Websites for Accountants: Why Your Accounting Firm’s Location Still Matters for SEO

More accountants are equipped to work remotely with clients than ever before. Despite how the modern accounting firm operates, your office location still has a real impact on how prospective clients find you online. Location-based ranking factors are a big deal to Google so your accounting firm's website must showcase where your office is located.

Of course, it's true that accounting firms function well in a remote environment. Most accounting software is cloud-based these days and can be accessed from any place you can jump on an internet connection. The pandemic also forced many accountants to learn how to conduct Zoom meetings in their pajama pants and get through tax season without ever meeting a client in person. So it makes sense to think “hey I can work from anywhere so where my office is located doesn’t really matter anymore, right?” Wrong. It still matters to Google which means it's a big factor in optimizing your accounting website.

With Google owning over 86% of the online search market share, how they look at the world has a big impact on how your website performs in online searches. If they think your location is important, so should you.

Google is Loyal to the Searcher, Not the Accountant

You’re probably saying “Yeah but I can work with clients all over the country!”. Google doesn’t care. They’re not interested in who you want to work with, their loyalty is to their customers and their goal is to give them the best search results possible. Google knows that many types of businesses are now capable of working with clients in any location but if the person searching wants local results, then that’s what they’re serving up.

Location, Location, Location...of Your Accounting Firm

For Google and other search engines, delivering ideal search results is based on more than just the keywords typed into the search bar. They use algorithms that consider the intent of the searcher and often, where they’re located. Search engines don’t make the location of the searcher a high priority in every instance, but when small business owners (and individuals) search for a CPA or accountant, the person is typically looking for a local firm. If you put yourself in the searcher’s shoes for a moment, it's easy to see why.

Pretend you’re a small business owner in Tampa, Florida who needs an accountant. When you jump on Google and type in some variation of “accounting firm” or “CPA firm”, you don’t expect to see results for a random firm in Dallas, Texas just because their website says they can work remotely with clients. No, you’re more comfortable working with someone local (“what if I have to drop paperwork off at their office?”) so you want results for firms that are near you. Their location is important to you, the searcher, and therefore it's important to Google. This means that you, the accountant, should have a website that reflects where your office is located so when people search for an accounting firm in your area, they’ll find you.

This is actually good news. If Google didn’t care about location, every time someone searched for an “accounting firm”, you would be competing with every other CPA and accountant in the country. With those odds, it would be almost impossible to rank on page one, but in your local market, it's achievable.

Mobile SEO and Your Location

The increase in mobile searches also plays into why Google wants to know where your accounting firm is located. You’ve probably noticed that when you google a type of business on your mobile phone the terms “near me” are almost always suggested for the search. With 68.1% of all website visits in 2020 coming from mobile devices, it's likely that most prospective customers are searching for an accounting firm from a mobile device. So if they search for a firm that’s near them, you want your firm to come up in those results.

Local SEO for Your Accounting Website

So how do you make sure Google knows where your accounting firm is located? Here are the 2 most important things you need to do:

• Get an accounting website built with SEO - You need a properly optimized website that will rank for the types of keywords that people are using in searches and local geographic terms.
• Claim Your Google My Business listing - Claim and optimize your Google My Business listing. When you claim the listing, Google verifies your location, confirming where you are and giving you a solid spot on their map. Even if your office is a home office, this is still really important.

If you would like Build Your Firm to design and optimize a website for your accounting firm, contact us at 888-999.9800, ext 1, or email us at info@buildyourfirm.com to learn more. We specialize in websites and marketing services for accountants.