Digital marketing for accountants · SEO, AEO, Google Ads · Australia
Digital marketing for accountants, judged on new clients signed, not rankings.
Before someone rings an accounting firm, they search, check the map listing and the reviews, read the website, and sometimes ask ChatGPT or read Google's AI Overview before they choose. We build that path first: SEO, your Google Business Profile and answer engine optimisation, then Google Ads where a click can be traced to a client. Every enquiry is tracked through to a signed engagement, and senior operators run the work week to week.
30 min · No pitch · Senior operator on the call
Engagement intake, currently open
Google Partner
Profit Geeks is a Google Partner agency. Founder Andy McMaster has more than ten years in paid search.
Fixed fee
Quoted in a written proposal for the agreed scope. Never a percentage of your ad spend.
Since 2016
Headquartered in Sydney, with a second office in Hamilton, Brisbane.
How we run marketing for accounting firms
Four principles for marketing an accounting firm.
Principle 01
Search first, ads second
Google Ads is the quickest thing to switch on, which makes it a tempting place to start. For an accounting firm it is often the wrong order. Choosing an accountant is a considered decision, and the people making it read the map listing, the reviews and the service pages before they call. We fix what they find in organic search and AI answers first, then buy clicks where the numbers show a click becoming a client.
Principle 02
Signed engagements, not form fills
An enquiry is not a client. The number that matters is the signed engagement and the annual fee behind it. We connect web forms and phone calls to your practice management system or CRM, so every new client has a source and the report shows which pages, profiles and campaigns bring in fee income, not just traffic.
Principle 03
Each service line is its own market
Individual tax returns, small business tax and BAS, SMSF, bookkeeping and advisory are searched for differently, carry different fees and peak at different times of year. One blended campaign averages them into a number that is wrong for all of them. Each service line gets its own pages, keywords and budget, and the effort goes into the clients you want more of.
Principle 04
Registration and confidentiality come first
Advertising tax or BAS agent services without TPB registration breaches civil penalty provisions, and the Code of Professional Conduct requires honesty and protects client confidentiality. So nothing goes live without your sign-off, the TPB's Registered tax practitioner symbol, if you use it, always appears with your registration number, and no client is named, quoted or uploaded to an ad platform without their permission.
Deliverables
What we run for an accounting firm.
01
SEO built around the work you want: a page for each service line and office, technical fixes, and content written for the searches prospective clients actually type, such as small business accountant plus a suburb, SMSF accountant or tax agent near me.
02
Google Business Profile for each office: categories, services, hours, photos, and a simple routine for asking clients for reviews once their work is done.
03
Answer engine optimisation: structured data, consistent firm details across the web, and plain-answer pages that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Google's AI Overviews can cite when someone asks which accountant to use.
04
Tracking from first visit to signed engagement: calls, forms and booking requests recorded with their source, then matched each month against new clients in your practice management system or CRM.
05
Google Ads where it pays: search campaigns split by service line, aimed at the searches that lead to engagements, and held back when the firm has no capacity, such as at the height of tax time.
06
Ongoing management by senior operators: SEO, AEO and Google Ads reviewed every week, with each decision and its reasoning written into a log the firm keeps.
Who this is for
- Australian accounting, tax or bookkeeping firm whose tax and BAS work is done by registered agents
- Capacity to take on new clients, and a clear idea of which service lines you want to grow
- Want new clients from search and AI answers as well as from referrals
- A partner or practice manager who wants the reasoning written down, not a monthly PDF of rankings
Who it isn't
- Unregistered with the TPB but wanting to advertise tax or BAS agent services, which carries civil penalties. We will not run it
- Judging success by rankings and traffic rather than new clients
- Looking for daily social media posts (that stays with your team or a specialist we recommend)
- A budget too small for the fee to pay for itself. If that is you, we will say so on the call
How we work with accounting firms
Three stages, each one quoted before it starts.
It starts with the free audit call. From there you can take the diagnostic on its own, or go straight to setup and ongoing management. Setup is a fixed scope. Management is a fixed fee for the agreed work, never a percentage of your ad spend. Both are quoted in one written proposal.
Tier 01 · Diagnostic
The two-week diagnostic
Read-only, so nothing in your accounts changes. We map your tracking, Google Business Profile, search visibility and how enquiries are handled, then write it up with every issue ranked by priority and walk you through it on day twelve. Yours to act on with us, your own team or another agency.
Tier 02 · Setup
Search and tracking setup
A fixed scope. Tracking from enquiry to signed engagement, Google Business Profile fixes, site structure and structured data for the service lines you want to grow, and Google Ads campaigns if the numbers support them. If your tracking is already sound, this stage is short.
Tier 03 · Ongoing
Ongoing management
A fixed fee for the agreed scope, set in the proposal. Senior operators run SEO, AEO and Google Ads week to week, report new clients by service line, and record every decision and the reason for it. The log and the playbook stay with the firm.
If the website itself is the problem, we build websites too, quoted after the call. A typical build takes two to three weeks from kickoff to launch.
Where to go next
Related work and the cities we run it from.
Related services
Google Ads agency →
Search campaigns for the service lines where a click can become a client.
Lead generation →
Enquiries followed through to signed engagements, not counted as wins on arrival.
AI SEO and AEO →
Making the firm easy for ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews to find and cite.
Tracking audit →
The read-only, two-week diagnostic on its own.
Conversion rate optimisation →
More consultations booked from the visitors you already get.
Proof, with the working shown
We'd rather show you the maths than the buzzwords.
“Profit Geeks rebuilt our whole sales engine, and not just the ad accounts. They went after the systems sitting behind them too. Sales are up 140% and we've pushed past $25M. Honestly the bit I didn't see coming was the operation running leaner than it did back when we were half the size.”
“We were quietly bleeding about a thousand dollars a week and had no idea why. They found the leaks, sorted out the measurement and the offer, and now we'll do more than $10K in a single day. Same product. Completely different business.”
“We went from scraping together two installs a week to running four crews and fifteen-plus jobs a week, north of $10M turnover. The clever bit was they tied the scaling to what we could actually deliver, so growth never broke the operation. Booked jobs, not vanity leads.”
“After iOS, our Meta numbers stopped matching the bank, and we'd basically been writing the gap off as “just tracking.” Profit Geeks rebuilt our measurement server-side and reconciled it straight back to the P&L. Turned out about $1.42M of ad spend in year one had been working all along. They're the first team that showed me the maths instead of a dashboard.”
“We didn’t spend a dollar more on ads. What they did was fix how we counted a booked job versus a platform “conversion,” cut the wasted spend, and by week twelve our blended ROAS had more than tripled. Revenue went from $4.8M to $9.1M. Same senior bloke on every call too. No juniors, no relay race.”
Reasonable questions
What you're probably thinking.
01
We've been burned by an agency before.
Most of our intake has. The difference is structural. A senior operator runs your account, not a junior hidden behind a dashboard, and you leave the first call with written findings you own even if we never work together. No relay race, no account manager translating between you and the people doing the work.
02
How do I know it'll actually work for my business?
You don't yet, and neither do we until we've seen your numbers. That's why the first step is a diagnostic, not a contract. We've documented this in DTC and home services (the case studies show the full working) and run the same playbook in professional services. If the maths isn't there for you, we'll tell you on the call.
03
What if there's nothing worth fixing?
Then you've spent thirty minutes and walked away with a second opinion that cost you nothing. We'd rather say no than take on an engagement we can't earn, so we turn away intake that isn't a fit. There's no pitch and no follow-up sales sequence.
04
What does it cost, and what am I signing up for?
A fixed fee for the measurement rebuild, then a fixed fee for ongoing management, both quoted in writing after the call. No per-channel markup and no percentage of your ad spend. The same senior operators handle measurement, media and margin, and scaling is tied to your contribution margin, so spend only climbs when the numbers say it's working.
Frequently asked
Questions accounting firms ask about digital marketing.
What does SEO stand for in accounting?
Search engine optimisation. For an accounting firm it means turning up when someone searches for the work you want, such as small business accountant plus their suburb, SMSF accountant or tax agent near me, in the map results as well as the ordinary listings. The basics are a page for each service and office, a Google Business Profile that matches them, genuine reviews, and a site Google can read without errors. It takes longer than ads to show results and keeps working between campaigns, which is why we start there.
Is digital marketing still worth it for accountants in 2026?
Yes, if it is measured on new clients rather than traffic. Referrals still matter, but the people your referrers send often look you up before they call, and a thin map listing or a website that does not explain your services loses some of them. A simple test: can you say how many new clients came from search last year and what they pay you each year? If not, the first job is tracking, not more spend.
How do accounting firms show up in ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews?
AI assistants answer from sources they can read: your website, your Google Business Profile, directories, reviews and articles that mention you. Answer engine optimisation is the work of making those sources clear and consistent. That means structured data saying who the firm is and where it works, the same name, address and phone number everywhere, service pages that answer real client questions in plain sentences, and partners named with their qualifications. Nobody can promise a mention in an AI answer. A firm that is easy to describe accurately gives these tools something to cite.
Should an accounting firm run Google Ads?
Often, but after the basics. Google Ads suits service lines with steady search demand and enough fee per client to carry the cost of the click, such as business tax, SMSF and advisory. It suits one-off individual returns less well unless you have room for them. We split campaigns by service line, track each one to signed engagements, and switch off what does not produce clients. Google's guidance for Target CPA bidding is about 30 conversions in 30 days per campaign, which signed clients alone may not reach in a smaller firm, so early bidding runs on qualified enquiries while engagement data builds up.
Which SEO company is best for accountants in Australia?
There is no single best, and an agency that calls itself the best is selling. Ask any of them four questions. Will you report new clients by service line, or rankings? Will you show us the work each week, in writing? Do you know the TPB rules on advertising tax and BAS services? Is your fee fixed, or does it rise with our spend? Our answers are clients, yes, yes and fixed, but the questions work on anyone.
Do you do marketing for bookkeepers and BAS agents?
Yes. The work has the same shape: search, Google Business Profile, AI answers and, where it pays, Google Ads, all measured on signed clients. The message is different. People looking for a bookkeeper often care which software you work in, so service pages and ads should say whether that is Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks. And if you provide BAS services for a fee, you need to be registered with the TPB to advertise them.
What do the Tax Practitioners Board's rules mean for our marketing?
Four points to check with the TPB or your professional body, because we are not your compliance adviser. Advertising tax or BAS agent services while unregistered, or claiming to be registered when you are not, breaches civil penalty provisions of the Tax Agent Services Act. If you use the TPB's Registered tax practitioner symbol, you must show your registration number and registration type with it. The Code of Professional Conduct requires honesty and integrity, which the TPB explains as including a commitment not to mislead or deceive. And Code item 6 bars disclosing a client's affairs to a third party without their permission, which is worth rereading before naming a client in a case study or uploading a client list to Google or Meta. Members of CA ANZ, CPA Australia and IPA also answer to APES 110, which rules out exaggerated claims and disparaging comparisons in marketing.
How much does digital marketing for an accounting firm cost?
The market first. Our cost guide puts Google Ads management in Australia at usually 10 to 20 percent of ad spend, or a flat monthly retainer of about $1,500 to $3,000 for small accounts and $3,000 to $8,000 for mid-sized ones. We price differently. Setup is a fixed scope, ongoing management is a fixed fee for the agreed work, and both are quoted in one written proposal after the free audit call. Neither moves with your ad spend. What sets the number is the work itself: how many service lines and offices, how much of the site needs rebuilding, and how your practice software connects. If the spend is too small for the fee to pay for itself, we will say so on the call.
How much a Google Ads agency costs in AustraliaWhat you actually buy
We fix the measurement, then we run the account. It starts with a free call.
Which of these sounds like your week?
- Meta says one number, Google says another, the CRM says a third, and the bank says something else again.
- The leads come in and most of them are rubbish.
- Traffic is fine. Not enough of them buy.
- You cannot spend more without losing margin.
- Something is wrong and you cannot say what.
All five are the same job. We fix the measurement first, then the same senior operators run the spend against it. The free call is where we work out which part you need first.
00 · Free
Run your own numbers
Six calculators and an attribution reference. Work out your break-even ROAS, your CAC payback, and whether the spend is structurally profitable, before you talk to anyone. The calculators need no signup.
01 · Free · 30 minutes
The profit audit call
A senior operator looks at your real spend, revenue and attribution gap on a call. You leave with a written fix list you keep, whether or not we ever work together. No deck, no follow-up sales sequence. We reply within one business day with three times to choose from.
02 · Optional · Two weeks
The two-week diagnostic
Read-only. We change nothing in your accounts. Every tag, event and consent rule mapped and written up: 20 to 35 pages, every issue rated P0 to P3 with an engineering-day estimate, and a 90-minute walk-through on day twelve. Yours to hand to us, your own team, or your existing agency. About a third of clients run this first, then decide.
03 · The engagement · Ongoing
The rebuild, then we run it
The first twelve weeks rebuild the measurement server-side so the reports reconcile to the bank, and work the funnel where the leak actually is. From there the same senior operators keep running Google Ads, Meta and search, with budget, bids and creative decided weekly against contribution margin and the reasoning written down. If your measurement is already sound, management starts straight away.
What it costs
Four things set the number
- The size of your stack
- How many ad platforms are live
- The state of your CRM integration
- How many service lines and locations you run
Two things do not
- Your industry
- How much you spend on ads
Revenue only matters because a bigger business is usually a bigger scope. We do not price off a percentage of it. We charge for the work, not for what you look like you can afford.
How it is billedThe rebuild is fixed scope, paid in instalments. Ongoing management is a fixed fee for the agreed scope. Both are quoted in one written proposal after the call. No hourly billing and no percentage of ad spend.
Included at no extra costThe written playbook and decision log, yours to keep whether we run the account or your team takes it in-house.
What happens after you book
Three steps. No mystery.
Step 01 · Within 1 business day
30-minute audit call
A senior operator on the call. We look at your real numbers, spend, revenue, attribution gap, and tell you on the call whether the rebuild is worth doing for you and where it would start. No pitch deck.
Step 02 · Within 1 week
Written proposal
Fixed scope, fixed number, written up. The proposal names deliverables, timeline, the people involved, and the price. No hourly billing, no retainer drift.
Step 03 · Within 2 weeks
Engagement starts
Senior operators from day one. The measurement rebuild starts, we take over day-to-day buying on the channels we can measure, and the first working session lands. Inside two weeks of the call.
Next step
Bring the service line you most want to grow.
The next step is a free 30-minute profit audit with a senior operator. Bring that service line, a rough count of the new clients it brought in last year, and your website address. You keep the written findings whether or not we work together, and we reply within one business day with three times to choose from.