How to Attract More Recurring Client Advisory Service (CAS) Clients with SEO

by Jeremy Estey

illustration: © iStock/Yuliia Sydorova

The world of Client Advisory Services is getting more and more competitive. Many accounting firms today have or have started to add it to their services. This means that getting your firm in front of the clients that are looking for those services is imperative.

One way to do this is by leveraging Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It's a powerful online marketing strategy that can get you in front of your ideal clients and the masses. This article will explore what SEO is and how it can help attract more CAS clients for your accounting firm.

The Importance of SEO 

Before diving into strategy, it's crucial to understand SEO. It's the process of optimizing a website's pages for online search engines like Google. A well optimized website increases your rankings in the search engines. This leads to more online visibility and increases website traffic. Increased website traffic leads to more opportunities for business. Something to note, individual web pages get ranked, not the website.  

Today, many people turn to online search first when looking for solutions. Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal client. When you're looking to research a product or service, for example, where are you turning to? Chances are you're "Googling" it to find the information you need. Your clients are doing the same thing. This is why SEO is so important.

Targeting the Right Keywords

Keywords are the phrases people use to search, and they are the foundation of SEO. For accounting firms, identifying and targeting the keywords is crucial. Keywords should align with your services and resonate with your target clients.  

Do you know what phrases are being used to search for CAS related services? This is where keyword research and analysis become invaluable. With any plan, if you don't have the proper data, it's hard to execute a strategy.

There are tools available to help you research and identify keywords to target. To name a few:

• Ahrefs 
• Moz 
• SEMRush 
• Ubersuggest

Without using them, it's hard to understand the exact phrases people are using. They provide many data points for analysis. For research purposes, you can find out the monthly search volume for each keyword. You'll also be able to understand how difficult it is to rank for those specific keywords. They will also help you discover other keywords you may not have considered.

A keyword with a high number of searches per month will be more challenging to rank for. On the flip side, a keyword that has a lower monthly search volume may be easier to rank for. If you're starting out, a good strategy is to target the lower volume keywords first.

For CAS, focus on keywords related to your services. As CAS makes up many different services, an example could be:

• "Business Budgeting and Forecasting Services" 
• "Cash Flow Management"  
• "Business Advisory" 
• "Virtual CFO Services"

Once you've identified relevant keywords, the next step is to rank for those keywords. This is where content creation comes into the mix. Your content should be optimized around those keywords and targeted towards those clients.

Creating Quality Content 

Content is another big piece of SEO. High-quality, informative content showcases expertise and boosts SEO performance. A good content strategy should center around providing value above anything else. What questions are your clients looking to get answers for? From an accounting perspective, what accounting challenges are they looking to solve?

As an example, you could create a piece of content around a service that makes up your CAS solution. You could talk about what the service is and why it is important for your client. You can add how it will help your client thrive into the future. Use words to paint a picture of the outcome they're looking for. People buy the outcome, not the features.  

From an SEO perspective, publishing and updating content on a regular basis is key. Search engines want to provide a great user experience. Users want the best and most recent information they can get. Publishing new content also shows that you're engaged with your users.

There are other benefits to creating content, like branding for instance. We won't get into that in this article, but content is an asset that has many uses.

Optimizing Website Structure and Design 

A well-structured and designed website enhances user experience and SEO performance. Ensure your website follows the latest design practices, is mobile friendly and fast loading. Making it easy to navigate also plays into this. Make it easy for visitors to take an action on your website. Have clear and concise calls-to-action. If they're having issues figuring out what to do or where to go, they'll bounce and go somewhere else. This decreases dwell time—the time spent on your website. It can have an effect on your rankings as well.

Many people today are using their phones to search. Google has started to put a lot of ranking weight on mobile websites. If your website isn't designed for mobile, it can have a negative impact on your rankings.

From a more technical standpoint, optimizing meta tags, headers, and URLs are imperative. Ensure they include the keyword the content is targeting. Search bots will use these among other things to help them understand what the content is about. Make sure it's easy for them to crawl and decipher. This will help them determine how relevant and recent the content is.

Harnessing Local SEO 

Local SEO involves optimizing your website and content for local searches. Targeting geo-specific keywords allows you to take advantage of local inquiries. One example is creating service pages targeting different areas within your region.

For example, optimizing a page for "Business Accounting Seattle." Another could be "Business Accounting Bellevue." The more pages you have, the more opportunities potential clients can find you.

There is more to local SEO than optimizing for local keywords. The next piece is setting up a Google Business Profile if you don't already have one. It helps in three ways:

1. Local Pack Listing 
Google often displays a "Local Pack" of businesses related to a user's search query. This gets displayed at the top of the search results where everyone sees it. Better optimization increases your chances of being there.  

2. Google Map Integration 
Google Business Profile listings appear in Google Maps. This makes it easier for users to find your business. When you type "accounting firms near me" Google will display their maps feature with a list of local firms.

3. Positive Reviews
While reviews don't increase search rankings directly, they build credibility. A strong local SEO presence helps capture clients' attention.

Backlinks and Citations 

Search engines use backlinks and citations to determine relevancy, trustworthiness, and authority. A backlink is an external website linking back to your website. Let's say you create a piece of valuable content, and a website links to the article from their content. This is a backlink. Search engines view this as a vote of confidence.

Citations are mentions of your business on external websites. They usually feature your name, address, and phone number (NAP). You'll usually find them on local directories and websites. They're a big piece of any local SEO strategy.  

Search engines use them to verify if a business is legitimate. They work like backlinks. The more citations you have, the more trust, authority, and relevance your firm has online.

Monitoring and Adaptation 

SEO is not a one-time effort. It requires ongoing monitoring and adaptation. It's a long-term strategy with lasting benefits. Like any strategy, tracking key performance metrics is important. Proper analysis of competitor strategies will help you adapt your SEO strategy. Aside from the SEO tools listed earlier, most search engines have traffic analysis tools. Google, for instance, has Google Analytics and Google Search Console.

Google Analytics gives you in-depth reporting on website traffic behavior. Google Search Console helps with the maintenance of your online presence. If you have issues with pages not indexing, or you want to delete an indexed page, for example, you can do that there. It also provides some performance data as well.

As search engines are ever evolving, their algorithms are always updating. Understanding these changes and updates helps refine your strategy. By staying agile, you'll be able to capitalize on emerging opportunities and stay one step ahead.

Conclusion

With the rapid adoption of CAS, it's more important than ever to have a strategy in place to take a piece of that market. SEO is still relevant. It's a powerful online strategy for accounting firms looking for more CAS clients.

The online landscape is ever evolving, especially with the emergence of AI. Search engines have accelerated their AI implementation and it's changing the search game. To stay in front of it, firms must learn how to leverage the advances in search for their future SEO strategy.