The days of consulting a phonebook to find a local CPA are far in the past; people find accounting services like tax, bookkeeping, and business consulting via online search. To get new clients, your accounting firm’s website needs to appear in the top results of localized searches for the services you provide. Here are 8 ways to improve your search ranking and increase online visibility for your CPA firm:
Complete Your Google My Business Profile
Most of your potential clients are searching Google for things like “tax accountant near me”. The top results are Google My Business listings. Claim your business and complete your profile with a great description, contact information, and high quality photos.
List On Review Sites
Listing your business on websites like Yelp and Angie’s List helps search engines like Google see that you are a legitimate business, especially if you get a fair amount of positive reviews.
Have a Responsive Website Design
More than half of all Google searches for local businesses occur on mobile devices. This means that your website has to be responsive to all device types and sizes, from laptop, to phone, to tablet. Even if the searcher is on a desktop computer, Google still prefers to show them websites that are responsive to mobile devices too.
Publish Original Content Regularly
Search engines like websites that are updated on a regular basis with original content. The best way to do this for an accounting or CPA firm is to create a blog. Post articles that include practical information that is relevant and valuable to your target market. At the end of your articles, prompt readers to call you for more help.
Include Keywords in Meta Titles/Descriptions
Each page on your website has a meta title and description. This content doesn’t appear on the page, but it’s what people see in search engine results. You should include keywords in your meta title and descriptions. Here’s an example for a page on bookkeeping:
Title: Bookkeeping | John Smith C.P.A | Accountant in Boston, MA
Description: Bookkeeping services for businesses in the Boston area by John Smith C.P.A. Business accounting, payroll services, and more; contact us today.
Use H1 Tags
In the code of your website, you can specify certain phrases as “H1”, which makes Google read it as a headline as opposed to a part of the body text. This gives the text more weight in telling Google what the page is about. So, use descriptive keywords in your H1 headlines and H2 subheadings so that searchers looking for a specific service will see your page as a result.
Use Descriptive URLs
For each service you provide, you should have a separate page on your website. The URL of each page should contain a keyword and make it obvious what the page is about. When Google sees www.JohnSmithCPA.com/bookkeeping, they will show that page to people searching for bookkeeping services in your area.
Include Keywords In Image Alt-Text
Google doesn’t have the capability to look at an image and know what it is. That’s why images on the internet have metadata behind them, which describe to search engines what the picture is. Fill out the alt-text and descriptions of each picture and use keywords to help rank for relevant searches.
Thanks for reading, we hope this article was useful and informative. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more updates and marketing tips! If you ever have a marketing-related question or want a comprehensive analysis of your accounting firm’s marketing strategy, feel free to give us a call at 1-800-992-9663. You can also find more information about our services on our website. Get in touch with us and find out how we can help you grow your business!
