What Accountancy Firms Need to Know About SEO

Part of the Growing Inside Accountancy Firms Series

A collaboration between Sarena Harwood & Liam Saunders, VIP IT

Welcome to my Growing Inside Accountancy Firms, the series where we bring together experts to tackle the topics that matter most to accountancy firms right now.

Whether you’re a sole practitioner or a growing multi-office firm, getting your SEO foundations right can make a significant difference to how easily potential clients find you online. In this edition, I’m joined by Liam Saunders from VIP IT to tackle one of the most frequently asked topics I hear from accountancy firms: SEO.

Let’s get started..

Do accountancy firms still need a page for every office location?

Location pages can absolutely drive higher keyword rankings, but only when done right.

“Separate pages for different locations can be really helpful and drive higher keyword rankings, but there needs to be a good focus on quality content that’s actually helpful and useful to searchers. It’s quite common to see location pages with quite heavily duplicated content. Google will look at them and say that’s not unique enough, and it’s not actually that helpful to a user looking for an accountant.”— Liam Saunders, VIP IT

With location pages it’s not enough to just copy and paste the same content across every location page. Each page should genuinely reflect the local area, local clients, and any specific services relevant to that office.

Can accountants rank well locally without constantly blogging?

This is one of the most common questions we hear.

“You can rank quite well locally with a lower volume of blogs, but it’s a lot more challenging to do it with no blogs. Blogs are still a really important way to share quality content that helps Google understand your website and its specialist areas. They’re also a great way to demonstrate expertise and trust with potential clients.”— Liam Saunders, VIP IT

The key isn’t in the volume, it’s relevance. There are two types of accountancy firms I normally see when it comes to blogging:

• Those with a blog that’s completely out of date and irrelevant (Last blogs were usually around Covid time).
• Those who blog consistently and strategically online.

From a marketing perspective, the firms that get the best results from blogging are the ones writing content that’s genuinely relevant to the clients they’re trying to attract. It’s not about churning out articles, it’s about making sure every piece of content reflects your positioning and speaks directly to your ideal client.

Blogging is good to view as part of a wider inbound content marketing strategy. Please see VIP IT’s Guide to Inbound Marketing For B2B Service Providers.

How important are Google Business Profiles for accountants?

Very. In fact, this is one of the most underutilised tools we see across accountancy firm marketing.

“When you’re searching for a service locally, the Google Maps listings tend to be the first or second section on the search results page, so they present a really good opportunity to reach a client with high intent, who is looking to engage with an accountant. Crucially, this may beat just the right moment when they are likely to be looking to call or enquire.”— Liam Saunders, VIP IT

With Google Ads now occupying four to five spots at the top of the page in many searches, if you’re not running ads and you don’t have a Google Business Profile, you could be pushed significantly down the page.

Treat Your Google Business Profile Like a Second Website:

• Keep your services and description up to date
• Add regular posts and updates
• Actively encourage client reviews
• Make sure your contact details are accurate and consistent across all platforms

If you would like more information on how to make the most of your Google Business Profile. You can read my blog on; Google Business Profiles Are More Than Just a Client Review Tool

What makes an accountancy website trustworthy in Google’s Eyes?

Google uses a framework known as E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. For accountancy firms, this means demonstrating the real people, their areas of expertise and qualifications behind your practice.

“On an accountant’s website, you need to really try and demonstrate the experience you’ve gained in practice, the qualifications that each accountant has, and any specialist areas of expertise. A really easy way to do this is to have author profiles on your website, where every blog or article is assigned to an accountant or specialist. Google can link this content to that specialist and attach more weight to it if it can see the right qualifications and experience backing up what they’re saying.” — Liam Saunders, VIP IT

This is something I talk about a lot with accountancy firms from a marketing perspective too. Potential clients want to see the people behind the logo. The qualifications, the experience, the personality. When firms invest in showcasing their team properly, it doesn’t just help with SEO, it builds the kind of trust that converts a website visitor into an enquiry.

How to Showcase Your Team

Add qualifications and job titles prominently on your About Us and team pages

• Assign every blog post to a named author with a bio
• Use real team photos (not stock images)
• Encourage your specialists to share insights on trending topics like the Budget or new government policy

If you would like some more ideas on how to showcase your team and the benefits to your people-led marketing can read my last article: Why People-Led Marketing Works for Accountancy Firms – Marketing with Sarena

Can smaller accountancy firms still compete on Google against national firms?

Yes — and in some ways, SEO is the great equaliser.

“With SEO it’s probably more of an even playing field. Whereas with Google Ads, if a national firm has a really significant budget, it can be easy for them to outpace you. With SEO, you can build up your presence as a smaller firm over time. Particularly in more niche areas, there’s a chance you can outrank a national firm just by providing better and more relevant content, because their focus is a lot more split between many different areas.” — Liam Saunders, VIP IT

This is exactly why niche positioning is so powerful for smaller accountancy firms. A lot of firms I work with are very generic in how they present themselves, which makes it harder to stand out, both online and offline. When a firm gets really clear on who their ideal client is, what services they want to deliver, and what makes them different, that clarity feeds directly into better SEO too.

For smaller firms, niche positioning is your superpower. A firm that clearly specialises in a specific sector, whether that’s hospitality, construction, or healthcare, can absolutely outperform a national generalist in that space.

Why do some accountancy firms publish content consistently but still struggle to rank?

Publishing regularly isn’t enough on its own. The content must be aligned to what people are searching for.

“You can have a long piece of content that looks quite good on the surface, but if it’s not aligned to what people are searching for and what people are interested in, it will be quite hard to drive traffic to it.”— Liam Saunders, VIP IT

Common reasons content doesn’t perform:

• Content is written for accountants, not for clients
• Not aligned to search keywords
• Too vague or generic
• Heavily AI-generated without human input or real insight

In VIP IT’s 5 SEO Strategies for B2B Service Providers, there are some useful tips on how to optimise content for search intent.

How important is website speed and technical performance?

This is the area that often gets overlooked, but it matters more than most firms realise.

“Website speed and technical performance doesn’t always get the attention it deserves because it sits within the background. However, it can make a significant difference to your online visibility as it establishes the firm foundation that other aspects of SEO are built on. Ideally, you want your website loading in around two seconds or under.”— Liam Saunders, VIP IT

Common reasons for low website performance:

• Uncompressed images: some can be 20–25MB and significantly slow down your pages
• Professional photography is great, but high-resolution images need compressing before upload
• Poorly named image files (e.g. JPEG123): use descriptive, relevant file names

Useful free tools:

• TinyPNG.com — compress up to 20 images for free before uploading
• WordPress image compression plugins (e.g. Smush, ShortPixel)

Find out more about common technical SEO issues and their impact on a website’s SEO in VIP IT’s Common Technical SEO Issues & How To Fix Them blog.

Why do some accounting websites get traffic but very few enquiries?

Traffic without conversions is a frustrating but common problem. Here are the most likely causes:

• Contact forms that aren’t working — check these at least monthly
• No clear user journey — visitors should always know where to go next
• Wrong traffic — high traffic from the wrong audience won’t convert
• Hidden contact details — don’t bury your phone number or email address

“Just because an accounting website is getting a good volume of traffic doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be relevant traffic. It could be targeted at the wrong keywords, or to the wrong audience entirely.”— Liam Saunders, VIP IT

Useful tools to understand your website traffic:

• Hotjar — record user journeys and see how people interact with your site
• Google Analytics — monitor average time on page and bounce rates

Discover more about Securing Sales From SEO in VIP IT’s blog.

What’s more important SEO service pages or blogs?

The honest answer? You can’t really have one without the other.

“It’s a bit like a spider’s web — each one has connections to the other. Your blogs are quite likely to direct people back to your service pages, and your service pages could well direct people towards particular blogs on a specialist topic.”— Liam Saunders, VIP IT

Service pages and blogs work together. As your firm evolves and your services change, your service pages need to keep up, and your blogs support those pages by answering the questions your ideal clients are asking.

Key SEO Priorities for Accountancy Firms

This is Part 1 of our two-part SEO and AI Search series. Read Part 2 to find out how AI search is changing the landscape for accountancy firms and what you need to do to stay visible.

If you would like more support with your firm’s SEO, then get in touch with Liam Saunders at VIP IT.

If you would like support with your firm’s marketing, then get in touch with Sarena and find out more on how I can help you