Here is how you can utilize SEO (search engine optimization) for your bookkeeping and accounting practice. Let’s take a look at how a strategic SEO content plan can attract your ideal clients and establish yourself as the expert in your area. Here are the essentials of SEO for bookkeepers and accountants:
Why is SEO Essential for Bookkeepers and Accountants?
Marketing is the key to establishing your business online and when it comes to marketing, SEO is a must. SEO is one of the most effective ways to expand your client base and create long-term funnels that attract new clients.
As a small business, your bookkeeping and/or accounting firm has the ability to compete with larger, more established firms through the use of SEO. Additionally, SEO can allow you to directly reach your ideal client whether that’s bookkeeping for e-commerce or accounting for creatives.
With SEO, you can establish yourself in your area using local SEO. Local SEO for bookkeepers and accountants essentially ensure that your services pop up in your area. For example, when someone looks up “bookkeeping for small businesses in MN” (or your area of service), SEO allows you to appear in their search!
With the right techniques, any business can succeed at SEO no matter your size, followers, or subscribers. With a successful SEO campaign, you can bring in long-term and convince Google that you DO know what you’re talking about – and that you’re the best option to recommend for their users.
How Can Bookkeepers and Accountants Improve Their SEO?
While all online businesses can follow similar steps to improve their SEO, you can also take steps that are specific to your industry. For example, as a bookkeeper and accountant, backlinks from reputable sources and directories can be a huge deciding factor in where your website is ranked vs. an Instagram marketer’s website thriving off of their social shares for that same support.
SEO for bookkeepers and accountants is no different. Finding the right method for improving your SEO is crucial to finding that same level of success. Here are our top tips for bookkeepers and accountants looking to improve their SEO:
#1. Clearly Identify Your Clientele and Location
Some of the most underutilized keywords for the industry revolve around a specific clientele or location – or both. Once you have clearly identified both, you can narrow down your keywords for use on your website’s main pages. Rather than stating you are a bookkeeper for small businesses, you can specify “AZ Bookkeeper for Non-Profits” or “SC Accountant for Creatives.” Both give you a better chance of ranking in comparison to just bookkeeper or accountant.
#2. Have a Functional Website
WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace are no longer the only platforms available for you to build out your business’s website. In fact, they’re no longer the best either. Whatever you choose, ensure that you are able to fully utilize their SEO capabilities. Personally, I prefer Showit. It’s interface is easy for small business owners to learn for minimal updates and designers have the ability to perfectly craft a website designed for the highest conversions in your industry.
If you already have a website that is fully functional, but still not ranking. Try checking it’s current SEO optimizations. Outsource an SEO Audit to get a full SEO profile including where your SEO is working – and where it’s not.
#3. Create SEO Content
Don’t rely solely on your main pages, instead create SEO content based on supporting long-tail keywords. These keywords should relate to helping your niche, explaining more in-depth about your industry, and generally educating your audience and building trust. Batch your content using related keywords to create content clusters that improve your website’s ranking by using internal linking.
#4. Spend Time on Backlinking and Outreach
There are two main types of SEO, on-page SEO and off-page SEO. Off-page SEO is what you do and what happens online that improves your SEO without changing your website. This is mainly building backlinks with reputable sources. There are a couple of ways to do this, but the primary (and most effective) way to build backlinks is by guest posting. You can find guest posting opportunities for your niche and audience by searching on Google, Pinterest, or utilizing our Guest Post Library with over 300 guest posting opportunities.
Backlinking is also a great method of improving your domain authority, which can help you rank for harder keywords in the future. AKA it is a key element of your long-term SEO strategy.
#5. Track Your SEO Progress
You won’t know what is working and what isn’t without tracking your SEO progress. Google Search Console does a great job at showing which pages on your website are ranking and what for, but to get a complete picture you will need some type of tool. Tools such as Moz, Ubersuggest, and Semrush can provide campaign tracking which allows you to track the performance of your pages and keywords that you want to and are trying to rank for. If you are working with an SEO like us, we provide frequent reports showing growth and current rankings.
#6. Create Separate Sales Pages
A tried and true method of reaching your target audience and targeting the location specific keywords is creating separate sales pages for the states that you service. For example, creating a separate sales page or services page for South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, etc. while a regular, non-area specific services page is easily accessible via your website’s homepage.
How Does SEO Help Bookkeepers and Accountants Book More Clients?
The reason SEO is so important for bookkeepers and accountants and why it’s key to building a long-term stream of leads and clients is due to the targeting of your ideal client and niche. When your website and content are optimized for SEO, you show up as the authority in your field. You are the go-to solution to their problems – which, in this case, is their bookkeeping and accounting.
While DIY’ing SEO can be a time-consuming task and outsourcing SEO may seem costly, but SEO has one of the highest ROI’s in marketing for businesses. With a wealth of opportunity, SEO for bookkeepers and accountants is a great investment when working towards increasing clientele and lead generation.
Ready to invest in SEO? Book your SEO audit today to get started.
