SEO for accountants, planned around the tax calendar

Demand for accountancy services is set by HMRC's deadlines. Pages need to be ranking weeks before those dates, which means the work happens while nobody is thinking about them.

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The diagnosis

Why accountancy websites rarely rank

Most practice sites list the same services in the same words as every other firm in town: accounts, tax, payroll, VAT. Nothing on the page tells Google, or a business owner, why this practice rather than the one round the corner. Search rewards specificity, and so do buyers.

The second problem is timing. Self assessment, Making Tax Digital and year end content published in the month of the deadline arrives after the searching has been done. It needs to be indexed and ranking well before each date.

The third is local trust. Most practices win most of their clients within driving distance, and the map results are decided by the Business Profile, reviews, and consistent details across the directories that list you, professional body directories included.

A January push is budgeted in the autumn, and the budget starts with one sum: what your practice can afford per enquiry.

Scope

What is included

Search intent

Searches worth ranking for

Illustrative examples rather than keyword data. Most are a deadline or an obligation, not a request for an accountant.

  • accountant for landlords [your town]
  • do I need to sign up for Making Tax Digital
  • how much does an accountant charge for a self assessment
  • what happens if I miss the self assessment deadline
  • limited company accountant for contractors
  • switching accountants part way through the year

What happens next

What happens after you get in touch

  1. Step 01

    Audit

    Your site, your rankings, your ad account and your analytics, and a written account of what is wrong. You get the report whether or not you hire me.

  2. Step 02

    Agree the target

    One number we are both working to, usually cost per enquiry or enquiries per month. Not sessions, not impressions, not rankings on their own.

  3. Step 03

    Do the work

    Technical fixes first, because content on a broken site does nothing. Then the pages and campaigns that go after the searches worth having.

  4. Step 04

    Report monthly

    What moved, why it moved, what happens next, and an honest note on anything that cannot be measured.

Straight answers

Common questions

When should we start on self assessment content?
It should be live and indexed by early October at the latest. Publishing in January is publishing into a decision that has already been made.
Can a small practice compete with the national online accountants?
Locally, yes. National firms rarely win the map results in your town, and rarely write about a particular client type in depth. A small practice that is visibly expert in two or three kinds of client can outrank them for the searches that matter to it.
Should our prices be on the website?
Something should be. A full price list commoditises you, but refusing to indicate anything loses enquiries to firms that will. A starting figure or a set of packages is usually the right middle ground.
How long does SEO take for an accountancy practice?
Technical fixes can show within weeks. Meaningful movement usually takes three to six months, and because demand is seasonal, starting in the right month matters as much as how long it runs.
Will you write about tax changes?
Yes, with a qualified member of your team checking anything technical before it goes live. Tax content that is wrong costs a practice more than having no content at all.

The longer read

The full guide, free

More for accountants

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