Project overview
SEO-Led Website Design & Branding for Heritage Financial Planning
Heritage Financial Planning came to Targeted SEO needing a stronger brand identity, a new SEO-led website and a clearer content strategy to support long-term organic visibility.
The project included logo design, branding, website design and development, technical SEO, content strategy, service page optimisation, local SEO and blog content.
Heritage Financial Planning worked with Targeted SEO from May 2023 to April 2024. During that time, the website moved from very limited organic visibility to a stronger search footprint, with SEO software showing growth from 13 organic keywords in May 2023 to 611 organic keywords by April 2024.
For a financial planning business competing in a trust-led and regulated sector, the project created stronger foundations for future SEO growth across the North West, North Wales and key financial advice services.
Client testimonial:
We have been working with Targeted SEO for nearly a year now. Despite being a new domain, our traffic has been increasing during this time and we are now starting to get leads from the site. The team are always very responsive and quick to answer any question or query we have. Thanks, from all of us at Heritage.
Alex Norman-Jones @ Heritage Financial Planning
The Challenge
Heritage Financial Planning needed stronger website and SEO foundations
The business needed a clearer brand identity, a more professional website and a better structure for organic search. At the beginning of the campaign (May 2023), the site had very limited organic visibility.
The challenge was to create a brand and website that could support future SEO growth while also improving the way the business presented itself online.
This meant the project needed to cover:
- Logo design and brand development
- New SEO-led website
- Technical website support
- Service page structure
- SEO content strategy
- Local SEO across the North West and North Wales
- Blog content
- On-page optimisation
- Internal linking
- Regular technical maintenance.
For financial planning businesses, SEO takes time. Trust, expertise and topical relevance need to be built carefully, especially in a YMYL (your money, your life) sector where users are making high-consideration decisions.
Our Work
Branding & Logo Design
A key part of the project was the brand refresh. Heritage Financial Planning needed a visual identity that felt more polished, professional and suitable for a financial advice business.
We created logo options and developed a brand direction that could be used across the website and wider digital presence. The refreshed identity gave the business a more credible and consistent appearance.
The new brand used a cleaner, more confident visual style, helping the website feel more aligned with the firm’s role as an independent financial advice practice.
This mattered because financial planning is a trust-led service. The brand needed to reassure users quickly and create the right first impression before they explored the services in more detail.
SEO-Led Website Design & Development
The new website was designed and developed with SEO at the centre of the process. Rather than creating a brochure website first and thinking about SEO later, we planned the structure around the services and locations the business needed to target.
The website design focused on:
- Creating a more professional first impression
- Improving user journeys
- Making services easier to understand
- Building trust through clearer messaging
- Creating stronger calls to action
- Supporting mobile users
- Creating a platform for future content growth
- Making the website easier for search engines to crawl and understand.
The website was also supported with technical website maintenance, hosting considerations, SSL, backups and ongoing updates. This gave Heritage Financial Planning a stronger digital asset to build on for the long-term.
Content Strategy for Financial Planning SEO
Content strategy was an important part of the campaign. Financial planning clients often research before making contact. They may be looking for information about pensions, retirement planning, investments, mortgages or wider financial advice before deciding whether to speak to an adviser.
The content strategy therefore needed to support both commercial service pages and helpful informational content. The work included planning and optimising service-led content around key areas such as:
- Pensions and retirement planning
- Savings and investments
- Mortgages
- Financial advice
- Independent financial advisers
- Financial planning in the North West
- Financial planning in North Wales.
Blog content was also part of the strategy, helping the website build topical relevance and answer questions potential clients may have before making an enquiry. The goal was not simply to publish content for the sake of it. It was to create useful, relevant content that could support the service pages, build trust and improve search visibility over time.
Local SEO Across the North West & North Wales
Local SEO was another important part of the project. Heritage Financial Planning serves clients across the North West and North Wales, so the website needed to support location-led searches as well as broader financial planning terms.
This included building relevance around regional search behaviour and making sure the website clearly communicated the areas the business served.
For financial advice businesses, this is valuable because many users prefer to work with an adviser who understands their region and can offer a more personal service.
Local SEO helped create stronger signals around where Heritage Financial Planning operates and the types of users it can support.
Technical SEO & Website Support
Technical SEO was included as part of the wider website and SEO retainer. The work included regular SEO audits, technical maintenance, internal linking updates, on-page content optimisation, technical website support and ongoing website maintenance.
This mattered because the website needed to remain secure, up to date and suitable for ongoing SEO work.
Technical support included keeping WordPress and plugins maintained, managing website updates, reviewing technical issues and ensuring new content could be published and optimised correctly.
These foundations are important in financial services SEO. Even strong content can underperform if the website is slow, poorly structured, difficult to crawl or not properly maintained.
The results
Finance SEO Performance Results
Heritage Financial Planning worked with Targeted SEO from May 2023 to April 2024. During that period, the campaign focused on branding, website design, technical SEO, content strategy, local SEO and service page foundations.
Our work showed clear growth in organic keyword visibility during the active campaign period. At the start of the campaign in May 2023, the website was recorded as ranking for 13 organic keywords. By April 2024, this had increased to 611 organic keywords. The website also reached a peak of 617 organic keywords during the active campaign period.
This should be understood as an early-stage SEO foundations result.
The campaign did not run long enough for the full benefit of the content strategy, local SEO and service page optimisation to mature. However, within the active client period, the website moved from a very small search footprint to ranking for hundreds of organic keywords.
For a financial planning website, that is an important foundation. It showed that the new brand, website structure and SEO strategy were helping Google understand the business, its services and the topics it wanted to be visible for.
Key outcomes from the Project included:
- New logo design and brand identity
- Brand deck and visual direction
- New SEO-led website design and development
- Improved website structure and user journey
- Technical SEO foundations
- Service page optimisation
- Local SEO across the North West and North Wales
- Blog content strategy
- Content uploads and optimisation
- Internal linking improvements
- Website maintenance and technical support
- Growth from 13 to 611 organic keywords during the active campaign
- Organic traffic increasing from zero to 130
- Peak visibility of 617 organic keywords during the active campaign
- Stronger foundations for long-term financial planning SEO
What Made This Project Successful?
The success of this project came from treating the brand, website and SEO strategy as one connected piece of work.
Heritage Financial Planning did not just need more content. It needed a stronger identity, a more professional website and a clearer structure before meaningful SEO growth could follow.
The logo and branding work helped create a more credible first impression. The new website gave the business a stronger platform to explain its services. The SEO strategy then helped expand visibility across financial planning, pensions, investments, mortgages and regional searches.
This is especially important in financial services. Users need to trust the business before making contact, and search engines need clear signals that the website is useful, relevant and credible.
Although the campaign was relatively short, it created the foundations needed for future growth as demonstrated in recent comms with the client:
Thanks for your efforts with the website back in 2023/2024, this continues to provide a steady stream of leads every month or so (landed a 7 figure client this month!).
Alex Norman-Jones @ Heritage Financial Planning
How we can help you
Need SEO-led website design for a financial services business?
Financial services SEO is competitive, trust-led and highly dependent on strong foundations. Your website needs to do more than look professional. It needs to explain your services clearly, build confidence with users, support local visibility and provide search engines with the right technical and content signals.
At Targeted SEO, we help financial advisers, mortgage brokers, accountants and other financial services businesses build SEO-led websites designed for long-term organic growth.
Our work combines logo design, branding, WordPress web design, technical SEO, content strategy, local SEO, on-page optimisation, reporting and ongoing website support.
Speak to our team about SEO-led website design for financial services businesses.
