Getting to the top of your profession is the goal of many financial advisors. Getting to the top of a Google search is one way to help you reach that goal.

You can make your online presence more noticeable by boosting your search engine optimization (SEO) — improving the ranking of your website on search engines such as Google.

Potential clients looking for a financial advisor enter keywords on a Google search, which generates a list of the websites that best match those criteria. Your goal is to be at the top — or close to the top — of that list of search results. Susan Ward, a web designer and developer with Boost in Toronto, offers the following suggestions to help you improve your SEO:

1. Use keywords and phrases
The first step toward increasing your SEO ranking is to ensure your website is current and contains phrases and links on subjects that best describe your value proposition, says Ward, whose company helps professionals build and maximize their web presence.

Prospects often go to a professional’s website to check out their credibility and see if they have the products and services they’re looking for, Ward says.

But increasing your SEO ranking can’t be done overnight. “Everybody wants to get to the top of the Google search tomorrow,” Ward says. “But you have to get the fundamentals down first. It’s an incremental thing.”

2. Study the competition
Ward suggests you identify the qualities that differentiate you as an advisor, and then check out your competition, especially those who rank high in an online search. Look at the words and phrases these advisors use and determine what they are doing that makes them rank higher than you.

Perhaps your competition actively blogs and is on LinkedIn and Twitter, with links leading back to their website. Maybe you should do likewise, Ward says, by nurturing a consistent presence on these social media platforms.

3. Get active on social media
“The more active you are on social media, the more you are building content that is searchable,” Ward says. “You are putting out material that establishes your expertise in a certain area. The more of a specific niche you can grab hold of and own, the better.”

Social media activity also creates “inbound links,” Ward says, which are links from other sites, such as Twitter, LinkedIn or your blog, that direct users to your website. These links increase the SEO ranking.

“So, [tweeting and blogging] drive traffic back to your site,” Ward says, “which helps raise the value of your site and helps put you up in the ranking. Inbound links are one of the best ways to raise your site in search-engine ranking.”

Also ensure that your website is responsive and mobile-friendly.

4. Build a “guest blogger” relationship
Consider posting occasional “guest blogs” — make a reciprocal arrangement with another professional that will help each of you get in front of a new audience. These posts will lead visitors back to your website, further boosting your ranking.

Says Ward: “All social media are amplifiers to your website.”