Why Google Doesn't Rank Broker Websites

If someone searched "mortgage broker" plus your suburb right now, would they find you?

Not your name. The service, plus your area. Go and check.

Most brokers land on page two or nowhere. It's not bad luck. Here's exactly why.

Why brokers are held to a higher standard

Mortgage advice is what Google calls YMYL - Your Money or Your Life. Content that could meaningfully affect someone's financial situation gets extra scrutiny.

Google isn't just asking "is this site about mortgages?" It's asking "should I be sending real people here to make real financial decisions?"

If your site doesn't make the answer obvious, Google sends traffic to the sites that do.

1. Google can't tell you're a real, qualified person

Most broker sites are built around a business name. No named individual. No photo. No licence number.

Google's quality guidelines evaluate E-E-A-T - Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. For financial content that means:

• Your name on the site, clearly
• A real photo - not stock
• Your ASIC credit licence number in the footer
• Evidence of experience - years in the industry, clients helped, aggregator

Without these, you're asking Google to trust you with financial searches. It won't.

Fix: name on the homepage, face on it, licence number in the footer. One afternoon.

2. You haven't told Google where you work

Borrowers don't search nationally. They search:

• "Mortgage broker Brisbane"
• "Home loan broker Gold Coast"
• "First home buyer broker Chermside"

If your site doesn't signal where you operate - in content, page titles, and your Google Business Profile - you won't show up for any of them.

Fix:

• Your suburb or city in the homepage headline
• A complete Google Business Profile with real reviews
• A dedicated page for each area you serve - not a list, an actual page

3. You're not publishing content

The biggest factor in Google's algorithm in 2025 is consistent publication of genuinely useful content - weighted at 23%.

Google doesn't rank websites. It ranks pages that answer specific questions people search for.

Most broker sites have five pages. Home, about, services, a blog with two posts from 2021, contact. That gives Google almost nothing to rank.

The brokers ranking well have pages built around what clients actually search:

• "How much can I borrow on a single income?"
• "Can I get a home loan if I'm self-employed?"
• "First home buyer grants Queensland 2026"
• "Fixed vs variable - which is better right now?"

Each is a page. Each has real search volume. Each is a chance to show up before a borrower has even thought about which broker to call.

4. Your existing content is stale

Freshness is 6% of Google's algorithm. Pages updated at least once a year gain an average of 4.6 positions versus pages left untouched.

Rates change. Grants change. Lending thresholds change. A page from 2022 with 2022 figures signals to Google that nobody is maintaining this site.

Fix: a quarterly review of key pages - update the figures, refresh the date, add a relevant question. Faster than writing new content.

5. Your site is slow on mobile

Page speed is a confirmed Google ranking signal. At 3% of the algorithm it's not the heaviest factor - but Google explicitly penalises sites that fall below a minimum threshold.

53% of mobile visitors leave if a page takes more than three seconds to load. Most people searching for a broker are on their phone.

Check yours: pagespeed.web.dev - run on mobile.

• Under 70: hurting your rankings
• Under 50: costing you leads every day

6. Nobody is linking to you

Backlinks are 13% of Google's algorithm. When credible sites link to yours, it signals to Google your site is worth recommending.

For brokers this doesn't mean link schemes. It means:

• Your aggregator's broker directory
• A link from a buyers agent, accountant, or conveyancer you work with
• Local press - a rate comment, a community business feature

One relevant link from a real business beats fifty generic directory listings.

Where to start

• Name, photo, and ASIC licence number on the site - today
• Complete your Google Business Profile and collect real reviews
• Check your mobile PageSpeed score and act on it
• Write one page that answers a real question your clients ask
• Update any page referencing outdated rates or schemes
• Ask one professional you work with to link to your site

The bar is genuinely low. Most broker sites do none of this.