is search engine optimization (SEO). This can be done yourself, by your webmaster, or a specialized marketing agency.
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If you do it yourself, you are going to save the most hard-costs, but you are going to be trading countless hours learning and implementing what you have learned. If you're just starting out and don't have the capital to invest in an agency, doing it yourself might be the best move.
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Data from kitces.com's research into Cost of Acquisition for financial advisors.

Creating content (blog posts or landing pages) that are targeted towards these keywords or long-tail variations on these keywords will bring you more clients than posting on Facebook or Twitter IF you do it right.

Download the Keyword List

*not even an email required ;)

SOCIAL MEDIA VS. SEARCH ENGINES

The key difference between search engine marketing or SEO and social media or email is who will see those posts/pages.

Think this through. 

If you post on Facebook or LinkedIn, who is going to see those messages? 

Your current network​. This is great for nurturing people that aren't ready to become clients yet OR customer retention. It's not great for reaching new people though. ​
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TWO EXAMPLES OF FINANCIAL ADVISOR PROFILES THAT AREN'T REACHING NEW PROSPECTS.

​There are social media strategies that can expand your network. We'll talk about those in another post (or reach out and we can explain). What most advisors are doing is not reaching beyond their current network.
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​EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL FINANCIAL ADVISOR SOCIAL MEDIA

*We'll get into why these advisors are succeeding in another post. In short, it takes a lot more work than simply making posts or sharing content.
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If your page or blog post shows up on a Google search, who is going to see that message?

​New prospects.

Not only new prospects, but new prospects that are actively in search of someone to help them with that topic.


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Both growing your audience on social media AND showing up in search results is going to take an investment in either time or money. But it's important to understand the difference between tactics that are meant for retention/nurturing and tactics that are meant to reach new prospects.
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​HOW FINANCIAL ADVISORS CAN USE KEYWORDS

Keywords are the root of both search engine optimization and paid search engine marketing.

Below we've build out a list of 209 keywords that have at least some monthly search volume. They are sorted by highest search volume to lowest.

You can download the list in the form of a .csv file here. That version also has the search volume range and competitiveness of the keyword on Google ads.

We exported those search volumes based on the Austin, Texas region. They're more or less the same in every city in the US, but the volume might be lower or higher. Interestingly, it's not always correlated with population size. Pittsburgh, for example, is very small in comparison to Austin but still has higher search volume for many of these keywords. 

To use these keywords, the quickest way to see results is to invest in paid search engine marketing. Those are the little ads you see when you search for anything on Google. The more broad the keyword, the more competitive.
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Example of a Google Ad for a Wealth Management Firm

​Make sure you are targeting only the geographic region you are best suited to serve. That way you are more likely to compete on local variations like "investment companies Austin, TX" rather than competing nationally.

Additionally, if you are in a big city that is too competitive, you can try focusing on smaller neighborhoods and towns in the bigger city. For "investment advisor Franklin Park Texas".
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Download the Full List

2021 Update: In the past year, individual LinkedIn profiles have started to show up in financial advisor searches more often. This is especially true for niche advisors or hyper local. If you offer services to a niche group, a niche service, or a hyper local neighborhood, add those keywords to your LinkedIn Profile.