5 Free Ways for Accounting Firms to Grab Attention on Google

Describing the image is key on photo sharing sites. Many image sites put much of their ranking weight on the title and description of the image, and the same lessons from page metadata apply to images - test them using a different tone to better resonate with users. On these sites, however, traffic is generated by searching as well, making keywords a safe bet for either title copy. On these social sites, be sure to add your url to the description so that searchers can easily visit your site.

Seeing Dots Everywhere

Joining Google or Bing Places lets you show up in the coveted local search areas of the universal search page. Local results are prominently displayed on some queries, showing reviews, address, phone number, sometimes images, and most importantly, a map to your doorstep. Local and organic search reinforce each other on the page, but an accountant can be confident that their Places listing best represents their business only if the page is claimed and actively maintained. Furthermore, local results power a variety of other engines, such as Facebook Places, that can help provide contact information and additional traffic for your location. Maps listings provide rich results, if you know how to utilize them. See the below example.

Maps pages themselves provide the opportunity to continue catching eyes with relevant imagery and information on the Place page. Continuing your branding, maintaining accurate information, and actively responding both publicly and privately to unhappy customers can increase trust and ensure that your site shows in the Maps listing and is referring business to your firms.

It’s important to know that this isn’t anything beyond the first steps of local SEO, a labyrinth of ensuring consistency across listings, offering something for well-trafficked listing sites, and providing something unique to users of local sites like Yelp. Managing such a campaign can bring traffic and customers to your business, especially if you take the time to jive with your communities.

Starry-eyed Reviews

Short of taking on the world of local search, accounting firms can easily replicate one of the most striking search features of those Places listings by including and correctly marking up testimonials on their site. This effectively makes the site seem like an authoritative source on the business. Google, especially, and Bing, to a lesser degree, support “rich snippets,” on-page code that can radically alter your search listing. For accountants, the most valuable snippet displays stars and other information to show reviews about their business, which can be seen in search listings by using microformats.

While following local industry guidelines, accountants should already have testimonials on their site, especially as “drop-quotes” on their page, that strive to make the potential customer feel at ease about the upcoming transaction. Marking up the code using Schema or microformats will display stars and information about the review to a searcher, drawing eyes to your listing.

Three guiding principles should be pervasive in any use of reviews, especially ones showing on search pages and not your own website.