The SEC Marketing Rule: A Website Compliance Checklist for Advisors

The SEC Marketing Rule has been in force since November 2022, and examiners are still finding gaps. In December 2025 the SEC's exam staff put out yet another risk alert flagging problems with testimonials, endorsements, and third-party ratings. If your website was built before the rule took hold, or built by someone who does not work with advisors, there is a real chance it needs a second look.

Here is what the rule actually asks of you, in language you can act on, followed by a checklist you can run against your own site this week.

First, know which rules apply to you

The Marketing Rule (Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-1) governs SEC-registered investment advisers. If you are state-registered, your state has its own advertising rules, and many of them track the federal rule closely. If you sell insurance or securities products, you may also answer to state insurance regulators or FINRA. Most advisors sit under more than one of these, so start by listing every regulator that touches your business. If you are an insurance producer, our guide to what insurance and annuity producers can say covers that side.

Your website is an advertisement

The rule defines an advertisement broadly: any direct or indirect communication that offers your advisory services to more than one person. A public website fits that description almost entirely. Your homepage, service pages, blog posts, and bio pages all count. So do social media posts that promote your services. Treat every public page as something an examiner may read.

The seven general prohibitions

The rule bans seven categories of conduct in any advertisement. In plain terms, an advertisement may not:

• Include an untrue statement of a material fact, or leave out a fact that makes the rest misleading.
• Include a material claim you cannot substantiate on demand.
• Include information that suggests an untrue or misleading implication about a material fact.
• Discuss potential benefits without a fair and balanced treatment of the material risks.
• Reference specific investment advice in a way that is not fair and balanced.
• Include or exclude performance results, or present time periods, in a way that is not fair and balanced.
• Be otherwise materially misleading.

The substantiation point trips up more websites than any other. Lines like "we help clients retire years earlier" or "our clients consistently outperform" are claims. If you cannot hand an examiner the evidence, rewrite the line.

Testimonials and endorsements

The old flat ban is gone. You can feature a happy client or a referral partner, but you must clearly and prominently disclose three things: whether the person is a client, whether they were paid, and any material conflicts of interest. "Clearly and prominently" means near the testimonial itself, not buried in a footer nobody scrolls to. Our full guide on using client testimonials walks through the details.

If you compensate a promoter more than $1,000 over a twelve-month period, you also need a written agreement, and people with certain disciplinary histories cannot be paid to promote you at all. Whether paid or not, you need a reasonable basis to believe each testimonial meets the rule.

Third-party ratings

If you display a "Top Advisor" badge or a star rating, you need to disclose the date of the rating, the period it covers, who produced it, and whether you paid to be considered or included. You also need a reasonable basis to believe the survey behind it was not designed to produce a predetermined result.

Performance

If you show any performance figures, you generally have to present them net of fees, over one, five, and ten year periods where applicable, without hand-picking your best stretch. Hypothetical performance carries extra conditions that make it a poor fit for a public page. This is the single fastest way to earn an examiner's attention, so most advisor sites are better off keeping performance off the public pages entirely.

Social media and third-party content

Your website usually links to LinkedIn, Facebook, or a review profile, and those channels can become part of your advertising too. If you share, like, or selectively curate what other people say about you, the SEC may treat that content as your own statement. A neutral link to an independent review site, where you do not edit or cherry-pick what appears, is generally viewed differently from a hand-picked carousel of five-star comments on your homepage. When in doubt, ask your compliance resource how your firm handles third-party content before you embed it.

Registration language and required documents

Describe your registration plainly and accurately. You can say you are a registered investment adviser, but you cannot suggest that the SEC or a state sponsors, recommends, or approves you, or that registration implies a certain level of skill or training. Many firms add a short line saying exactly that. Pair it with easy access to your Form ADV Part 2A brochure, and if you serve retail investors, your Form CRS, which is required to be posted on your public website if you have one.

How to run the review

The most efficient approach is page by page. Print or export every public page, then read it with one question in mind: could I prove this sentence if asked? Highlight every claim, number, testimonial, badge, and chart. Anything highlighted either gets supporting records, a nearby disclosure, or a rewrite. Then hand the marked-up set to your CCO or compliance consultant for approval before anything changes on the live site. It is slower than editing on the fly, but it creates the paper trail you want.

Recordkeeping

The books and records rule was amended alongside the Marketing Rule. Keep copies of your advertisements, including versions of your website over time, plus the support for any claims, and the disclosures you used. A simple habit, like saving a dated PDF of each page whenever it changes, makes an exam far less stressful.

Website checklist

• ☐ Headlines and claims. Every claim can be supported with records you could show an examiner.
• ☐ Benefits and risks. Pages that describe upside also describe material risks in a balanced way.
• ☐ Testimonials. Client status, compensation, and conflicts are disclosed right next to each quote.
• ☐ Paid promoters. Written agreement in place above $1,000 a year, and disqualification checked.
• ☐ Ratings and badges. Date, period, source, and any payment are disclosed with the badge.
• ☐ Performance. Removed from public pages, or shown net of fees over required periods.
• ☐ Registration language. States registration accurately and never implies endorsement or skill.
• ☐ Form ADV and Form CRS. Easy to find, usually from the footer; Form CRS posted if you serve retail investors.
• ☐ Social links. Social profiles linked from the site follow the same standards.
• ☐ Records. Dated copies of each page version and its supporting files are saved.

For the placement side of disclosures, see the disclosures your RIA website needs. And if you want a site that is designed around these rules from the first draft, that is how we build websites and marketing for RIAs.

This article is general information, not legal or compliance advice. Confirm any specific requirement with your firm's CCO or compliance counsel before you publish.