Published on Nov 10, 2026
This article was written by Adem Tumerkan
Content Strategist, Dunham | 2025 ThinkAdvisor Luminaries Award Winner | 2026 Wealthies Finalist, Thought Leader of the Year | Macroeconomics, markets, geopolitics & global trends
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Financial advisors can improve their eligibility to appear in Google Search and AI answers by publishing useful, well-sourced content on websites search engines can access. Google’s recent updates reinforce the importance of accuracy, originality, and reader value. Below, I explain what changed, where Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) fits, and what Dunham’s search impressions and AI citations show about our own efforts.
Publishing more won’t help much if the content adds little or search engines can’t find it.
Financial content needs clear authorship, reliable sources, and explanations readers can trust.
Dunham’s search impressions and AI citations increased—but visibility is only the first step.
Before paying for or writing another article, check whether people are finding the ones you already have.
Anyone who’s created something and put it out into the world knows the feeling.
You have an idea worth writing about. You research, check the numbers, and write the article. Then come the revisions and compliance approval.
Finally, it’s ready for the world - and hopefully a few prospects - to see.
You hit publish.
Then you hit refresh.
Hours pass. Then days. Then weeks. And still, the view count barely moves.
I call this “writing into the void.”
A useful article can’t help prospective clients understand your expertise if they never find it. And as if getting found on Google weren’t enough work, AI-generated answers have added another place to compete for attention.
Google’s recent changes give financial advisors a reason to review both the content they publish and the website behind it.
Here’s what changed, where Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) fits, and what we’ve seen at Dunham as we’ve put more attention into this work.
Two developments deserve attention.
First, Google updated1 its spam-detection systems between September 24 and October 8, 2026. These updates help it identify practices that violate its search guidelines.
Imagine a firm publishing hundreds of articles called “Retirement Planning in San Diego,” “Retirement Planning in Phoenix,” and so on. Each swaps the city name but repeats the same generic advice without useful local information.
If the purpose is capturing search traffic rather than helping readers, that’s the kind of publishing Google’s scaled-content-abuse policy addresses.
Google didn’t say this rollout specifically targeted AI-written articles - because using AI doesn’t automatically make something spam. It’s more about the purpose and value of the work that matters (the result).
Secondly, Google updated3 its content guidance in October, emphasizing review of AI-generated material and the effort, originality, skill, and accuracy behind an article.
Meaning - don’t copy an AI draft and hit publish. Check the facts, add your knowledge/angle and give readers something they couldn’t get from another version of the same article.
These changes don’t mean every advisor needs to rewrite their website. They do give you a reason to question a marketing plan built mainly around publishing more.
People may use financial articles to make decisions about retirement, savings, or their family’s future. Google therefore places greater weight on signs of experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness - what it calls E-E-A-T - for these subjects.4
“Of these aspects, trust is most important. The others contribute to trust, but content doesn't necessarily have to demonstrate all of them. For example, some content might be helpful based on the experience it demonstrates, while other content might be helpful because of the expertise it shares.” – Google (October 2026)
Think about what you’d want to know before trusting an unfamiliar financial article:
Clear author information, reliable sources, and explanations that show your knowledge help readers assess those questions and boost your content’s chances of showing up.
For your practice, this means reviewing an article for more than spelling. The explanation should be easy to follow, show your knowledge, and make its limits clear.
Take an article titled “Can I Retire With $1 Million?” A quick yes or no won’t tell readers much. If I were writing it, I’d walk through a clearly labeled hypothetical example, explain the spending assumptions, and show how changing those assumptions could change the answer.
Readers should also know who wrote or reviewed the piece and where the numbers came from. That gives them a basis for trusting the explanation, which aligns with Google’s guidance.
But even a useful article needs a website that allows people to find it.
A quarterback needs a receiver who can get open and catch the ball. A great receiver needs someone who can deliver it. They have to be in sync.
Your content and website have a similar relationship.
An article worth reading may struggle to reach people if search engines can’t access it. Meanwhile, an expensive website still needs useful content to give people a reason to visit.
Your website team should check whether search engines can reach your articles, read the information, and find related pages through links. Google recommends these practices for regular search and its AI features.
Google’s AI Overviews - those AI-written summaries near the top of some searches - include links to supporting articles. That gives useful content another way to reach readers.5
Someone searching “Can I retire at 60 if my mortgage isn’t paid off?” could encounter your article about housing costs in retirement as a supporting source (it puts your expertise in front of someone working through a relevant question).
This is where AEO fits in, helping search systems find, understand, and reference your content. Google says no special AI markup is required for its AI features. The basics still matter - and inclusion is never guaranteed.
For more on those basics, see our guide to AI search visibility for financial advisors.6
At Dunham, this is part of my day-to-day work. I research, write, and optimize content to give it a better chance of reaching financial advisors and investors.
Our focus has been quality over quantity. Each article should answer a real question, contribute something useful, and sit on a website that helps people find it.
So, what has that looked like in practice?
One example is Dunham’s financial advisor prospecting guide7. The screenshot below shows where it appeared when searching “financial advisor prospecting strategies.”
*Google results for “financial advisor prospecting strategies,” captured 11-09-2026. This screenshot documents the placement at the time of the search.
That placement shows how we’re working to make Dunham’s advisor-focused content easier to find. We put time into creating these resources, and we want them to reach the people they’re written for (like you).
Meanwhile, our broader tracking shows how much that visibility increased over the past two completed months.
Dunham’s recorded impressions rose from 4,282 in September 2026 to 83,797 in October - a 1,857% increase. Average daily impressions climbed from approximately 143 to 2,703.
The gains have thus far continued into November. Through November 9, Dunham recorded another 27,440 impressions, averaging approximately 3,049 per day. As the chart shows, visibility stayed well above its earlier range after the initial October increase.
We’ve also been tracking a different measure - how often Dunham’s content is cited in Microsoft’s AI search experiences.
Our Bing AI Performance data shows 8,291 citations in September and 14,116 in October - a 70.3% increase MoM. The average number of Dunham pages cited each day also rose significantly - from 36.9 to 50.8.
Put simply, citations increased and more of our pages were being referenced on an average day.
The Google numbers show how often our content appeared in search results. Meanwhile, the Bing numbers show how often AI answers referenced it. Those are different measures, and neither tells us exactly how many people read an article, contacted us, or became clients.
Now, keep in mind, we’d been working on the content and website well before October. The jump happened around Google’s spam update, but I can’t point to one change and say, “That’s what did it.”
Still, it’s encouraging data. We put a lot of work into these articles, and they’re showing up more often. The next step is figuring out which ones are getting attention - and whether that attention leads to anything.
For your practice, ask the same thing. You’ve spent time writing, checking facts, and getting compliance approval. Is anyone finding the finished piece?
And when they do, does it give them a reason to learn more about you?
You don’t need to reproduce Dunham’s publishing program to review your own – but here’s a simple list I usually start with:
Before writing or paying for another article, ask your marketing team to walk you through one you’ve already published. What does it add? How are people finding it? What happened after they arrived?
You may find your next marketing dollar is better spent helping that article you already worked on reach people than creating a new one that ends up in the void.
How can financial advisors get their content into Google’s AI answers? Financial advisors can improve their eligibility by publishing useful, accurate content on pages Google can crawl and index. Answer client questions clearly, name the author, cite reliable sources, and link related articles. Google’s established SEO practices apply to AI Overviews and AI Mode. No special AI markup is needed, and inclusion is never guaranteed.
Does Google penalize financial advisors for using AI-written content? No, using AI-written content does not automatically violate Google’s policies. The concern is creating pages that add little value or producing content mainly to manipulate rankings. Advisors should check facts, add their own knowledge and examples, and follow their firm’s review process. Review AI drafts for accuracy, quality, and relevance before publishing.
Should financial advisors publish more articles or improve existing content? Start by reviewing the content you already have. Check whether each article answers a real client question, adds useful insight, and sits on a page search engines can access. Improving an existing article may be more useful than publishing a similar piece. Add new content when it answers a meaningful question your website hasn’t covered.
How can financial advisors measure whether SEO and AI visibility are working? Track visibility and business results separately. Search impressions show appearances in results. AI citations show references to your content based on the reporting tool’s definitions. Clicks and visits measure traffic, while inquiries and qualified prospect meetings help assess business value. Compare consistent reporting periods, and don’t treat higher visibility as proof that new clients followed.
This communication is general in nature and provided for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered or relied upon as legal, tax or investment advice or an investment recommendation, or as a substitute for legal or tax counsel. Any investment products or services named herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered an offer to buy or sell, or an investment recommendation for, any specific security, strategy or investment product or service. Always consult a qualified professional or your own independent financial professional for personalized advice or investment recommendations tailored to your specific goals, individual situation, and risk tolerance. All examples are hypothetical and are for illustrative purposes only.
Information contained in the materials included is believed to be from reliable sources, but no representations or guarantees are made as to the accuracy or completeness of information. This document is provided for information purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice.
Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. is a Registered Investment Adviser and Broker/Dealer. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services and securities offered through Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc.
