--- title: "Accountant SEO consultant: a visible local firm" url: https://kevinpapot.fr/en/seo-expert-comptable author: Kévin Papot, SEO and GEO consultant language: en updated: 2026-10-15 --- > SEO and GEO consultant for more than fifteen years. I only recommend what I've made work on my own websites, on Google and in AI answers. [Home](https://kevinpapot.fr/en/) / [Industries](https://kevinpapot.fr/en/metiers) / Accountancy # SEO for accountants: get found by business owners who want a firm close to home. A business founder looking for an accountant first comes across online firms, comparison sites and national networks. These sites have resources your firm doesn't, I'll be frank. They have no office in your town, no partner you can meet, no clients on your street. I work on your Google Business Profile and your site so these three strengths show, within the framework set by your professional body. [Book a call](#contact)[See my method](https://kevinpapot.fr/en/methode) 1. Rattle your competitors. 2. Overtake them. 3. Protect you from their attacks. A contract and a pen. [Photo: Blogtrepreneur, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Legal_Contract_%26_Signature_-_Warm_Tones.jpg) **15 years** in SEO **4 books** on SEO and GEO **200+ sites** tracked every day **1M / month** visits to my e-commerce site They trusted me with their visibility DartyEurofinsCegidEBPCNP AssurancesIngram Micro ## What is SEO for an accountant? SEO for an accountant is the work that makes a firm visible on Google when a business owner, founder or self-employed person in its area is looking for someone to keep their books or advise them. It relies on a complete Google Business Profile, a page on the site for each service and each type of client the firm wants to take on, and content signed by the partners. It is judged by the number of serious enquiries, not by site traffic. The problem ## What gets in the way for accountancy firms. Symptom 1 ### Online firms take the top lines On “accountant” followed by a price or a legal structure, the results are held by national players selling a monthly subscription. You won't dislodge them from these general searches. However, they are barely present as soon as the search includes a town name or a specific trade. Symptom 2 ### A site that presents the firm and nothing else Many firm websites fit on four pages: the team, the values, the services in a list, contact. None of these pages answers what a baker setting up shop or a doctor wanting to change accountant types in. Symptom 3 ### Enquiries that don't fit the firm When the site doesn't say who you work with, everyone calls. You spend time answering enquiries that are too small or too far from your services, while the files you actually want go elsewhere. An audit, for real ## What I see in thirty seconds on an accountancy firm's website. The site below doesn't exist, but its flaws do: they're the five I spot most often. Hover over a number. Home | Accountancy and advice https://votre-cabinet-comptable.exemple **CABINET EXEMPLE EXPERTISE**The firm · Our services · News · Contact Your everyday partner A team that listens, supporting businesses at every stage of their growth. Write to us **Accounting**Find out more **Payroll and HR**Find out more **Advice**Find out more **Fig. 2.** Fictional site, reconstructed. Any resemblance to yours would be a good reason to call me. 1. *1***No town in the page title**“Accountancy and advice” appears on countless firm sites. “Accountant in Angoulême: start-ups, bookkeeping, payroll” says where you are and what you do. 2. *2***News supplied by a third party**If these articles also appear on your colleagues' sites, they bring you no visitors. Replace them with answers written for your clients. 3. *3***“Everyday partner”**An online firm writes the same sentence. Say what it can't say: your town, your sectors, the name of the partner who meets clients. 4. *4***A calculator and a pen**This image comes from a stock photo library. A photo of your offices and your partners shows that the firm exists and that people can walk in. 5. *5***Three “Find out more” blocks**A business founder doesn't recognise themselves in any of them. Add entry points by situation: I'm starting up, I'm taking over, I'm changing firm. What your customers type ## What a business owner types when looking for an accountant. Here are six plausible searches for a mid-sized firm. They are examples. The real list, with the volumes for your area, comes out of the audit. *1*“accountant” followed by the name of your town : This is the search of someone who wants to be able to drop by the firm. It plays out on the map and on the first local sites. Your profile must have the right category, your exact address and up-to-date opening hours. *2*“accountant business start-up” and a town : The project is under way, the legal structure not yet chosen. This person is looking for a first meeting. A dedicated page says what you do for a founder, in what order, and how the first conversation goes. *3*“change accountant” : This business owner already has a firm and isn't happy with it. They want to know if switching is complicated. A page describing how you take over a file, step by step, removes that worry before the call. *4*“accountant for restaurants” or “accountant for self-employed professionals” : They are looking for someone who knows their trade. If you already have several clients in the same sector, one page per sector says so clearly, with the questions those clients ask you all year round. *5*“accountant fees small company” : They compare before calling. You don't have to publish a price list. Explaining what makes your fees vary and what an engagement letter includes already gives an answer that comparison sites don't. *6*“accountant for furnished rental” or “accountant for freelancers” : These are small engagements, much searched for, and the favourite ground of online offers. It's up to you whether you take them on. If you do, they need a page. If not, say so, it will save you calls. What works ## The five levers for an accountancy firm. Lever 1 ### The firm's Google Business Profile It answers searches that include a town. I check the category, address, opening hours, description and photos of the offices. If you have several offices, each has its own profile and page on the site, with the partner or staff member people meet there. Lever 2 ### One page per service Bookkeeping, payroll, start-ups, business transfers, advice to owners: each service has its own searches. One page per service explains who it is for, what you actually do and what the client has to provide. The bullet list on the “Our services” page is not enough. Lever 3 ### One page per type of client A tradesperson, a retailer, a doctor and a winegrower don't ask the same questions. When you know a sector well, I give it a page written in your words. It is on these specific searches that a local firm holds its own against national offers. Lever 4 ### The partners, named and introduced A business owner entrusts their accounts to a person. Each partner has their own page: background, areas of expertise, sectors they cover, registration with the professional body. Google and AIs also rely on these pages to know who is speaking on your site. Lever 5 ### Content reviewed by a partner I suggest topics based on real searches. The Newp team drafts an outline for the form, and a partner approves the substance before anything goes live. Nothing appears under your name without this review, because your signature carries your professional liability. What costs dearly ## The mistakes I often see on accountancy firm websites. Mistake 1 ### Copying the online firms' messaging Showing a teaser price and a three-click process puts you on their ground, where they have the advantage. Your ground is the face-to-face meeting, knowledge of the local business community and follow-up by the same person. Mistake 2 ### News copied as-is from a content provider These articles are published identically on many firm sites. Google has no reason to show yours. Three texts written for your clients are worth more than a news feed nobody reads. Mistake 3 ### No town in the page titles “Accountancy and advice” doesn't say where the firm is. Until the town's name is in the title and the text, you don't appear on local searches. Mistake 4 ### A contact form as the only way in A founder in a hurry wants a direct number or a slot to book. I put both options at the top of every page, with the name of the person who will answer. The method ## What I put in place for an accountancy firm. Four steps. I start by checking with you what your professional body allows, so nothing has to be taken down later. 1. **The framework.** Together we list what your code of ethics allows on the site, the profile and reviews. Everything else depends on it. 2. **The targets.** You choose the services and types of client to develop. I set aside searches held by national offers. 3. **The pages.** One page per service, per sector and per partner, approved by you before publication. 4. **The measurement.** Each month, I record calls, forms and meetings booked, with the page they came from. One-minute test ## Is SEO right for you? Five frank questions to find out whether support makes sense in your situation. Sometimes the answer is no, and I'll tell you. Close to home ## Accountancy in Charente. In Charente, a firm may look after very different clients: retailers in Angoulême, trading houses and estates around Cognac, tradespeople in small towns. Online offers target the whole country and speak about none of these trades in particular. My agency is based in the département, and that is the scale at which I build your pages. ### Angoulême: shops, services and self-employed professionals In Angoulême, the search includes the town's name. Business founders there look for a firm they can visit. A page naming Angoulême, the towns in the conurbation and your meeting days meets exactly that expectation. ### Cognac: vineyards and trading houses Around Cognac, the vineyards support estates and the trades that depend on them. If your firm covers this sector, say so on a separate page, in your clients' vocabulary. An online firm can't write that page. ### Small towns: a firm less than half an hour away In Ruffec, Barbezieux, Confolens or La Rochefoucauld, a tradesperson looks for someone who travels or holds regular office hours locally. If you do, it should appear on the site and the profile, with the days. The rooftops of Angoulême. [Photo: JLPC, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Angoul%C3%AAme_16_Vue_toits%26Charente_depuis_bd_Pasteur_2014.jpg) The historic centre of Cognac. [Photo: Jacques DASSIÉ, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cognac_Centre_historique.jpg) [SEO consultant in Charente](https://kevinpapot.fr/consultant-seo-charente)[Angoulême](https://kevinpapot.fr/consultant-seo-angouleme)[Cognac](https://kevinpapot.fr/consultant-seo-cognac) Beyond Google ## What AI changes for an accountant. Business owners now ask full questions to an AI such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Mistral. For example: “I'm taking over a shop in Cognac with two employees, is a local firm or an online firm better, and which should I contact?”. The AI describes both options, then sometimes names a few firms. It picks those names from what it can read: your site, your Google Business Profile, your professional body's directory, the local business press. A firm described the same way everywhere, with its services, sectors and partners, is easier to cite. “Firm in Cognac, winegrower and retailer clients, in-person meetings” gives it something to answer with. “Your trusted partner” gives it nothing. [Find out more about GEO](https://kevinpapot.fr/en/consultant-geo) Question asked to an AII'm taking over a shop in Cognac with two employees. Which accountant should I contact? Answer Three options for this takeover: 1. **Our client**— accountancy firm in Cognac: business takeovers and payroll, partner named on the site, in-person meetings, sectors covered described page by page. 2. — online firm, monthly subscription, communication by messaging. 3. — national network, office in another town. Firm's siteGoogle Business ProfileProfessional body directory **Fig. 3.** Reconstruction, names hidden. This is the spot we aim for: on the list, with the most precise description. Three typical cases ## Three firm scenarios. These three firms don't exist. I made them up to show how the method adapts. Yours will have its own plan, drawn from the audit. ### An accountant setting up on their own They have just opened their firm and have no referrals yet. 1. Create the Google Business Profile and the firm page, with the town in the title. 2. Write a business start-up page and a file takeover page. 3. Get the same contact details listed in the professional body's directory and local directories. ### A firm with three partners and two offices The main office has clients, the second is little known. 1. Give the second office its own profile, page and direct number. 2. Introduce each partner with their sectors and where they hold meetings. 3. Write a page for the sector that already has several clients at the firm. ### A firm that wants more advisory work It handles a lot of bookkeeping and would like to support business transfers. 1. Create a business transfer page and an owner advisory page. 2. Publish Q&As written with the partner who handles these files. 3. Remove from the site the offers the firm no longer wants to develop. In practice ## What you get. - A verified Google Business Profile for each of the firm's offices - One page per service and per type of client you choose to develop - An introduction page for each partner - Texts submitted for your approval before each publication - A monthly record of enquiries, sorted by service Pricing ## How much does an SEO consultant cost? The fee depends on four things. I give you a precise amount after a free first thirty-minute conversation. - The size of the site: ten pages or ten thousand - The competition on your queries - What you can do in-house, and what needs producing for you - The pace you want [Request a quote](#contact) Who you're talking to ## Your SEO consultant: a business owner, not just an SEO. My name is Kévin Papot. More than fifteen years in the job, four co-written books, and the Newp agency, co-founded in Charente. I also run my own online shops, in France and internationally: one of them went from zero to a million visits a month. **Before we talk tags, we talk margin, average basket and profitability.** When you book a call, I'm the one who picks up. [Read my story](https://kevinpapot.fr/en/kevin)[See my method](https://kevinpapot.fr/en/methode) FAQ ## SEO and accountancy: your questions. Can a local firm really hold its own against online firms? On general searches, no, and I don't promise you that. On searches that include a town, a trade or the need for a meeting, yes. Those are the ones I target, because they are the searches of clients who want a firm like yours. Our communication is regulated. How do you work within that constraint? I take it as a starting point. Before writing, we list what your professional body's rules allow. If there's any doubt about a wording, you or your professional body decide, not me. Who writes the site's texts? I prepare the topics and the structure. My team writes a first draft for the form. A partner reviews, corrects the substance and approves. I publish no accounting or tax content without that approval. Should we show our fees? That's your decision. You can explain how they are built up without giving an amount. That explanation is often enough to reassure someone comparing and to deter someone who only looks at price. Can we ask our clients for reviews? First check what your code of ethics says on this point. If it's possible, I help you do it simply, when handing over the accounts for example. If not, we work on the other signals: the profile, the pages and local citations. We don't want very small files. Is that compatible? Yes. The site can say who the firm works with. I choose the searches according to the clients you want, and set aside those that bring enquiries outside your target. How long before the first enquiries? The Google Business Profile usually responds within a few weeks. Pages take several months to settle in. I guarantee neither a timescale nor a position. I show you each month what has moved. Is there a good time of year to start? Founders' searches and changes of firm follow the business calendar. I prefer to start the work a few months before those periods, so the pages are in place when demand arrives. Our site was built by a provider specialising in accountancy firms. Does it need rebuilding? Not necessarily. I first check whether I can change the titles, add pages and replace the texts shared with other firms. If the tool allows it, we keep the site. What experience do you have to support us? I've been doing SEO for fifteen years and have co-written four books on the subject. I don't know your profession the way you do. My role is to find what your future clients type and get you to write the right answers. --- Source: https://kevinpapot.fr/en/seo-expert-comptable · Kévin Papot, SEO and GEO consultant, Charente (France).