New research has thrust online only financial services brands moneysupermarket.com and moneysavingexpert.com into the spotlight as the most visible financial brand in paid search and most visible in organic search via Google respectively.
The findings are detailed in ‘The Financial Services Sector Report 2013: The Science of Marketing’, a review of the search marketing strategies of the most visible UK financial services websites by search marketing agency Epiphany.
It showed that established financial services brands are struggling in the face of online competition via Google searches with over half the top 20 constituting online-only providers.
Andy Heaps, from Epiphany, said: “The more traditional high-street brands listed in the top 20 are those that established a strong presence relatively early during the shift in consumer research and purchase behaviour from offline to online.
“But many of the newer online-only entrants have risen to the top. And of course, sites that are more visible in search stand a greater chance of attracting sales from consumers who are now driving millions of financial services related search queries in the UK every week.
“Many of the brands we studied don’t appear to be making full use of facilities such as Sitelink Extensions, Seller Ratings and Social Extensions¹which can help them get the most out their ad campaigns, by making their ads more prominent and appealing on the page.
“The increase in click-through rates that these extensions offer means they represent a significant opportunity for the majority of advertisers in the financial services sector.”