HIGH SALIENCE / INDUSTRIES / FINTECH
Fintech AI SEO Agency for Google and AI Search
High Salience is a fintech AI SEO agency in Colorado, founded by Bike Hawley in 2026, that measures which brands Google and AI answers recommend in your market and what it takes to be one of the names. Fintech SEO now runs through Google and AI search: people ask ChatGPT and Google's AI which bank, card, app or lender to use, and the answer names a few brands. Built for fintech and financial services companies with real demand and a claim to be the best choice. High Salience engagements for fintech and financial services companies start at $7,500 a month, after a $750 Category Salience Brief.
Transcript
Buyers ask ChatGPT who to buy from. Does it say your name? It searches the web and reads what others say. Then it names a few brands, and picks one. Here's the catch. Seventy-eight percent of ChatGPT's recommendations went to brands whose own site did not rank in Google's top ten for the question. So how do you become the pick? Be the brand AI recommends. High Salience.
01Why Fintech
Why fintech SEO faces a higher bar in Google and AI answers
Fintech SEO faces a higher bar because Google's Search Quality Rater Guidelines (September 11, 2025) name financial security as a Your Money or Your Life topic, where content on money questions is held to the highest standard of trust. Raters are also told to mark down sites that handle money or payments while hiding contact and customer service information.
AI answers raise the bar further. When someone asks for the best high yield savings account or the safest app to send money abroad, ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews assemble the answer from sources they trust. For money questions, that is mostly personal finance publishers and regulators, not the providers themselves.
02Our Data
What 25 money questions showed about Google and ChatGPT sources
The 25 money questions showed a clear split between Google's sources and ChatGPT's.
| Measure (25 questions, September 26, 2026) | Result |
|---|---|
| Google showed an AI Overview | 24 of 25 |
| Overview links from sites in Google's organic top ten | 74 of 108 (69%) |
| ChatGPT cited sites that ranked in Google's top ten | 20 of 62 (32%) |
| ChatGPT cited sites that were also in Google's Overview | 13 of 62 (21%) |
| Reddit in Google's top ten / cited by ChatGPT | 22 questions / 0 answers |
Corrected October 23, 2026: in late September Google answered some automated searches with swapped results pages, and 7 of these 25 Google pages came back that way, so their top ten is now Google's page for the same question on October 23. The Overview link row counts only Overviews from pages that passed that check (15 of the 23 whose sources we could read); the other rows of Google figures use all 25 questions. Before the correction the table read 86 of 156 (55%) for Overview links, 16 of 62 (26%) for ChatGPT's cited sites and 23 questions for Reddit.
We asked ChatGPT and Google the same 25 fintech questions on September 26, 2026. ChatGPT's most-cited sources were NerdWallet (9 answers) and consumerfinance.gov (8), with government sites making up 19% of everything it cited. Google's results were dominated by Reddit, in the top ten for 22 of the 25 questions, while ChatGPT cited Reddit in none of its answers. YouTube was linked in 15 of Google's AI Overviews.
The lesson: the Google results page and the ChatGPT answer are built from different lists. Only 32% of ChatGPT's cited sites ranked in Google's top ten. The full dataset lists every question and source.
03The Rules
Financial advertising rules: what your pages can claim
AI systems quote pages, so every claim on a page can end up inside an answer, and the rules that govern financial advertising apply to the pages we help you build:
- Credit terms: under Regulation Z, section 1026.16, credit advertising may state only terms that are actually offered, and phrases such as "no annual fee" can trigger additional disclosures.
- Deposit accounts: under Regulation DD, section 1030.8, an account cannot be advertised as "free" if maintenance or activity fees may apply, and advertised rates must be stated as an annual percentage yield.
- Insurance claims: FDIC rules prohibit non-banks from implying they are FDIC-insured and require clear disclosure of partner banks.
We are not your compliance team and do not replace legal review. We build pages that state facts plainly, cite the source, and pass review faster because of it.
04The Work
What our fintech AI SEO services include
Our fintech AI SEO services include all four capabilities in a single engagement, and your money-question data sets the priorities.
The money questions in your market, measured
Best-of, comparison, cost, safety and how-to questions measured across Google and the AI surfaces, against the competitors that actually appear.
Pages AI answers can quote accurately
Rates, fees, eligibility and differences stated clearly and consistently, so answers describe your product correctly.
Rankings on the questions customers ask
Product, comparison and education pages built for how financial products get chosen, on a clean technical foundation.
Accurate presence where answers look
Personal finance publishers, comparison sites and reviews: the sources AI answers cite for money questions.
For how the Google and AI halves of this fit together, see our AI SEO services.
05Fit
Who our fintech AI SEO agency is built for
High Salience is a fintech AI SEO agency built for companies whose customers compare before they choose and whose product has a real claim to win that comparison.
High Salience is built for
- Established fintech, lending, payments, banking or wealth products with real search demand
- A market where customers compare before they choose
- Competitors or publishers' picks appearing in AI answers where you do not
- A compliance process that can review changes on a reasonable schedule
Probably not for you if
- You need rankings or citations guaranteed by a date
- You want volume content without review
- You are pre-launch with no product to compare
- Evidence will not be allowed to change the plan
06Investment
How much does fintech SEO cost?
The cost of fintech SEO with High Salience varies by engagement. The price of an engagement depends on its scope, which we set from the evidence in your market.
From $7,500/month
Focused engagement: typically one market, a concentrated set of constraints and collaborative implementation.
$10,000 to $20,000/month
Work where several visibility layers, workstreams, markets or substantial execution need to move together.
Scope is determined by the market, not a package sheet. Every engagement starts with the $750 Category Salience Brief, credited in full against an engagement signed within 60 days.
07FAQs
Fintech SEO FAQs
These answers cover fintech SEO from how it differs to how long it takes.
Is fintech SEO different from other SEO?
Fintech SEO uses the same mechanics as other SEO, but the bar is higher. Google's rater guidelines treat financial topics as Your Money or Your Life, where trust matters most, and financial advertising rules shape what your pages can claim. AI answers add a third layer: they lean on a small set of publishers and regulators.
Which sources does ChatGPT use for financial questions?
ChatGPT's top sources for financial questions were a personal finance publisher and a regulator. In our snapshot of 25 consumer and small business money questions, NerdWallet was cited in 9 answers and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's site in 8. Government sites made up 12 of the 62 sites ChatGPT cited. Providers' own sites were cited less often.
Can a fintech company say it is FDIC-insured?
A fintech company can call itself FDIC-insured only if it is an insured bank. FDIC rules (12 CFR 328.102) prohibit a non-bank from suggesting it is FDIC-insured and require clear disclosure of the partner bank. The same care applies to every page an AI system might quote.
How long does fintech SEO take?
In fintech SEO, fixes to your own pages can register within weeks of a re-crawl. Earning presence in the publishers and comparison sites AI answers cite takes longer, because it depends on third parties. We remeasure at day 90 and quarterly after that.
08Sources
Sources and further reading
The rules and data cited on this page come from the sources below.
- Google Search Quality Rater Guidelines (September 11, 2025)
- CFPB: Regulation Z, section 1026.16, Advertising
- CFPB: Regulation DD, section 1030.8, Advertising
- eCFR: 12 CFR 328.102, misrepresentation of insured status
- High Salience: AI answers in four industries (dataset)
09Next Step
See where your brand stands in answers to money questions
The Category Salience Brief shows where your brand stands in the answers to money questions in your market. It runs your customers' questions across Google and the AI surfaces, puts your brand beside the competitors and publishers that win them, and ranks what to fix first.