SM Advice has launched an AI visibility and authority audit.
The service has been created specifically for financial advisers, mortgage brokers, wealth managers and retirement specialists as consumers increasingly use AI-powered search tools to research financial questions and identify firms that may be able to help them.
SM Advice explains that while traditional search engine optimisation remains important, tools such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Gemini assess a wider range of authority, relevance and trust signals when generating answers – meaning a firm can rank in conventional search results yet still be overlooked when a prospective client asks an AI platform for a recommendation.
The audit examines more than 30 areas, including AI recommendation readiness, visibility within Google AI Overviews, local search authority, experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness signals, website SEO performance, content authority, backlink strength, conversational search readiness and citation potential.
Each firm receives an AI visibility score, a list of prioritised actions to improve their presence through generative engine optimisation (GEO), as well as a 90-day visibility roadmap.
Firms can also take a free AI visibility test to get an initial indication of how easily they can be found through AI search.
Christopher Miles, managing director of SM Advice, (pictured) said: “The way people search for financial advice is changing quickly. Most people will remember Google’s introduction in the early 2000s and how it revolutionised client search. Those who signed up early reaped the rewards in terms of rankings and visibility. Well…we have another Google situation.
“Increasingly, the first interaction may not be a list of website links; it may be a direct answer from an AI platform.
“For advice firms, the question is no longer simply whether they rank on Google, but whether AI systems understand who they are, recognise their expertise and view them as a credible source.”
“Our audit gives firms a clear picture of how visible they are today and a practical roadmap for improvement. It is not about chasing a shortcut or promising that an AI platform will recommend a particular business. It is about strengthening the digital evidence, authority and trust signals that make a firm easier for both search engines and AI systems to discover, understand and cite.”
