SEO for accountants: how firms get found by clients

What people search for

• "accountant near me", "chartered accountant in [city]"
• Services: "GST filing", "tax return for freelancers", "company registration"
• Questions: "when is the tax deadline"

Priorities

1. A Business Profile with the right category (such as Accountant or Tax preparation service), hours and services.
2. A page per service and per client type you specialise in (freelancers, startups, landlords).
3. Up-to-date guides on deadlines and rules, with the date and author shown, since they're financial information.
4. Reviews from clients, with replies.
5. Clear pricing or a fee guide where possible.

Structured data

Mark up your site with the most specific schema.org type that fits, here AccountingService, a subtype of LocalBusiness that Google supports. Include name, address, phone, opening hours, geo coordinates and URL, and match what's on your Business Profile.

Tax and finance pages are Your Money or Your Life topics in Google's rater guidelines. Show who wrote them, their qualifications and when they were last checked. See YMYL.

How AI assistants recommend accountants

When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google's AI Mode for a recommendation, the answer draws on map and business listings, reviews, directories and websites the assistant can read. The same work helps: a complete, verified Business Profile, consistent details everywhere, genuine reviews, and a website that AI search crawlers can reach and read without JavaScript. See how local businesses get recommended by AI.

Common mistakes

• Outdated tax information that's never reviewed.
• Generic content not specific to your country's rules.
• No author or credentials on financial guidance.

Hiring help: what to ask an SEO company for accountants

• Examples of work for similar businesses, with results you can check.
• Whether they follow Google Search Essentials, and how they get links. Bought links put you at risk.
• Exactly what they'll do each month, and how you'll see it.
• That your Business Profile, Search Console and analytics stay in your name.
• No guaranteed rankings: Google says no one can guarantee a number one position.

More: how to choose an SEO agency and SEO pricing.