Bookkeeper marketing · Bookkeepers and BAS agents · Australia
Bookkeeper marketing aimed at the clients you want to keep.
Keyword Planner shows 1,300 searches a month in Australia for 'bookkeeper near me'. When we checked Google on 1 October 2026, the top organic result for that search was Xero's advisor directory, not a bookkeeping practice. Business owners find bookkeepers through software directories, their accountant, Google Maps and pages that name the software they already use. We build those routes first, keep every ad inside what your TPB registration allows, track each enquiry to a signed client, and run the work week to week.
30 min · No pitch · Senior operator on the call
Engagement intake, currently open
1,300
Monthly searches for 'bookkeeper near me' in Australia, with top-of-page bids of $5.08 to $29.86. Keyword Planner, October 2026.
16,965
Registered BAS agents at 30 June 2025, according to the Tax Practitioners Board's annual report for 2024-25.
Fixed fee
Set in writing for the work we agree after the free call. It does not rise when your ad spend does.
How we run marketing for bookkeeping practices
How we think about winning bookkeeping clients.
Principle 01
Name the software, because clients do
Plenty of business owners look for a bookkeeper by the software they already run. Keyword Planner shows 590 searches a month for 'xero bookkeeper', 320 for 'quickbooks bookkeeper' and 210 for 'myob bookkeeper' in Australia (October 2026). A practice that says which platforms it works in, with a page for each, gives those searches the answer they want. A line that says 'all major software' answers none of them.
Principle 02
Advertise only what your registration covers
In the Tax Practitioners Board's own examples, lodging activity statements, payroll work that applies tax law (including Single Touch Payroll reporting) and setting a client's GST codes are BAS services. Providing them for a fee, or advertising them, needs TPB registration. Preparing tax returns is tax agent work that a registered BAS agent cannot offer. From 1 October 2026, advertising these services while unregistered can draw civil penalties of up to 2,500 penalty units for an individual, and it is now a criminal offence too. Your keywords, ads and pages are built around what you are registered to do, and nothing else.
Principle 03
Judge a client on what they pay while they stay
When the work is ongoing, the first invoice understates what a new client is worth. We set what you can afford to pay to win one from your own records: the average fee, how long clients stay with you and the hours the work takes. Every channel, from accountant referrals to paid search, is then judged on signed clients against that number, not on clicks or calls.
Principle 04
Referrals and directories before paid clicks
Accountants who do not want to do bookkeeping themselves, the directory for the software you use, and a Google Business Profile with genuine reviews cost you time rather than ad spend, so they come first. Google Ads follows, aimed at the searches and suburbs where your numbers show a click turning into a client. For plenty of practices the first three are the whole plan, and we will tell you if that is you.
Deliverables
What we set up and run for a bookkeeping practice.
01
A Google Business Profile that matches the work: the right primary category, the services you offer (with BAS work such as activity statements and tax-related payroll listed only if you are registered), the area you cover, real photos, and a routine for asking happy clients for a review without offering anything in return.
02
Service and software pages: one for each platform you work in, one for each service your registration covers, and one for each industry you know well, such as trades or hospitality, written around the searches those owners actually type.
03
Directory and referral profiles kept current: your listing in the Xero advisor directory if you are eligible, association directories such as the ICB's Find a Bookkeeper if you qualify, and a one-page summary local accountants can pass on, covering your software, the work you take and when you have room.
04
Your registration shown properly: TPB registration number and type on the site, the Registered tax practitioner symbol used the way the TPB's guidelines require if you take it up, and the details registered agents must give prospective clients about the TPB register and complaints process.
05
Enquiry tracking to signed clients: calls, forms and booking requests recorded with their source, then matched each month against new clients in your practice management system or CRM, so referrals, directories, search and ads are compared on the same terms.
06
Paid ads where the numbers hold up: Google Ads on local searches that name bookkeeping and your software, with negative keywords for do-it-yourself searches and for work you cannot take, and LinkedIn Ads if your best clients are a kind of business you can pick out by industry and company size. Both are reviewed weekly, with every decision written into a log you keep.
Who this is for
- Bookkeeping or BAS practice with staff, or about to hire, and room for more clients
- Clear on the clients you want: the software, the industries and the size of business
- Registered BAS agent, or clear about which services you can offer without registration
- Want every new client traced back to where they first found you
Who it isn't
- A sole bookkeeper after a few more clients. The free channels on this page will do more for you than our fee, and we will tell you so
- Wanting to advertise BAS services, such as lodging activity statements, without TPB registration. We will not run those ads
- Judging marketing on traffic and rankings rather than signed clients
- Wanting someone to post on social media every day (we leave that to your team or a specialist we recommend)
How we work with bookkeeping practices
What a bookkeeping practice can buy from us.
Everything starts with the free audit call. After it you get one written proposal: a fixed fee for setup and a fixed fee for ongoing management, neither tied to your ad spend. Some practices only need the setup and run the rest themselves, and some are too small for ongoing management to earn its keep. We will tell you which applies to you before you spend anything.
01 · Diagnostic
The two-week diagnostic
A read-only review of your Google Business Profile, directory listings, website, tracking and how enquiries get answered, written up in priority order with a walk-through at the end. Yours to act on with us, in-house or with anyone else.
02 · Setup
Profile, pages and tracking
A fixed scope: Google Business Profile, software and service pages, directory profiles, registration details shown correctly, and enquiry tracking through to signed clients. Google Ads campaigns are built only if your numbers support them.
03 · Ongoing
Ongoing management
A fixed fee for the agreed scope. Senior operators run local SEO, AEO and, where it pays, Google Ads week to week, report new clients by source each month, and write every decision into a log the practice keeps.
If the website is the problem, we build websites too. They are quoted after the call and usually take two to three weeks from kickoff to launch.
Where to go next
Related services and neighbouring industries.
Related services
Accountant marketing →
The hub for accounting, tax and bookkeeping firms: SEO, AEO and Google Ads tracked to signed engagements.
Accountant websites →
Websites for accounting practices, built in two to three weeks and tracked from launch.
Google Ads agency →
Search campaigns for the services and software where a click can become a client.
AI SEO and AEO →
So ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews can describe your practice accurately when owners ask who to use.
Tracking audit →
The read-only two-week diagnostic, bought on its own.
Related industries
- Marketing for tradies →
- Law firm marketing →
- Dental marketing →
- NDIS provider marketing →
- Childcare marketing →
- Mortgage broker marketing →
- Real estate marketing →
- Property developer marketing →
Cities we work with bookkeepers in
SydneyMelbourneBrisbanePerthAdelaideNational (remote)
Run your numbers
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 bookkeepers ask about getting clients.
How do I market myself as a bookkeeper?
Be specific about three things: the software you work in, the kind of business you serve and the area you cover. Then put that wherever owners look. A Google Business Profile with the right category and genuine reviews gets you into the map results. A page for each platform and service answers searches such as 'xero bookkeeper', which gets 590 searches a month in Australia (Keyword Planner, October 2026). Directory listings and a short summary for local accountants bring referrals. Paid ads come last, once you know what a client is worth.
Where do bookkeepers find clients?
Mostly through people and platforms the owner already trusts. When we checked Google Australia on 1 October 2026, the first organic result for 'bookkeeper near me' was Xero's advisor directory, followed by a marketplace and a mix of practices and directories, with a map pack of local practices on the same page. So the places to be are: referrals from accountants and existing clients, the directory for your software, association directories if you belong to one, your Google Business Profile, and a page on your own site for each service and platform. Google Ads can fill the gaps once those are working.
How do I find my first bookkeeping client?
Start with people who already know your work. Former employers and colleagues, accountants who would rather not do bookkeeping, and business owners in your own network are the natural first calls, because trust is the hard part before you have reviews. While you work through that list, set up a Google Business Profile, a plain site that names your software and services, and your registration details if you are a BAS agent, so the people you approach can check you. We would hold off on paid ads until you know which clients you want and what they are worth to you.
Is the bookkeeping market oversaturated, or shrinking?
Crowded at the generic end, much less so for specialists. The Tax Practitioners Board had 16,965 registered BAS agents at 30 June 2025. Jobs and Skills Australia counts 91,800 people employed as bookkeepers, about 1,000 fewer than a year earlier (February 2026), with a median age of 52 against 39 across all occupations. Owners are still searching: 1,300 times a month for 'bookkeeper near me' in Australia, and 6,600 for 'bookkeeper', a figure that also includes people looking for jobs and courses (Keyword Planner, October 2026). A practice that says exactly who it serves competes with far fewer others than one offering 'bookkeeping for all businesses'.
Do I need to be a registered BAS agent to advertise bookkeeping services?
Not for bookkeeping alone, but yes for BAS services. The Tax Practitioners Board says you must be registered to provide BAS services for a fee, and advertising them while unregistered breaches the Tax Agent Services Act. In the TPB's examples, preparing activity statements, payroll work that applies tax law and setting a client's GST codes are BAS services, while data entry that needs no tax judgement, and coding done under a registered agent's instruction and supervision, are not. From 1 October 2026 the maximum civil penalty for advertising BAS services while unregistered is 2,500 penalty units for an individual and 50,000 for a company, and the conduct is also a criminal offence. A registered BAS agent still cannot offer tax returns, which only tax agents can prepare and lodge for a fee. To register as an individual you need, among other things, a Certificate IV or higher in bookkeeping or accounting, a Board-approved GST/BAS course, and 1,400 hours of relevant experience in the past four years, or 1,000 hours if you are a voting member of a recognised association. This is general information: confirm your own position with the TPB.
What tax and BAS agents can say in their marketingShould a bookkeeper run Google Ads?
Only once the numbers say so. Keyword Planner puts top-of-page bids for 'bookkeeper near me' at $5.08 to $29.86 a click in Australia (October 2026). Suppose 1 in 10 clicks becomes an enquiry and 1 in 3 enquiries signs, which are illustrative rates rather than benchmarks: that is 30 clicks per new client, or roughly $152 to $896 at those bids. If a client is worth well more than that to you after the cost of the work, ads can pay. If not, put the time into referrals and your profile first. Payroll and outsourcing searches cost more again, with top-of-page bids reaching $102.82 for 'payroll services' and $75.28 for 'outsourced bookkeeping'. And 'bas lodgement', at 2,400 searches a month, mixes do-it-yourself searches with people wanting help, so it needs tight negative keywords and only suits registered agents.
Is SEO worth it for bookkeepers?
Local SEO is the part worth doing first, because so many of the searches are local or name a platform. City searches run to 590 a month for 'bookkeeper sydney', 480 for Brisbane, 390 each for Melbourne and Perth, and 260 for Adelaide (Keyword Planner, October 2026), and 'bookkeeper near me' brings up map results fed by your Google Business Profile. The work is a page for each service, platform and area you really cover, a profile that matches it, the same business details across every directory, and plain answers to what owners ask before they hire. Searches such as 'how much does a bookkeeper cost' (170 a month) suggest a clear page about your fees earns its place.
How much does marketing for a bookkeeping practice cost?
Start with the market. Our cost guide puts Google Ads management in Australia at commonly 10 to 20 percent of ad spend, or a flat retainer of about $1,500 to $3,000 a month for small accounts. We charge a fixed fee for an agreed scope instead, quoted in writing after the free call and never tied to your spend, and some practices only need the setup. Six in ten bookkeepers work part-time, according to Jobs and Skills Australia, and plenty of practices are small enough that an agency fee would not pay for itself. 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 AustraliaDo you build websites for bookkeepers?
Yes. A bookkeeping site we build names your software and services on separate pages, shows your TPB registration details correctly if you are a BAS agent, and has enquiry tracking working from launch. We quote it after a free call, it usually takes two to three weeks from kickoff to launch, and a monthly care plan covers hosting, updates and small changes afterwards.
Accountant websitesFurther reading
TPB Code of Professional Conduct: Advertising Rules
What registered tax and BAS agents can say in ads, on websites and in case studies, checked against the TPB on 1 October 2026.
How Much Does a Google Ads Agency Cost in Australia?
Fee models and AUD ranges to hold against any quote a bookkeeping practice receives.
What 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
Tell us which clients you want more of.
Start with the free 30-minute profit audit, with a senior operator on the call. Bring the software you work in, the kind of client you want more of, and a rough count of last year's new clients by where they came from. Whatever you decide, you keep the written findings. We reply within one business day and offer three times to choose from.