How to Optimise Your Financial Services Website for ChatGPT

Why ignoring this shift to AI search is not an option.

With AI overviews, the winner takes it all. LLMs learn from their own outputs, creating a "rich get richer" dynamic where frequently cited sources receive more citations in future queries. The longer financial services firms keep their heads in the sand, other nimble competitors will claim the new territory.

Before contacting your business, your potential clients search online. If your financial firm isn't visible in those searches, your competitors will be. And for prospects who may have little brand loyalty, that is where their business will go.

What if an institutional investor asks ChatGPT about your financial firms' fund performance issues?

Without any LLM-friendly content available, the answer may very likely cite Trustpilot complaints and fund performance complaints. This will be absent any context from better quality sources that could offer balance and perspective. Finance is complex and trust-driven. Without an LLM-friendly content strategy, you risk reputational damage from these one-sided narratives, plus potential compliance issues if incorrect information spreads.

SEO is being re-framed as a content-first strategy.

Technical SEO still matters, but no longer the primary driver of visibility. To stand out in AI search, your content needs to answer real questions, not just repeat popular keywords and it should anticipate follow-up questions. Businesses must develop content that reads naturally in a conversational way, offers useful opinion or information and delivers concrete value to the reader.

LLM search is multi-modal, why is single format content no longer enough?

Older SEO focused on page rankings but modern AI systems process multiple formats simultaneously to synthesise comprehensive answers. Sites relying solely on text-based content are already losing visibility to multimodal competitors. AI models like Claude 4, with its 1M token window, can now analyse text, images, code, and structured data in one pass.

The competitive gap is measurable. When text stands alone without accompanying visuals, charts, or video, it faces a structural disadvantage in AI's information-retrieval architecture. AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google SGE, and Gemini now prioritise diverse media sources when formulating answers. This means a well-written article without supporting visuals may lose out to a competitor's more modestly-written piece that includes diagrams, screenshots, or instructional video.

Is financial services content valued by LLMs?

Authority is up for grabs and most financial services firms are not short of credible authority. The trust the LLMs have in your content will determine your visibility. Ranking highly in search results builds credibility with users who are comparing providers. Financial services have a wealth of primary source material AI assistants value - but a weak content strategy will limit your visibility. Authenticity is Citability in AI's eyes. So, (with a compliance hat on as well) create the content that AI cites, not the content it steals.

How to make my financial content visible in ChatGPT and other LLMs

Most financial firms already have a wealth of content on their websites. But while SEO is often a core focus, many teams overlook how their content is interpreted by LLMs.

Here are a few practical ways you can restructure your content to improve visibility in LLM-powered search results:

• Add FAQ sections to pages that get high traffic
• Use Q&A formats for investment guidance content
• Implement semantic HTML around existing articles
• Create "How-to" and comparison content that LLMs prefer to cite.

What is schema markup and why is it important?

Schema markup is a form of structured data embedded in the backend of your website. It tells AI systems what your content is about. Think of it as a digital roadmap that helps AI understand the context, relationships, and intent behind your content. Pages with comprehensive schema markup are 13% more likely to be cited in LLM responses.

Why are Q&A formats important for AI search visibility?

LLM optimisation research shows that conversational AI queries have evolved from 2-3 words to 10-11 words, reflecting more complex, question-driven searches. Content optimised with dedicated FAQ sections using both visible formatting and FAQ schema markup achieves significantly higher visibility. Listicles are also favoured by the LLMs as AI systems can easily parse and cite numbered or bulleted lists rather than flowing text.

Can AI crawlers easily access your web site?

Check your robots.txt configuration to ensure these user agents are explicitly allowed:

• GPTBot
• ClaudeBot
• PerplexityBot
• OAI-SearchBot
• ChatGPT-User

LLMs like Perplexity have been documented modifying crawler behavior, making explicit allowances critical. ChatGPT also uses multiple user agents that must be individually permitted.

AI crawlers are more error prone and are less efficient than traditional search crawlers, making performance optimization critical for successful indexing.

How critical is it for financial services firms to address AI search?

Investment firms that appear in AI-generated responses to queries like "What are effective ESG engagement strategies?" or "How do institutional investors approach decarbonisation?" gain significant competitive advantage in thought leadership positioning.

The financial services sector faces unique challenges in LLM optimization due to regulatory compliance requirements, the need for accuracy in financial contexts, and the complexity of institutional investment concepts. However, these same factors create opportunities for authoritative nimble businesses to dominate AI citations when properly optimized. Those that optimize for LLM visibility now will establish thought leadership positioning that compounds over time as these platforms increasingly mediate professional research and decision-making.

Where should I start?

As excellent content becomes increasingly vital to stand out in AI search, now's the time to ensure yours stands out. Fiducial Communications has over ten years of expertise in creating engaging financial content across multiple formats.

Get in touch to explore how we can help.