SEO for Accounting Firms

Everything Accountants Need to Know About SEO and Link Building

In the world of accounting services, competition is as fierce as it’s ever been.

If you want to stand out and continue to attract and maintain clients, you have to find a way to rise above the fray and set yourself apart.

And when it comes to digital marketing and reaching online customers, SEO for accountants and link building are the answers.

Why Accountants Need SEO

SEO is something that business owners and professionals across all industries needs to invest in, but it’s especially important for accountants who frequently find themselves going head to head with dozens of other local accounting firms to secure business and earn new clients.

SEO isn’t the only key to success, but it’s certainly a significant factor. Here are some of the specific benefits your accounting firm will experience as a result of a thorough and strategic investment in this area:

Better search rankings. The clear and obvious benefit of SEO for accountants is that you’re able to enjoy better search rankings. The more you invest into optimizing your web pages, the far likelier it is that you’ll climb up the search rankings and earn the right to garner organic search traffic.
Larger geographical presence. In a marketplace where physical borders are no longer as limiting as they once were, SEO strategies enables accountants to reach beyond their immediate community and find potential leads in other cities and states. The right SEO strategy may even pave the way for national exposure and opportunities for thought leadership.
Warmer leads. A well-developed SEO(search engine optimization) strategy allows accounting firm to engage with warm leads and accelerate the conversion process. And considering that organic traffic is less expensive than paid traffic (Google ads), SEO for accountants almost always leads to a higher ROI.
Trust and authority. When it’s all said and done, SEO for accountants affords the opportunity to increase trust and authority in the marketplace. And in an industry where trust is a key factor in maintain healthy client relationships, this is a benefit that can’t be downplayed.

Research shows that 94 percent of all search engine clicks go to natural search (with just 6 percent going to pay-per-click listings). Furthermore, out of these natural search clicks, 33 percent go to the URL in the first position. Another 15 percent go to the URL in the second position. The third URL receives 9 percent of the clicks. In all, close to 75 percent of all natural searches end up feeding traffic to a URL on the first page of the Google or Search engine results.

If your accounting website doesn’t have key pages listed on the first page of Google or Search engine, you’re going to struggle to achieve the sort of results you need to breeze by the competition and establish a stronghold in your local market. A commitment to local SEO strategies allows you to embrace this challenge and find sustainable success.

On-page Analysis.

By analyzing individual pages and keywords using Google Analytics, Google Search Console (reviewing accelerated mobile pages), Core Web Vitals (reviewing page speed) and other keyword research tools, we create a detailed roadmap that is industry agnostic and fully-repeatable for ranking in search engines.

Complete Content Audit.

Your on-site content audit will perform keyword research to compare all the pages of your site, taking into account content quality, duplicate content, keyword stuffing and keyword cannibalization issues that might be hurting your rankings in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Holistic Backlink Audit.

Understand impact of site-wide and individual web pages with a comprehensive look at backlink diversity, link velocity, anchor text variability, TLD diversity, internal links and internal link structure.

Website Audits Showcase Technical Deficiencies & Behavior Analytics to Improve On-page & Off-page Website Health

Our SEO services include a full audit report will provide you with a detailed plan of attack for fixing specific on and off-site errors and deficits as well as provide suggestions for internal linking and off-site link procurement for immediate keyword growth.

The Purpose & Role of Link Building in SEO

SEO strategies is one piece to the larger digital marketing puzzle. It won’t work in isolation, but it can be a powerful catalyst for accountants in their pursuit of lead generation and branding. And in order for your local SEO efforts to produce a healthy harvest, you’ll need to invest in link building.

Link building is defined as the process of securing links from independent websites back to your own website using hyperlinks and strategic anchor text. Here’s why it’s important (and why it’s such an integral part of any successful SEO strategy):

Makes Google happy. Google is in the business of serving relevant and high-quality search results to its potential clients. In fact, much of the Google's search algorithm is based on links, Google business profile and keywords(meta descriptions). Thus websites that have lots of authoritative links pointing back to their website are going to rank higher than other pages or search engine results pages(all other factors considered equal).
Expands your audience. With link building, accountants are able to secure additional exposure for their practice brand. Each link is an opportunity to reach online users that otherwise may have never intersected with the brand. This makes link building an excellent branding tool.
Authority by association. When a celebrity endorses a product, suddenly that product is seen as more reliable or trustworthy. This is the power of association. The same is true when an authoritative blogger, publisher, or industry insider links to a brand. Backlinks on the right sites provide instant clout that you’d otherwise have to spend years acquiring through time-intensive efforts.
Emphasizes content. Link building is impossible without quality content. Thus when you commit to a link building campaign, you’re also making a commitment to producing original content that will benefit your brand in countless other ways.

Determine Link-Worthy Assets.

We find the best content assets on your website, worthy of inbound mentions and backlinks. If you don’t have any or your content is lacking, our editorial team can help to beef-up your content assets.

Find Publishers that Match Your Strategy.

We source publishers with relevance and authority and pitch them content ideas that include backlinks and references back to your website.

Write The Content.

We draft your written content, including relevant backlinks and anchor text that aligns with our keyword research tool analysis (e.g. title tags, meta tags, keyword density, etc.). We then get publisher approval to get the content published.

Backlink Reporting.

You receive regular backlink reports included in your standard monthly SEO work reports.

Google and other search engines work by using math & artificial intelligence. Our method for building links ensures we are solving the math equation while avoiding black hat strategies so you can rank for national and local terms.

Trusted by over 5,000 clients and SEO agencies, our backlink-focused SEO services are the best in the business. We can vary how aggressive we build links based on any budget and any scale.

SEO for Certified Public Accountants

Link Building Principles for Accountants

For accountants that want to enjoy the aforementioned benefits and perks, a documented link building strategy is an absolute necessity. So without further ado, let’s dig in to some of the link building principles that we believe you’ll find most important and beneficial.

1. Establish SMART Goals

Every link building strategy must begin with a set of clear goals. When setting goals – for local SEO or anything else – we recommend keeping the SMART acronym in mind.

It says that goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. If you follow this prescription, you’ll get you strategy headed in the appropriate direction.

2. Determine Your Audience

The next step is to figure out who your audience is. A generic analysis won’t do you much good. In this industry, you must know exactly who you’re trying to reach. It’s the only way to strategically select content topics, publishing platforms, and keywords.

Hint: Your audience should consist of the type of potential clients you already have, as well as the ones you would like to have (yet haven’t been able to successfully reach in the past.)

3. Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research is what sets a good link building campaign apart from an average one. It’s relatively easy to earn links. But if you want to earn links that resonate with your audience and drive traffic back to your website, your content must target the right keywords.

You can conduct keyword research in a number of ways, but Google’s Keyword Planner tool is one of the best resources available. Using this resource alongside other data you’ve gathered on your target audience will enable you to identify keywords with lots of potential.

4. Generate Quality Onsite Content

A link building strategy is nothing without high quality content that satisfies your target audience desires and provides actionable advice to help them overcome relevant points of friction.

In fact, this is the most important element of the entire process.

If you create quality content, everything else will fall into place. It may take time, but it’ll happen.

5. Cultivate Guest Blogging Relationships

There are a handful of ways to earn links. One of the preferred methods for accountants is to cultivate guest blogging relationships with industry publications, financial blogs, business websites, and other publishing platforms.

These relationships can then be leveraged for generating authoritative backlinks and exposure for your brand.

6. Discover Linking Opportunities

Guest blogging is just one way to earn links.

Don’t worry, though, you don’t have to go out and write content for someone else’s website every single time you want to acquire a link.

Sometimes it’s as simple as providing a journalist with a quote or providing a blogger with a case study on a topic they’ve developed a blog post around. Be on the lookout for these opportunities and don’t be afraid to network.

Link Building for Accountants: Who to Work With

Accountants have experience working with businesses with all different backgrounds. As such, you know that there’s a big difference between the best organizations in an industry and the ones that are unfit to be doing business. So as you search for a link building partner to help you capitalize on your local SEO efforts, take the time to do your due diligence. In particular be on the lookout for the following:

Experience. This is an industry where experience is important. The rules are constantly changing and it’s the link building professionals who’ve been around the longest that understand how to adapt.
Social proof. Any link building service can claim that they do X, Y, and Z – yet there’s a difference between saying something and doing something. Look for social proof in the form of reviews, ratings, testimonials, case studies, and data-backed analysis.
White hat tactics. In the SEO industry, there are black hat SEO services and white hat services. The former doesn’t care about delivering long-term quality. All they’re focused on is making a quick dollar. In their greed, they’ll use questionable tactics that Google and other search engine frown upon before hightailing out of town. A white hat link builder, on the other hand, won’t take shortcuts. Instead, these accountant SEO services use Google Search engine and other search engines best practices and strategies that will continue to deliver tangible value for years to come.
Good connections. Link building is all about getting backlinks plugged into the right websites and blogs. A quality link building SEO service will already have preexisting relationships with high-authority sites so that there’s minimal delay between developing content and having it published.

Finding a reliable link building accountant SEO service for accountants isn’t the easiest task. There are lots of black hat services in the industry and only a handful that take the time to play by the rules.

If you’re looking for quick results at a cheap price, then by all means select one of the former options. But if you’re interested in developing a sustainable link building SEO strategy that enhances your local accountant SEO and drives results for your accounting practice, then you’ll want to do your due diligence, including a review of the SEO company’s backlink audit process.

On-page Analysis.

Complete Content Audit.

Holistic Backlink Audit.

Website Audits Showcase Technical Deficiencies & Behavior Analytics to Improve On-page & Off-page Website Health

Content Marketing and Link Building for Accountants and CPAs

We develop quality content that generates backlinks for financial professionals.

Content Marketing and Link Building for Accountants and CPAs

We develop quality content that generates backlinks for financial professionals.

The financial industry is alive and well, but few niches are more competitive than accountancy. It’s a good time to be an accountant or CPA and it’s imperative that you seize the opportunity to build a thriving practice.

At SEO.co, our goal is to help accountants and CPAs build their businesses through the creation of high quality content that attracts powerful referral traffic and generates high-converting leads. We do this primarily through content digital marketing and link building – two elements of digital marketing that work in tandem with one another.

In terms of content creation, we’ll work with you to create high quality content that adds value to your website and delights current and future potential clients. From blog posts to landing pages, we can do it all.

While quality content is important, it’s not the only thing accountants and CPAs need to grow their businesses. Backlinks also play an especially important role. We’ll help you obtain the highest quality backlinks from authoritative blogs and publishing platforms. In doing so, you’ll benefit from increased exposure and enhanced SEO rankings. But most importantly, you’ll earn the opportunity to intersect prospective clients when they need you most: during their online research and exploration.

When you work with SEO.co, you gain access to our powerful network of online publishers, as well as a stable of talented writers who are able to craft original content that positions you as an accountant who can be trusted. With our white-glove service, everything from the content creation to the link placement is handled for you.

To find out more about how SEO.co can help you in your link building endeavors, please reach out! We’d love to tell you more about our industry-leading, money-back guarantee.