What to Write on Your Website So AI Actually Recommends You: A Content Strategy for IFAs

There is a line that appears on roughly two-thirds of UK IFA websites. It reads something like: "We provide comprehensive, independent financial planning tailored to your individual needs."

It means nothing.

Not to prospective clients, who have seen the same sentence hundreds of times. And certainly not to AI systems, which have processed that exact phrase (or near-identical variations) from thousands of advisory firm websites and learned to ignore it entirely.

Our study of 149 UK IFA firms found that generic website copy was a defining characteristic of the 79% that were invisible. When ChatGPT decides which financial advisers to recommend, it is looking for firms it can distinguish. Firms it can match to a specific query. Firms that have given it a reason to recommend them over the other 5,000 directly authorised advice firms in the UK.

Generic copy makes that impossible. Here is what to write instead.

The Core Problem: Commoditised Content

Most IFA websites suffer from what might be called the "brochure problem." They were designed to look professional and say the right things to human visitors. But from an AI perspective, they all say the same things. The same service descriptions, the same vague value propositions, the same stock language about "putting clients first."

AI models process content from across the internet. When every financial adviser website contains effectively the same text, none of those websites provides a reason for the AI to recommend one firm over another. The AI either recommends the handful of firms that do differentiate themselves, or it falls back on brand recognition and review volume.

The solution is not to write more content. It is to write different content, content that is genuinely unique to your firm, your expertise, and the clients you serve best.

The Pillar Content Framework for IFAs

A pillar content framework involves building your website around three to five "pillar" topics where your firm has genuine, deep expertise. Each pillar topic gets a comprehensive guide (1,500 to 2,500 words) supported by related shorter articles that explore specific aspects in more detail.

Step 1: Identify Your Genuine Specialisms

Every IFA firm has areas where they are genuinely stronger than average. These might be driven by your client base, your qualifications, your professional background, or your geographic location. Understanding the five signals that make AI recommend one adviser over another will help you identify where to focus.

Common IFA specialisms that work well for AI differentiation:

• Pension transfers and defined benefit scheme advice
• Retirement income planning (drawdown, annuities, hybrid strategies)
• Inheritance tax planning for property-heavy estates
• Financial planning for NHS doctors and consultants
• Business exit planning and entrepreneurs' relief
• Divorce financial planning and pension sharing orders
• Financial planning for expatriates or returning expats
• Intergenerational wealth planning for farming families
• Investment management for charities and trusts

The key is specificity. "We specialise in pensions" does not differentiate you. "We specialise in defined benefit pension transfer advice for scheme members approaching retirement" does.

Step 2: Write a Pillar Guide for Each Specialism

Each pillar guide should be the most thorough, accurate, and useful resource available online on that specific topic. This sounds ambitious, but for niche financial topics, the bar is surprisingly low. Most existing content on specialist planning topics is either superficial, outdated, or written by generic content marketing agencies with no real financial expertise.

A pillar guide on pension transfers, for example, might cover:

• What a defined benefit pension transfer actually involves
• The current regulatory framework (FCA requirements, CETV process)
• Who should and should not consider a transfer (with specific scenarios)
• The risks and how they are assessed
• What the advice process looks like in practice
• Common misconceptions and how to avoid pitfalls
• Relevant thresholds and figures for the current tax year

Write as if you are explaining this to an intelligent person who has no financial background but has a genuine need for this information. Be specific. Use real numbers and current figures. Reference actual regulations. This is the kind of content that AI systems surface because it is genuinely authoritative.

Step 3: Create Supporting Content

Each pillar guide should be supported by three to five shorter articles (800 to 1,200 words) that address specific questions related to the pillar topic.

For a pension transfer pillar, supporting articles might include:

• "What happens to my final salary pension if my company goes bust?"
• "How is the transfer value of a defined benefit pension calculated?"
• "Can I transfer my pension after I have started drawing benefits?"
• "Tax implications of pension transfers in 2026/27"

These supporting articles create a cluster of content that signals to AI systems that your firm has comprehensive expertise in this area. They also match the specific questions that prospective clients type into AI tools.

How to Write for AI Without Sounding Robotic

Writing for AI does not mean writing for robots. The characteristics that AI systems reward, specificity, authority, factual density, clear structure, are exactly the same characteristics that make content useful for human readers.

Here are the practical principles.

Use clear, descriptive headings. AI systems use headings to understand content structure. "Understanding Your Options" is vague. "Drawdown vs Annuity: How to Choose Your Retirement Income Strategy" is specific and tells AI exactly what the section covers.

Include specific figures and thresholds. "The pension annual allowance is currently £60,000 for the 2025/26 tax year" is a factual statement that AI can cite. "The allowance is subject to change" is meaningless.

Define technical terms when you first use them. "A CETV (Cash Equivalent Transfer Value) is the lump sum your pension scheme calculates as the equivalent value of your defined benefit pension" helps AI understand and explain concepts using your content as the source.

Attribute expertise to named individuals. "According to James Harrison, Chartered Financial Planner at Smith & Partners" gives AI a named expert to cite. This makes your content more quotable and more likely to be referenced.

Include practical examples. "Consider a 57-year-old NHS consultant with 30 years of pensionable service and a CETV offer of £1.2 million" is the kind of worked example that AI systems find highly useful for constructing answers to complex queries.

Structure content for extraction. Think about how an AI might extract a single paragraph from your content to answer a user's question. Each paragraph should ideally make a self-contained point. This makes your content more modular and more likely to be cited.

The Content You Should Stop Writing

Some content types that many IFAs produce are actively unhelpful for AI visibility.

Generic market commentary. "Markets were volatile this week" adds nothing. Hundreds of firms and financial publications produce virtually identical commentary. AI has no reason to cite yours. As we explain in our article on GEO vs SEO, AI models surface depth and specificity, not commoditised content.

Thin blog posts. A 300-word article titled "Five Tips for Saving Money" competes with thousands of identical pieces across the internet. AI systems ignore commoditised content.

Keyword-stuffed service pages. Pages that repeat "financial adviser in Manchester" fifteen times are optimised for a version of Google that no longer exists. They provide no useful information for AI systems.

Content that is all opinion with no substance. "We believe in putting clients first" is an opinion that cannot be verified. "Our average client retention rate over the past five years is 97%" is a fact that AI can cite.

Replace these with fewer, better, more specific pieces of content. One excellent pillar guide is worth more than twenty thin blog posts.

Building a 12-Month Content Calendar

Consistency matters for AI visibility. A burst of content followed by months of silence sends a weaker signal than a steady publishing rhythm. Here is a practical approach.

Month 1: Publish your first pillar guide on your primary specialism. This is your most important content investment.

Months 2 to 3: Publish two to three supporting articles for your first pillar. Each article should address a specific question related to your specialism.

Month 4: Publish your second pillar guide on a different specialism.

Months 5 to 6: Supporting articles for pillar two, plus begin collecting and publishing case studies (anonymised) that demonstrate your expertise in practice.

Months 7 to 12: Continue the pattern: publish pillar three, supporting content, case studies, and begin adding commentary on regulatory or market developments relevant to your specialisms.

By month 12, you will have three comprehensive pillar guides, 12 to 15 supporting articles, several case studies, and a body of commentary that signals ongoing expertise. This is more substantive content than 95% of IFA firms have ever published, and it creates a significant, durable advantage in AI visibility.

Measuring Content Impact

The impact of content on AI visibility is not immediate. AI systems need time to index and evaluate new content. Use our guide on how to test your firm on ChatGPT to track your progress. Expect to see measurable changes in how AI tools reference your firm within four to eight weeks of publishing substantial content.

Test your visibility regularly by asking AI tools the kinds of questions your target clients would ask. Track whether your firm starts appearing in responses, and note which content pieces are being referenced.

For a structured measurement of your progress, check your AI visibility score at Presenzia before you begin your content strategy and then monthly as you publish. This gives you an objective baseline and a clear view of how your content investment is translating into actual AI recommendations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI.

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