In today’s highly competitive exchange traded fund (ETF) space, it is critical for your firm to rise to the top, especially when people are looking for information about ETFs like yours online, whether in traditional search or through artificial-intelligence-powered chat. The only way to ensure you get found is to leverage search engine optimization (SEO) best practices.

SEO for ETFs involves optimizing digital content to improve visibility in search engine results, with the ultimate goal of attracting investors and increasing assets under management (AUM). It requires a mix of content, technical, and on-page tactics that help deliver an ideal on-site experience for investors, search engines, and artificial intelligence alike.

This checklist reveals what you must do to ensure your ETF brand gets served up online ahead of your competitors.

1. Focus on Search Intent

Develop your website and its content to meet the needs of different types of searchers. Is someone early in the ETF research process? Educational content about ETFs will meet their needs. Are they ready to invest in an ETF? For these people, it’s critical to have content that makes the case for why your exchange-traded fund is better than your competitors’.

Think through all the steps involved in researching your ETF, and ensure your website includes content that answers common questions and provides the information people need every step of the way.

2. Get Specific Describing Your ETF

It is critical to move beyond broad terms like exchange traded fund and ETF and target more descriptive phrases that prospective investors use, such as low-cost ESG ETFs or investing in precious metals ETFs.

3. Answer the Questions Investors Ask Online

Does your ETF serve a specific investing purpose? Then focus on responding to specific queries about it on your website that people might be asking online. For example:

• What are the best ETFs for retirement income?
• Are there ETFs that can limit downside market risk?
• Can I use an ETF to invest in gold?

Search engines and artificial intelligence scan frequently asked questions (FAQs) to understand brands better.

4. Use Keywords in Headlines and Subheads

This seems basic, but it is amazing how many ETF firms miss it. If you want to get found when people search for your type of ETF, it’s critical to include descriptive terms related to it in your website headlines and subheads. It’s how bots scanning your site begin to understand what it is about. Don’t stop there. Also include keywords throughout your content and in your meta titles and descriptions.

5. Develop Educational Content

Too many ETF providers focus exclusively on philosophy and performance on their websites. While this material is critical to getting people to invest, it’s not enough to attract people early in the ETF research process. That takes informative, educational content. You must explain the why behind your fund to get found online. For instance, describe why your fund is right for retirees or for people interested in protecting the environment.

6. Demonstrate Authority

Are you and the people on your team the best at what you do in your investing space? Then demonstrate it in your online content. Create original material that positions you above peers. In a world of AI-generated content, search engines reward original insights that demonstrate authority.

7. Be Transparent

Clearly communicate your ETF’s value proposition, holdings, and performance. If search engines clearly understand what your fund is about, they are more likely to serve it up.

8. Become a Center of Expertise

You and your team are experts in your area of investing. If you build a content library around the topic, search engines and AI will recognize and reward your deep knowledge base. This is known as the hub-and-spoke model. Organize content around a central topic, your investing type, with supporting articles relating to the topic linking back to the hub. 

9. Make Your Site Mobile First

Ensure your website performs well on smartphones because search engines favor mobile-friendly sites.

10. Ensure the Site Loads Quickly

Optimize for fast loading times to prevent visitors from leaving by doing things like reducing image and video sizes. Search engines don’t recommend sites with high bounce rates.

11. Employ Schema Markup

This gets a little into the weeds, but it’s important to implement structured data to display rich snippets, such as expense ratios and ticker symbols, directly in search results to improve click-through rates. You may need support doing this, and the experts at Sondhelm Partners are available to help.

12. Ensure Your Site is Easy to Crawl

Bots regularly visit your site to figure out what it is about and what’s new. Use simple formats like bulleted lists, descriptive subheads, and clear links to make it easy for the bots to understand what your site is about.

13. Secure Backlinks

If a respected website links to your website, some of its authority is transferred to your site. Secure high-quality backlinks from reputable financial news sites and investment blogs to increase site authority. Again, the public relations pros at Sondhelm Partners can help with this.

14. Optimize Your Google Business Profile (GBP)

The first place Google goes to learn about a company is its Google Business Profile. Ensure yours is complete and up to date and make a point of posting regularly on the platform.

15. Write for AI Summaries

Ensure you craft your content so it can be pulled into broader AI-generated summaries. Include single thoughts in short paragraphs. Use bulleted lists. Focus on delivering original insights that can’t be found elsewhere.

16. Pay Attention to Voice Search

Optimize for natural language queries because investors increasingly use voice-activated assistants to search for information about financial products. Answer common questions throughout your website so your brand is included in voice search queries.

17. Get Active in Social Media

Being present in social media can help send signals to search engines and AI that something good is happening on your site. Promote your content consistently on LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and other platforms where prospective ETF investors could be found.

18. Stay Compliant

In the dynamic worlds of ETFs and digital marketing, it’s easy to slip up and break the rules. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t optimize your website for search. Regularly consult with your legal and compliance experts to ensure your website and the content on it stay legal and compliant.

19. Make Your Website Accessible to Everyone

Search engines prefer websites that are usable by everyone, including older people, people who are blind, and those with hearing impairments. Key things to do include adding alt text to images, using easily readable fonts, enabling keyboard-only navigation, ensuring high color contrast, providing captions for videos, and using descriptive link text. 

20. Stay in it for the Long Term

Search engine optimization for ETFs isn’t once-and-done. It’s a long game. The ETF sector and search are constantly evolving, and you must stay current to be featured ahead of competitors in your ETF space.

The Final Word on SEO for ETFs

The ETF sector is rapidly expanding, and it can be hard to stand out. That’s why it’s critical to be found online by prospective investors interested in your strategy. Leverage the tips in this checklist to improve your search position and feel free to reach out to Dan Sondhelm and the digital marketing experts at Sondhelm Partners to discuss SEO and other things you can do to grow your ETF business.