Marketing for tax preparers, timed so clients find you before January

Start with the clients you have: returning clients and their referrals fill most tax calendars. Then make the office easy to find for everyone else, with a complete Google Business Profile that shows season hours, a page for each type of return or notice work you want more of, and a review request to every client. Begin in summer or fall, because search moves slowly.

Decide which clients first. More low-priced W-2 returns and more business returns are different projects that need different pages. Work out how many returns you can still take this season, put a service page and profile services behind the work you want, and ask every client for a review once the return is delivered.

The summer before. Service pages, profile fixes, citations and links take months to show in results, so work begun between May and August is in place for the January rush. September and October suit extension pages. Starting in November or December still helps the profile this season; most ranking gains land the following year.

Circular 230 says enrolled agents may not use the term "certified" or imply an employer or employee relationship with the IRS. It lists acceptable descriptions, such as "enrolled to practice before the Internal Revenue Service". We use that wording on the site, the profile and every bio. State rules may also apply, so read 31 CFR 10.30 or ask your counsel.

Only with the right consent, if the marketing uses their return information. Under 26 CFR 301.7216-3 a preparer needs written, knowing and voluntary consent first, a consent for solicitations must name each type of product or service, and uses and disclosures need separate documents. Check the IRS Section 7216 information center or your counsel before the first email.

We don't sell leads, so weigh our view with that in mind. Before buying, ask where each lead came from, what the ad promised the taxpayer, and whether other offices got the same name. A CPA who benefits from someone else's promotion answers for it under AICPA 1.600.010, and Circular 230 bars taking part in misleading solicitations. Judge the cost per signed engagement letter.

No, we don't run Google Ads or social ads for clients. Ads have a real advantage for a tax office: they work the week you switch them on, which suits a practice that starts marketing in January. Search takes longer to build and keeps working after the season ends. Running both is reasonable.

Sole Practitioner $125, Growing Practice $235, Established Firm $325 or Regional Firm $575 a month, month to month, or a single payment of $140 to $620 for a one-time project. Each covers the Google Business Profile, citations and review work. A one-office practice in a small town tends to fit Sole Practitioner; a metro office up against chains and CPA firms on the map tends to need Growing Practice or more.

Monthly SEO starts at $125 for Sole Practitioner. You can also choose a single month at the listed one-time price. There is no setup fee or minimum contract term. To stop a monthly plan, email before the next billing cycle. We confirm the scope and send a payment link before work starts.

Allow months to evaluate search progress, especially for a new website or a competitive city. Fixes and deliverables appear in the report before they necessarily produce new inquiries. We cannot guarantee a position, a client count or revenue. Together we choose the services and searches worth tracking so the review reflects your practice priorities.

The Accountant SEO team handles the campaign and answers questions by email or a requested meeting. We confirm the scope before payment and send a monthly report with the activity and live links. Tell us which partner or practice manager should receive updates so reporting reaches the person making marketing decisions.

We do not promise exclusive coverage of a city. Ask about competing services and markets before engaging us so we can discuss any overlap and the proposed scope. Your firm should choose its own service priorities and positioning; another practice may be pursuing different clients, but that distinction needs to be assessed rather than assumed.

The scope has to match the competition and your priorities. Sole Practitioner can suit a focused start; Growing Practice adds an on-page audit and content gap review. Established Firm and Regional Firm support broader keyword sets and competitor analysis. We review your site and market before recommending a tier. No package guarantees a ranking or a number of clients.

Clear service information still helps a prospect understand what you offer. We focus on accurate pages, a suitable local profile and a clear inquiry route. Search features change, so we assess visibility alongside relevant inquiries rather than promising placement inside a particular AI answer.

Guest posts are outreach placements on sites the agency does not own. The plan table separates guest posts, Web 2.0 pages and amplification links. Reports identify the live URLs so you can inspect the activity. A placement does not guarantee a Google ranking.