SEO Hack: Why Writing Like You Talk Helps Mortgage Lenders Rank High on Google

We’ve done some recent highlighting of how search engine optimization (SEO) can help mortgage lending institutions move up on Google ranking pages. As you dig deeper into SEO, though, things get complicated fast. You might feel like you need to learn a whole new language to understand all the ins and outs of how SEO impacts your site. 

To some extent, that’s true. Getting into all of the different ways that Google uses bots to crawl your website and decide where to rank it requires a lot of technical knowledge. But you don’t necessarily need to become a developer to understand the basics of SEO — or how to use it to your advantage.

Fortunately, Google has created a SEO starter guide that’s designed to be relatively easy to grasp. Today, we want to talk about one big takeaway from that guide: writing like you talk can help your site rank higher. 

Google ranks “interesting and useful” content

A good chunk of that guide focuses on adding "compelling and useful content" to your site. Google even acknowledges that that could mean different things to different people, but it still priotizes it as an important feature of high-ranking sites. 

So, to move toward Google’s definition of interesting/compelling and useful content, what can you do? The first recommendation, per that guide, is to write easy-to-read, well-organized text. Google’s team says, “Write content naturally and make sure the content is well-written, easy-to-follow, and free of spelling and grammatical mistakes.” 

As a mortgage expert, it’s tempting to want to write in a way that conveys your expertise. Actually, though, using a more conversational tone can help you move up the ranking pages. Google wants the sites it ranks high to be as useful as possible to the widest range of people possible. 

As a result, opting for commonly used language helps you here. Instead of saying “amortization,” for example, you might say “paying off your mortgage.” 

That’s not to say you should never use mortgage jargon on your site. In fact, that Google guide says, “If you are varying the words (writing naturally to not be repetitive), you have more chances to show up in Search simply because you are using more keywords.” 

In other words, prioritizing easy-to-read phrasing but periodically using technical mortgage terminology gives you more chances to rank. From our previous example, your site might show up for “paying off your mortgage” and “amortization” if you use both in your content. 

Meeting borrowers where they’re at

Throughout the guide, Google’s team encourages you to think about the content you write for your site from your readers’ perspective. In fact, they even recommend that you “think about the words that a user might search for to find a piece of your content.”

Here, it can be helpful to talk with your loan officers. Ask them what potential borrowers most frequently inquire about. Finding out what people want to know can help you create content that Google finds interesting and useful, because it’s actually interesting and useful to the real people looking for a mortgage. 

As you create content for your site — from the blurbs you put on your homepage to any blogs you add — tailor it to your borrowers. Think about what they need and want to know. Writing for them can make a big difference in how they interact with your website should they find it. And because Google cares about easy-to-read, useful content, it makes them more likely to find you in the first place because it helps you rank higher. 

More tips from that Google SEO guide 

As you’re thinking about writing conversational content that potential borrowers will genuinely find helpful, we have a few more tips. These are pulled from that Google SEO starter guide and they can help you create content that appeals to potential borrowers and to Google’s ranking factors. 

• Make it skimmable. The modern website user doesn’t want to sit down and read a huge chunk of text. Most of us skim web pages, and only take the time to read them carefully once we’re convinced they have the information we want. To help readers with that first pass, break your content up. Add bulleted lists and use headings to help people get a good feel for what you’re offering with a quick glance. This doesn't just appeal to the busy borrower in 2024. It also helps Google web crawler bots understand what’s on your page so they can rank it better.
• Write unique content. Don’t just rehash what’s already on the internet. Yes, it might be a good idea to write some foundational content for your site, like a blog explaining APRs. But it’s important to put your own spin on it or Google won’t know how to differentiate your site (read: rank it higher). That might mean calling out any fees your institution does or doesn’t charge annually as you discuss APR, or talking about how local borrowers could use the money they save if they find a lower APR (e.g., on tickets for a much-loved local event). Look for ways to make your content unique. 
• Keep it updated. Because Google cares about your site being useful, out-of-date information hurts your ranking. If you have a page that shows mortgage rates, for example, it’s key to ensure that it gets regularly updated with the latest rates. Using a rate table that’s connected to your product pricing engine can help here, for example. 

Bigger benefit with the rise of voice search

As AI assistants get increasingly common, writing easy-to-ready, conversational content gets even more important. 

While someone might type “mortgage rates Birmingham AL” into Google, they’re probably going to ask Siri something like, “What are the latest mortgage rates in Birmingham?” If you’ve written like you talk, your wording is much more likely to match their query. And that makes you more likely to show up high in their results page. 

In other words, as voice search grows in popularity, writing this way will only continue to help your web pages perform better.

This is just one way you can use SEO best practices to help your mortgage lending website rank higher. If you want to explore more options, get in touch with our team. We have a range of tools we can deploy on your website to make it interesting and useful to potential borrowers and to Google.