Accountants · Google Ads

Google Ads for accountants

Search ads can put your practice in front of people ready to appoint an accountant, including in the weeks before a deadline. The craft is in the filtering. Plenty of searches look relevant and aren't.

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From £199 per month, fixed fee

The situation

Why your customers are searching.

Accountancy keywords attract mixed intent. Some searchers want an accountant. Many want HMRC's own services, a DIY guide, a course or a job. Skip the careful keyword and negative keyword work and your budget drains into those clicks. Demand shifts through the year too, peaking around Self Assessment and other filing dates.

What sends them looking

A new limited company, sole trader business or contract role that needs its first accountant.
The run-up to the 31 January Self Assessment deadline, when late starters need help fast.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, phased in from April 2026, bringing sole traders and landlords into quarterly digital reporting.
Slow replies, surprise bills or no proactive advice from the current accountant.
Growth that brings VAT registration, payroll or a need for regular management accounts.

The problem

What costs accountants work.

Where the work slips away

Generalist positioning makes your practice look like every other firm in town. Then prospects compare on price alone.
Competitors show fixed monthly packages or instant online quotes, so a practice that hides pricing behind a call starts on the back foot.
Enquiries bunch up around deadlines: a crush in January, quieter months elsewhere in the year.
Plenty of tax searches come from people after HMRC itself, a calculator or a DIY guide. Left unfiltered, they eat your ad budget.
Referrals don't reach clients who've never met a referrer, and winning those clients takes a website and search presence built for the job.

What makes customers hesitate

Switching sounds like paperwork, lost records and an awkward conversation with the current firm.
Does the fixed monthly fee hide extras for bookkeeping, VAT returns or year-end work?
An online or remote practice can feel less accountable than the one down the road.
Will a small practice have seen their industry or tax situation before?

How it helps

What Google Ads changes.

Goes after appointment intent, such as landlord accountant or contractor accountant in a named town. Generic tax terms stay out.
Builds negative keyword lists for HMRC logins, tax calculators, courses, apprenticeships and job searches.
Raises budgets ahead of deadlines and eases off when your practice is near capacity.
Counts engaged clients, using quote and discovery call conversions. Raw clicks don't pay fees.

What you get

Intent-led campaign structure

Campaigns split by niche and service, such as contractors, landlords, limited companies and Self Assessment, each with its own ads and landing page.

Negative keyword framework

Shared lists excluding official, DIY, training and employment searches, reviewed regularly against the search terms report.

Deadline budget calendar

A simple plan showing when to raise, hold and reduce spend around Self Assessment and quarterly Making Tax Digital update dates.

Conversion tracking

Tracking for calculator completions, discovery call bookings, form submissions and calls, with qualified enquiries fed back where possible.

Ad copy that states the offer

Ads that mention your niche, fixed fees and professional body membership where accurate, with no wording that could be mistaken for HMRC.

Monthly reporting

A plain-English report on spend, enquiries by service, cost per qualified enquiry and the search terms excluded that month.

Measurement

The enquiries that count, tracked properly.

What counts as an enquiry

A completed quote or package calculator, with contact details attached.
A discovery call booked through an online calendar.
A contact form giving business type, rough turnover and whether they already have an accountant.
A call from the website or Google Business Profile that lasts long enough to be a proper conversation.

What gets tracked

Cost per qualified enquiry by niche campaign.
Discovery calls and quote completions from paid clicks.
How much spend leaks into irrelevant searches, tracked through the search terms report.
Enquiries that become engaged clients, valued by estimated annual fee.

Worth knowing

What customers check, and the rules to follow.

What customers look for before they call

Package pages or a quote calculator showing what's included and what costs extra.
Professional body membership, such as ICAEW, ACCA or AAT, stated accurately for both the people and the firm.
Pages, articles and FAQs written for your niches: contractors, landlords, e-commerce sellers.
Named, qualified accountants with photos and short biographies, so prospects know who they'll deal with.
Recent reviews from your own clients, ideally describing the kind of work the prospect needs.

Rules worth knowing

Descriptions such as chartered or chartered certified accountant are tied to membership of specific bodies, so your site's wording should match the qualifications your people hold.
Practices offering accountancy services need anti-money-laundering supervision, through a professional body or HMRC. New clients go through identity checks, and your onboarding pages should explain them upfront.
Professional body logos and firm descriptions come with their own usage rules, so each appears only as that body permits.
Tax content dates fast. Rates, thresholds and deadlines need reviewing after each Budget and at the start of every tax year.

Straight answer

Is it right for you?

A fast route to filling specific capacity, as long as your landing pages are sharp and someone replies to enquiries promptly.

Made for

Practices with spare capacity and a defined service or niche to promote.
Firms wanting more enquiries in the run-up to the Self Assessment deadline.
Practices with fixed-fee packages or a quote tool to send paid traffic to.

Not for

Practices without a landing page or website able to convert paid visitors.
Firms with ad budgets too small to gather useful data in a competitive area.

Starting price

From £199

per month, fixed management fee

What moves the price

Number of campaigns, services and locations
How much conversion tracking is already in place
Landing page needs
Reporting frequency and depth

Your ad budget is separate. It goes straight to the platform and is never marked up.

See all starting prices

Questions

Google Ads for accountants: your questions answered

Why do accountancy ads attract so many irrelevant clicks?

Because tax terms get searched by people after HMRC, calculators, training and jobs, as well as by people wanting an accountant. Negative keywords, tighter match types and ads that say exactly what you offer cut that waste. New irrelevant searches keep appearing, so Arête reviews the search terms report regularly.

Can Google Ads target a niche like contractors or landlords across the UK?

If you serve that niche remotely, campaigns can run nationally with niche-specific keywords and landing pages. National niche terms can be competitive, so budgets and expectations are set once likely costs have been reviewed. If local clients turn out to convert better, targeting can tighten later.

Are there Google policies that affect tax-related ads?

Google has specific policies on ads offering help with government services, and ads must not look as though they come from HMRC. If you advertise tax help, say plainly who you are and what you charge. Arête writes ad copy with those policies in mind before any campaign goes live.