I’ve spent years helping fintech companies build visibility in an increasingly crowded market, and one thing has become crystal clear to me: the old playbook simply doesn’t work anymore.
The fintech sector has gone through massive changes. The UK regulatory sandbox and evolving policy framework have created genuine opportunities for innovative companies to gain market share. This has led to an explosion of new entrants, all fighting for the same visibility.
Most of the fintech companies I initially work with make the same critical mistake. They launch with a traditional SEO strategy, believing that ranking well on Google will be enough to drive growth. But in today’s market, that’s like trying to fill a swimming pool with a teacup.
I recently worked with a payments startup that had invested heavily in traditional SEO. They had decent content, reasonable technical optimisation, but were getting nowhere near the growth they needed. The problem wasn’t their SEO execution, it was their entire approach to visibility.
The reality is that fintech audience behaviours have fundamentally shifted. People aren’t just using Google to search for solutions anymore. They’re on Reddit discussing options with peers. They’re watching explainer videos on YouTube. They’re in industry Slack channels asking for recommendations. They’re checking comparison sites and specialist forums.
We completely transformed their strategy. Instead of just focusing on Google rankings, we built a proper omnichannel approach. We created video content explaining complex payment concepts. We actively participated in finance forums where their target audience was asking questions. We developed tools and calculators that people actually wanted to share. And we made sure their regulatory compliance became a strength, not just a box-ticking exercise.
Within six months, their lead generation had more than doubled, despite minimal movement in traditional Google rankings. They were reaching their audience where they actually spent time, not just where they occasionally searched.
Here’s what’s actually happening in fintech SEO today: the UK regulatory landscape is creating both challenges and opportunities. The rise of embedded finance means brands can integrate financial services directly into their offering. AI-driven B2B fintech services are transforming efficiency and compliance capabilities. Vertical markets within fintech are becoming increasingly saturated. And digital tokenisation through initiatives like the UK digit project is opening new possibilities, particularly in the crypto sector.
In this environment, a Google-only approach is doomed to fail. You need a genuinely omnichannel strategy that meets your audience where they actually are.
The UK regulatory landscape for fintech creates unique opportunities that savvy companies can leverage for significant SEO advantage. Understanding this environment isn’t just about compliance, it’s about turning regulation into a genuine competitive edge.
From my experience working with UK fintech companies, the FCA’s regulatory sandbox has become a powerful platform for both innovation and visibility. Companies that successfully navigate this framework can use it to build credibility and authority that directly enhances their SEO performance.
I worked with a lending platform that was one of the early participants in the FCA sandbox. Instead of just treating this as a regulatory exercise, we made it central to their content strategy. We created detailed case studies about their sandbox experience, published thought leadership on how regulation was shaping their sector, and actively contributed to industry discussions about compliant innovation.
The result wasn’t just improved regulatory standing, but a significant boost in their authority signals for SEO. Financial publications began citing them as experts on compliant lending innovation, creating high-value backlinks. Industry bodies invited them to speak at events, further cementing their expertise. Their sandbox participation became a genuine trust signal that both users and search engines recognised.
The shift towards embedded finance is another massive opportunity. Traditional companies in retail, healthcare, and other sectors are increasingly looking to integrate financial services into their offerings. This creates a whole new audience searching for integration solutions.
One payment provider I worked with identified this trend early. We developed specific content clusters around embedded payment solutions for different verticals, created integration guides targeted at developers, and built case studies showcasing successful embedded implementations. This allowed them to capture an emerging search market before their competitors even recognised it existed.
Regulatory arbitrage, while controversial, is another area where content strategy can create visibility. Different global jurisdictions have varying approaches to fintech regulation. Companies operating across borders need to understand these differences.
For internationally-focused fintech clients, we’ve created comprehensive resources comparing regulatory frameworks across different markets. These comparative guides attract high-intent traffic from companies navigating multi-jurisdiction compliance, establishing our clients as authoritative sources on global regulatory navigation.
The UK’s digital tokenisation initiatives, including the digit project, are opening new possibilities for content visibility, particularly in the crypto and blockchain sectors. These emerging frameworks are creating entirely new search landscapes where early content movers can establish dominant positions.
For one digital asset platform, we built an entire content hub specifically around UK tokenisation regulations and opportunities. This became their highest-traffic section within months, attracting qualified leads from companies exploring this emerging space.
The key to leveraging these regulatory opportunities for SEO advantage is approaching regulation as more than just a compliance requirement. Companies that demonstrate thought leadership around regulatory topics, provide genuinely useful resources for navigating complex frameworks, and showcase their regulatory innovations can transform what many see as a burden into a powerful authority-building asset.
If there’s one thing I’ve learnt working with fintech companies over the years, it’s that relying solely on Google for visibility is a recipe for disappointment. Today’s fintech audience is spread across multiple platforms and channels, requiring a genuinely omnichannel approach.
The traditional approach of publishing blog content, optimising for keywords, and waiting for Google to send traffic simply doesn’t cut it anymore. Your potential customers are actively seeking information across a fragmented digital landscape.
I worked with a wealth management platform that was struggling to gain traction despite good content and solid technical SEO. When we analysed their customer acquisition pathways, we discovered that less than 30% of their eventual customers had found them through Google search. The rest came through industry forums, social platforms, video content, and referrals from comparison sites.
We developed a comprehensive omnichannel strategy that went far beyond traditional SEO:
Video content became central, not supplementary. Financial topics are complex, and many users prefer video explanations. We created a series of explainer videos covering key wealth management concepts, product tutorials, and market insights. These were distributed across YouTube, embedded on relevant landing pages, and shared through social channels. The videos generated significant engagement and began ranking in Google’s video results, creating an additional visibility pathway.
Forums and community participation drove qualified traffic. We identified the specific forums and online communities where their target audience was actively discussing wealth management topics. Rather than dropping links, we focused on providing genuinely helpful answers and establishing expertise. Over time, this organic participation drove significant referral traffic from highly qualified prospects.
One investment platform I worked with found that Reddit was consistently driving some of their highest-converting traffic. We developed a dedicated Reddit strategy, with their in-house experts providing thoughtful, non-promotional answers to relevant questions. This gradually established them as trusted community members, leading to natural mentions and links to their more detailed resources.
Comparison sites and aggregators became valuable channels. Many fintech customers use comparison platforms to evaluate options. Rather than seeing these as competition, we ensured our clients had complete, accurate profiles on these platforms, with a focus on highlighting their unique selling points and regulatory credentials.
Industry publications and media partnerships expanded reach. We developed relationships with key financial publications, providing expert commentary, data-driven insights, and thought leadership content. This not only generated valuable backlinks but created entirely new pathways for discovery.
Interactive tools and calculators generated engagement and shares. We created useful tools that addressed specific user needs, from return calculators to compliance checklists. These tools became some of the most linked-to and shared assets, expanding their visibility footprint well beyond traditional search.
The results of this omnichannel approach were transformative. Within a year, overall customer acquisition increased by over 50%, despite relatively modest improvements in traditional Google rankings. More importantly, the leads coming through these diverse channels showed higher conversion rates and better retention than their previous Google-only traffic.
The key lesson is that modern fintech SEO isn’t just about optimising for Google, it’s about being visible wherever your audience is seeking information. This requires a broader skill set than traditional SEO, blending content creation, community engagement, relationship building, and technical optimisation across multiple platforms.
In the increasingly competitive fintech space, relying solely on written blog content is a severe limitation. Today’s users consume information in multiple formats, and your content strategy needs to reflect this diversity.
From my experience working with numerous fintech clients, I’ve seen firsthand how content format diversification can dramatically improve engagement and conversion rates. Different audiences prefer different formats, and different concepts are better explained through specific mediums.
I worked with a cryptocurrency platform that had been publishing well-researched blog posts with minimal results. When we analysed their target audience, we discovered they were predominantly visual and video learners who rarely engaged with long-form written content.
We pivoted their strategy to focus on visual and interactive formats:
Video content became their primary format. We created three types of videos: short explainers for complex concepts, longer tutorial-style guides for platform features, and market analysis videos featuring their in-house experts. These videos not only performed well on YouTube but significantly increased time on site when embedded in relevant landing pages.
Infographics simplified complex concepts. Financial topics often involve complicated processes or comparison data. We developed a series of infographics breaking down complex ideas into visual formats. These became some of their most shared assets, generating backlinks from educational sites and industry publications.
Interactive tools drove engagement. We built several calculators and interactive tools that allowed users to explore concepts relevant to their services. These tools not only provided value to users but captured valuable data on user interests and pain points.
The results were dramatic. Their content engagement metrics increased by over 300%, and the conversion rate from content to sign-up more than doubled.
Another finance client discovered that audio content was surprisingly effective for their audience of busy professionals. We developed a podcast series featuring conversations with industry experts and deep dives into financial trends. This allowed them to reach their audience during commutes and workout times when written or video content wasn’t practical.
When building a diversified content strategy for fintech, I recommend considering these formats:
Explainer Videos: Perfect for breaking down complex financial concepts or demonstrating product features. Keep them under 3 minutes for optimal engagement.
Webinars and Live Sessions: These create opportunities for direct engagement and question answering, particularly valuable for B2B fintech with complex offerings.
Interactive Calculators and Tools: These provide immediate value to users while showcasing your expertise and methodology.
Data Visualisations: Turn complex financial data into accessible, shareable visual formats that highlight key insights.
Podcasts: Reach your audience during times when they can’t consume visual content but can listen.
Downloadable Guides and Whitepapers: Provide depth on complex topics while capturing lead information.
Case Studies and Customer Stories: Show real-world applications and results rather than just explaining theoretical benefits.
The most effective approach combines multiple formats within content clusters, addressing the same topics through different mediums to reach diverse audience preferences. This content diversity not only improves user engagement but also creates multiple entry points for discovery across different platforms and search types (text, video, image, etc.).
Remember that content diversification isn’t about abandoning written content entirely. It’s about supplementing it with formats that might better serve certain segments of your audience or better explain particular concepts.
In fintech, technical SEO goes far beyond standard optimisation practices. The technical foundation of your site directly impacts user trust, especially when handling sensitive financial information.
From my work with payment processors, digital banks, and investment platforms, I’ve seen how technical issues can undermine even the best content and marketing efforts. Here’s what truly matters for technical excellence in fintech SEO:
Security signals are non-negotiable. Financial users are rightfully paranoid about security. Any hint of technical vulnerability will send them running. This goes beyond basic HTTPS (which is absolutely required) to include:
I worked with a payment gateway that was struggling with poor conversion rates despite good traffic. When we investigated, we discovered their SSL certificate was briefly showing errors during renewal periods. These momentary security warnings were destroying user trust. After implementing proper certificate management with auto-renewal and monitoring, their conversion rates increased by over 35%.
Page speed is directly linked to trust perceptions. In fintech specifically, slow-loading pages create an unconscious association with inefficiency and unreliability. Users think, “If they can’t make their website fast, how will they handle my money quickly and efficiently?”
For one digital banking client, we improved their Core Web Vitals scores from “Poor” to “Good” across all key metrics. This technical improvement directly correlated with a 28% increase in application completion rates, despite no changes to the application content itself. Users simply trusted the brand more when the experience felt technically solid.
Mobile optimisation must be flawless. A significant percentage of financial research and an increasing number of transactions occur on mobile devices. Your mobile experience can’t be an afterthought, it needs to be exceptional.
This goes beyond responsive design to include:
Structured data enhances visibility and trust. Implementing proper schema markup helps search engines understand your content better and can enable rich results that stand out in search. For fintech, key schema types include:
Site architecture must guide users intuitively. Clear, logical site structure helps both users and search engines understand your content. For fintech specifically, I recommend:
The technical foundation of your fintech site isn’t just about SEO rankings, it’s about creating the essential trust signals that financial users require before considering your services. Technical excellence doesn’t just help users find you, it helps convince them to trust you once they arrive.
For fintech companies, measuring SEO success requires looking beyond traditional metrics like rankings and traffic. The true measure of success lies in how your SEO efforts contribute to actual business outcomes.
From my experience working with fintech clients, I’ve found these metrics provide the most meaningful picture of performance:
Qualified lead generation is the primary indicator. Track not just the quantity of leads but their quality:
I worked with a business lending platform that was celebrating significant traffic growth until we dug deeper into the data. Despite a 60% increase in organic traffic, their qualified leads had only grown by 5%. Further analysis revealed most of their traffic growth was coming to informational content that attracted early-stage researchers, not users ready to apply for financing.
We refocused their strategy on attracting fewer but more qualified visitors. This resulted in a 15% decrease in total traffic but a 40% increase in completed applications, a much more valuable business outcome.
Conversion metrics reveal user trust. In fintech, certain conversion patterns indicate whether users trust your brand enough to engage deeply:
Revenue attribution is the ultimate measure. Connect your SEO efforts directly to revenue outcomes:
For B2B fintech with longer sales cycles, proper attribution becomes particularly challenging. I recommend implementing multi-touch attribution models that can account for the extended customer journey, rather than relying on simplistic last-click attribution.
One payment processing client was ready to reduce their SEO investment based on poor last-click attribution numbers. When we implemented a more sophisticated attribution model that considered the entire customer journey, we discovered organic search was actually influencing over 40% of their closed deals, even though it was rarely the final touchpoint before conversion.
Segment metrics by content type and user intent. Different content serves different purposes, and should be measured accordingly:
Track branded vs. non-branded growth separately. An increase in branded search traffic indicates growing brand awareness, while non-branded growth shows improved visibility for discovery-stage searches. Both are valuable but serve different purposes.
Benchmark against the competition. Your growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to track your visibility relative to key competitors. This provides crucial context for interpreting your own metrics.
The most effective measurement approach for fintech integrates SEO metrics with broader business data. This requires close collaboration with sales and product teams, and potentially custom reporting systems that can connect website analytics with CRM and product usage data.
Remember that in fintech, particularly B2B fintech, the path from initial organic search to closed deal can span many months. Your measurement framework must be sophisticated enough to connect those early touchpoints to eventual revenue outcomes.
Creating a successful SEO strategy for fintech requires bringing together all the elements we’ve discussed into a cohesive, long-term approach. Based on my experience working with numerous fintech clients, here’s how to build a comprehensive strategy that drives genuine growth:
1. Leverage the UK regulatory environment as a strength
2. Develop a truly omnichannel presence
3. Diversify content formats beyond written blog posts
4. Build unshakeable technical foundations
5. Focus on metrics that connect to business outcomes
6. Address vertical saturation through specialisation
I worked with a B2B payments company that implemented this comprehensive approach. Rather than trying to compete broadly across all payment topics, they focused specifically on cross-border payments for e-commerce, where they had genuine expertise. They created detailed content across multiple formats addressing the specific challenges of international e-commerce payments. They actively participated in e-commerce forums where their target customers discussed payment issues. And they showcased their regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions as a key differentiator.
Within 12 months, they became the go-to authority for this specific vertical, despite being a smaller player in the overall payments landscape. Their lead quality improved dramatically, and their sales cycle shortened as prospects came to them pre-educated and pre-qualified through their specialised content.
Remember that fintech SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. While some improvements (particularly technical fixes) can show relatively quick results, building genuine authority and trust signals typically takes 6-12 months to significantly impact business outcomes. The companies that commit to this long-term approach ultimately gain a substantial competitive advantage.
Let’s be honest about the state of fintech SEO in 2025. The days of throwing up some blog posts, sorting your technical SEO, and watching the leads roll in are well and truly over.
Throughout this guide, we’ve explored the unique challenges and opportunities facing fintech companies today. We’ve seen how the UK regulatory environment, rather than being just a compliance headache, creates genuine opportunities for content differentiation and authority building. The regulatory sandbox isn’t just a compliance exercise, it’s a powerful platform for creating truly authoritative content.
We’ve looked at why an omnichannel approach is now essential. Google alone simply isn’t enough anymore. Your potential customers are on Reddit discussing options with peers, watching explainer videos on YouTube, and asking for recommendations in industry forums. Being present across these channels isn’t optional, it’s necessary for comprehensive visibility.
We’ve explored content diversification beyond just written blog posts. Video explainers, interactive tools, and visual formats aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re essential components of an effective strategy that meets users’ varied preferences for consuming financial information.
We’ve dug into the technical foundations that build trust. In fintech specifically, technical excellence isn’t just about rankings, it’s about creating the security signals and performance metrics that directly impact users’ willingness to trust you with their financial information.
We’ve examined how to measure what actually matters. Rankings and traffic are vanity metrics if they don’t translate to qualified leads and revenue. Sophisticated measurement frameworks that connect SEO efforts to business outcomes are essential for demonstrating true ROI.
And we’ve addressed the increasing vertical saturation within fintech markets. As embedded finance continues to blur traditional boundaries and AI-driven B2B services transform the competitive landscape, generic content simply doesn’t cut through anymore. Success requires specialisation in specific niches where you can demonstrate genuine expertise.
The fintech companies seeing real success aren’t necessarily those with the biggest SEO budgets or the most content. They’re the ones who truly understand their audience’s information-seeking behaviour, leverage regulatory knowledge as a strength, and build visibility ecosystems across multiple channels and formats.
I’ve worked with fintech companies that made these shifts and watched their qualified leads double or triple within months, often with relatively small changes to their traditional Google rankings. It wasn’t about ranking better for the same keywords, it was about being visible in all the places their audience actually looked for information.
This approach isn’t easy. It requires breaking down traditional marketing silos, collaborating closely with product and compliance teams, and measuring success through business outcomes rather than vanity metrics. But for those who get it right, the rewards are substantial and sustainable in an increasingly competitive fintech landscape.
If you’re looking to build a fintech SEO approach that generates qualified leads while establishing your brand as a trusted authority, we can help. With extensive experience helping fintech companies navigate the complexities of search visibility in a heavily regulated, AI-driven market, we understand what it takes to succeed in this unique space.
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