I just created a new guide for accounting and CPA firms: “How Accounting and CPA Firms Can Succeed with SEO.”
Get your copy of the accounting and SEO guide today.
It’s from World Synergy and Accountants and CPA Firms.
Here is an excerpt:
Accounting firms have many options when it comes to marketing. They can start with traditional efforts like generating leads through networking and following up on referrals from existing clients.
For a moment, you might think that no one would hire a professional services firm just by searching online.
But it happens that way – all of the time.
Yes, individuals and companies check with friends and business associates to find an accounting firm that could be a good fit for their interests and needs. They also rely on directories and search engines like Google and Bing to identify potential firms. Here’s a quick sampling of monthly searches on Google:
| Keyword Phrase | Monthly Searches (Google’s Estimate) |
| CPA | 2240000 |
| CPAs | 201000 |
| CPA firm | 27100 |
| CPA firms | 33100 |
| accountant | 1500000 |
| accountants | 1000000 |
| accounting firm | 60500 |
| accounting firms | 135000 |
| certified public accountant | 27100 |
| certified public accountants | 27100 |
And that’s just the broad, national data. Here’s a cross-section of local searches:
| Keyword Phrase | Monthly Searches (Google’s Estimate) |
| Seattle CPA | 480 |
| Accounting firms in San Diego | 140 |
| Chicago CPA firms | 140 |
| CPA Fresno | 590 |
| Raleigh accountant | 91 |
| Phoenix accounting firm | 28 |
| Boston accountants | 110 |
| CPA Norfolk VA | 36 |
| Jacksonville accounting firms | 22 |
| Cleveland CPA | 260 |
In this guide, we’ll look at key ways accounting firms can leverage search engine optimization (SEO) to connect with prospective clients:
SEO has been around since the early 1990s and people still seem bewildered by SEO like it’s some kind of special magic that only some marketers understand and few master. It is complicated and based on many variables. But it can work if you’re smart about your strategy.
If your accounting firm wants to succeed with SEO, you need to start with a simple reality – your web site’s viability. It can change over time, but each web site at any given time has certain strengths and an ability to rank well on major search engines.
You can’t just pick keywords like you’re a kid in an apple orchard. It’s not that simple. Take stock of your situation and get a handle on what your web site has going for it.
Search engine rate all sorts of information for every single page, including:
- Domain name
- Domain age
- Number of pages
- Inbound links from other web sites, newsletters, blogs, magazines, directories, etc.
- Keywords in title tags
- Keywords in page headers (like headlines)
- Keywords in subheads
- Keywords in the core content
- Keywords in and around links between pages on a web site (also called anchor text)
- Keywords in the navigation
- Keywords in URLs (page names)
- Amount of content on each page
- Keyword themes throughout a web site
- Keyword density (percentage of keywords in relationship to other words on a page)