SEO for accountants

Your Google Business Profile as a practice

Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a searcher sees. A few details make a big difference to whether you appear at all.

• Categories. Choose the primary category carefully, for example "Accountant", then add secondary categories that genuinely match what you do, such as bookkeeping or tax preparation. Wrong or missing categories are a common reason a practice does not appear for searches it should.
• Practice and individual profiles. Practices with several partners or accountants can end up with profiles for individual people as well as the practice. Google allows these in some cases, but they can compete with the main listing or carry old details. Check what exists and keep it tidy.
• Old and duplicate listings. Mergers, rebrands and office moves often leave duplicate or out of date listings behind. These split your reviews and confuse Google.
• Opening hours. Show your normal hours accurately and use special hours for bank holidays. If you offer appointments outside normal hours, say so on your site rather than listing hours you do not staff.
• Services and description. List your services in the plain words clients use, such as year-end accounts, payroll, bookkeeping and self assessment tax returns.

Office or service area?

Most practices have an office that clients can visit, so they show an address. That is the strongest setup for map results.

Some accountants work remotely or from home and meet clients online. A practice that does not see clients at its address should set up its Google Business Profile as a service-area business and hide the address. Getting this wrong can lead to a suspended profile.

If you serve clients across the UK online, Local SEO can still cover your home area, while SEO for wider, national searches covers the rest through content and service pages.

Reviews for a confidential service

• Clients are often happy with their accountant but rarely think to leave a review. A simple, consistent ask after a finished piece of work, for example once year-end accounts are filed, tends to work better than an occasional bulk request.
• When you reply to a review, never confirm that someone is a client or mention anything about their affairs. Thank them in general terms. This is good practice for any professional service.
• Do not offer incentives for reviews, and do not write or post reviews for clients. Both break Google's rules.
• Reply calmly to negative reviews and move the detail offline.

Pages that match how people search

A single "Services" page rarely ranks for anything. Separate, useful pages for your main services, such as bookkeeping, payroll, year-end accounts and self assessment, give Google and visitors something clear to match.

Pages for the client types you actually serve, such as sole traders, limited companies, landlords or contractors, can help too, as long as each one says something real.

Searches for accountancy services tend to rise around well-known deadlines such as 31 January for Self Assessment. Plan updates to the relevant pages and your Google Business Profile posts ahead of those busy periods rather than during them.

Trust signals searchers look for

• Clear contact details, who the team are, where the office is and how to get started.
• If you hold professional memberships, show them clearly.
• Some guide to how fees work, or at least what a first conversation involves. Searchers often leave sites where they cannot tell what happens next.