Case study — Transforming Digital Growth
Heathcote Financial Planning
Building a connected digital presence for an established financial planning firm.
A connected approach across website, content, search, local visibility, customer journeys, conversion and AI-ready search.
Heathcote Financial Planning
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The business
An established Chartered financial planning firm built on expertise, long-term relationships and referrals.
What changed
A connected digital ecosystem across website, search, content, local visibility, customer journeys and conversion.
Outcome
Stronger visibility, a larger owned content asset base and +110% organic traffic as at September 2026.
About the business
Heathcote Financial Planning is an established Chartered financial planning firm with more than 15 years of experience.
The business has built a strong reputation through expertise, long-term client relationships and referrals. That referral model remains an important source of new clients, but in an increasingly digital market it cannot be the only route to growth.
People now search, compare, read and validate a business online before making contact — even when somebody they trust has already recommended it.
The opportunity was therefore to build a stronger digital route into the business alongside referrals, while retaining the trust and personal approach that had already made Heathcote Financial Planning successful.
The situation
The expertise was already there. The reputation was already there. The client relationships were already there.
What was missing was a connected digital ecosystem bringing the website, content, search visibility, local presence, reputation, customer journeys and conversion together.
The underlying website had originally been built by an external agency. The bigger opportunity was to develop what happened inside and around it so that the digital presence could work much harder for the business.
The challenge
The obvious answer could have been:
“We need more traffic.”
But traffic was only part of the problem.
Prospective clients needed to be able to find Heathcote Financial Planning for the questions and services that mattered, understand the firm’s expertise, build trust and move naturally from research towards speaking to an adviser.
The approach
My role was to take ownership of the digital ecosystem around the website, including strategy, information architecture, content, search visibility, local presence, customer journeys and conversion.
The website structure was developed around clearer services, real customer questions and more useful pathways between information and financial advice.
A much wider content ecosystem was created across the Learning Hub, service pages, articles, FAQs, guides, case studies, adviser-led video and interactive tools. Much of the content strategy, structure and copy was developed directly as part of that work.
The subject matter expanded across retirement, pensions, investments, mortgages, protection, equity release, estate planning and wider financial-planning questions.
Local visibility was strengthened through Google Business Profile, reviews, reputation signals and locally relevant content.
Landing pages, lead magnets, email journeys and clearer conversion routes were developed alongside the content so that increased visibility was connected to an appropriate next step.
As search evolved, the approach expanded beyond traditional SEO into question-led content and AI visibility, making information clearer and easier for both people and search systems to understand.
The work remained commercial throughout. Search behaviour, enquiries and customer needs helped shape priorities rather than assuming that more traffic automatically meant better growth.
The results
Organic traffic increased by 110% as at September 2026.
Heathcote Financial Planning also achieved Top 3 Google visibility in Gloucester for retirement planning and financial planning as at September 2026.
Technical SEO improved from approximately 46 to 85+, while search visibility increased from approximately 30 to 75+.
Beyond the headline numbers, the business now has a much larger digital asset base: educational content, service information, video, interactive tools, stronger local visibility, reputation content and clearer routes from research to enquiry.
Built for a regulated environment
Financial information cannot simply be generated and published.
Content needed to be researched, supported by appropriate sources, reviewed with financial-planning expertise and taken through the firm’s compliance process where required.
AI was used to accelerate parts of research, development and production — not as a substitute for professional judgement.
Why this matters to you
A good business does not always need its existing model replaced.
Sometimes the opportunity is to take the reputation, expertise and relationships that already work and build a stronger digital route alongside them.
That is what happened here.