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We’ve analysed the UK business finance market to see which brands are gaining visibility, which are slipping, and where the biggest SEO opportunities sit right now.
This edition of the Salience Index focuses on the business finance sector, benchmarking brands across visibility, keyword trends, brand reach, reviews, and page speed. If you want the full dataset, download the free report.
- 36% of brands have lost organic visibility in the past 12 months
- Market traffic is up 11% overall, but growth is uneven across the sector
- RBS, CashFloat, and Ulster Bank have seen the steepest organic growth
- Tide and Funding Circle have both seen UK monthly brand searches surge in the last 3 months
About our Business Finance Market Report
Each year we release our Salience Index, a market report that breaks down how a sector is performing in search. This edition is all about UK business finance. Inside, you’ll find the brands leading organic visibility, the biggest winners and losses year-on-year, rising keyword themes, trust signals (reviews), and page speed benchmarks.
The Business Finance Market Report 2024 gives you a clear snapshot of the market’s digital performance, plus trends and opportunities you can apply to your own strategy. For a quick peek of what’s inside, keep reading.
Business finance industry leaders
Top 10 brands by organic visibility (snapshot)
| Rank | Brand | Domain |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | RBS | rbs.co.uk |
| 2 | Shawbrook | shawbrook.co.uk |
| 3 | CashFloat | cashfloat.co.uk |
| 4 | Ulster Bank | ulsterbank.co.uk |
| 5 | British Business Bank | british-business-bank.co.uk |
| 6 | Tide | tide.co |
| 7 | Capital on Tap | capitalontap.com |
| 8 | Everyday Loans | everyday-loans.co.uk |
| 9 | Aldermore | aldermore.co.uk |
| 10 | Cynergy Bank | cynergybank.co.uk |
Context: The market can look “flat” at headline level, but the spread is wide. If your curve is flat while competitors are climbing, you’re losing share even if overall demand is steady.
Visibility wins and losses
Top visibility winners
| Rank | Domain | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | rbs.co.uk | +12% |
| 2 | cashfloat.co.uk | +28% |
| 3 | ulsterbank.co.uk | +24% |
| 4 | british-business-bank.co.uk | +118% |
| 5 | commercialtrust.co.uk | +339% |
Watchlist: Commercial Trust’s growth rate suggests a fast-moving challenger. If you sit in the mid-pack, that’s your signal to tighten category coverage and build proof assets that earn links in a YMYL space.
Losses among major players
| Domain | YoY change | Note |
|---|---|---|
| shawbrook.co.uk | -2% | Small decline, still a leader |
| novuna.co.uk | -23% | Visibility softening |
| fundingoptions.com | -73% | Significant decline |
| lendingexpert.co.uk | -43% | Losses suggest keyword share erosion |
| mfbrokers.co.uk | -45% | Recent migration from mortgagesforbusiness.co.uk likely contributes |
Steepest drops overall
| Rank | Domain | YoY change | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fundingoptions.com | -35% | Still appears among leaders, but sliding |
| 2 | iwoca.co.uk | -49% | Large share loss in generic demand |
| 3 | capalona.co.uk | -57% | Drop suggests lost rankings across long-tail clusters |
| 4 | smeloans.co.uk | -69% | Severe decline |
| 5 | marketfinance.com | -100% | Rebrand to Kriya likely explains full loss |
If you’re migrating or planning one, read our guide to SEO migrations and how not to lose traffic. Wondering where your brand sits? Download the free report to see where you stack up.
Keywords and trends in the business finance sector
Keywords typically split into two lanes: high-competition head terms that everyone targets, and opportunity keywords that are specific enough to win with stronger content depth, trust signals, and better on-page UX.
High-competition keywords (examples)
| Keyword | UK monthly searches | Competition |
|---|---|---|
| business loans | 8,500 | 57 |
| commercial mortgage | (see report) | High |
| start up loans | (see report) | High |
Opportunity keywords (examples)
| Keyword | UK monthly searches | Competition |
|---|---|---|
| ppp loan | 1,100 | 8 |
| equity financing | (see report) | Lower |
| green mortgage | (see report) | Lower |
Enhanced copy and content depth matter in finance. The pages that win are the ones that clarify eligibility, rates, fees, and decision timelines without burying the user in jargon.
Trust in the business finance sector
Finance is a Your Money or Your Life category. That means trust is not optional, for users or search engines. Reviews are one of the fastest ways to show credibility and reduce hesitation.
Top 10 most trustworthy sites (by review profile)
| Rank | Domain |
|---|---|
| 1 | oaknorth.co.uk |
| 2 | capitalontap.com |
| 3 | fundingcircle.com |
| 4 | iwoca.co.uk |
| 5 | shawbrook.co.uk |
| 6 | tide.co |
| 7 | aldermore.co.uk |
| 8 | everyday-loans.co.uk |
| 9 | thinkbusinessloans.com |
| 10 | loan.co.uk |
Want the trust framework that underpins modern finance SEO? Read our guide to Google E-E-A-T and YMYL.
The fastest business finance sites
Speed matters in SEO and conversion. A slow site bleeds users and trust, especially on mobile. Core Web Vitals are a ranking factor, but the bigger impact is behavioural: slow pages reduce engagement, increase bounce, and hurt lead completion.
| Rank | Domain |
|---|---|
| 1 | businessexpert.co.uk |
| 2 | capalona.co.uk |
| 3 | shawbrook.co.uk |
| 4 | commercialtrust.co.uk |
| 5 | kisbridgingloans.co.uk |
| 6 | fleximize.com |
| 7 | abcfinance.co.uk |
| 8 | loan.co.uk |
| 9 | cashfloat.co.uk |
| 10 | british-business-bank.co.uk |
If you want a technical health check for finance sites, explore our Technical SEO services.
Download our free Business Finance Market Report
Interested to know where your brand stacks up against competitors across visibility, keyword trends, trust signals, and performance? Download the business finance report and get the full breakdown in your inbox.
Get the complete Business Finance Market Report
If you don’t see your brand, don’t worry. Our dataset covers the wider sector, but we keep the report focused and readable. If you want a personalised cut of the data, get in touch. We also support brands with SEO for financial services, so if you want to talk strategy or request a free audit, we’d love to help.
