A salaried applicant with a clean file and a twenty per cent deposit does not need you, and increasingly does not use you. That business has gone to comparison sites and direct lenders, and no amount of search work will bring it back.
What has not gone anywhere is everything a decision engine cannot process: two years of self-employed accounts, a default from 2022, a contractor on day rate, a portfolio landlord restructuring in a limited company. Those applicants search specifically, they search anxiously, and almost nobody has written a good page for them.
The segments worth a page each
| How contested | Why it converts | |
|---|---|---|
| “mortgage broker near me” | Heavy, and mostly simple cases | Low — often the business you least want |
| “self employed mortgage broker” | Light | They have usually been declined already |
| “mortgage with bad credit uk” | Moderate | High anxiety, high intent |
| “contractor mortgage” | Light | Specialist knowledge visibly required |
| “limited company buy to let mortgage” | Light | Portfolio landlords, repeat business |
| “first time buyer mortgage advice” | Heavy | Long-term client value if you win it |
Demand spikes when rates move
Mortgage search is unusually reactive. A base rate decision, a Budget, or a lender repricing overnight produces an immediate surge in remortgage and rate-related queries. Firms that already have a clear, current page about what a rate change means capture that surge; firms that publish a reaction piece three days later capture nothing.
The practical approach is a standing page on remortgaging and rate changes that you keep updated, rather than a series of dated news posts that age badly and dilute each other.
Write for the declined
Someone who has just been turned down by their bank is in a specific emotional state and searching in specific language: “can I get a mortgage with a default”, “declined mortgage what next”, “mortgage after IVA”. These are not comfortable topics for a marketing page, which is exactly why they are uncontested.
Answer them honestly, including the cases where the answer is “not yet, and here is what to do for six months”. That page will earn you more genuinely convertible enquiries than any amount of general first-time-buyer content, and it is the sort of material AI assistants quote because it actually resolves the question.
What the FCA rules mean in practice
Financial promotions must be clear, fair and not misleading, your firm details and FCA reference number belong in the footer, and any fee must be stated plainly. Avoid “guaranteed acceptance”, “best rates” and anything implying an outcome you cannot control — these are the phrases that attract attention, not the act of publishing content.
Consumer Duty pushes in the same direction: if a retail customer could misread it, rewrite it. The version that survives compliance review is generally the version that ranks.