This page is for CPA firms, tax practices and enrolled agents who want Google Ads to bring in billable clients, not free-software seekers. Ogus Marketing Group builds Google Ads accounts for accounting firms with a separate campaign for each service, a budget that follows the tax calendar, tight negative keyword lists and call tracking that shows which searches turn into signed clients. Below is how we set one up, so you can compare it with what you have.
Why most accounting firm PPC underperforms
Most accounting firm Google Ads accounts we review have at least one of these problems:
- One campaign for everything. Cheap, high-volume individual-return searches eat the budget meant for business clients.
- Broad keywords with no negatives. “Tax” searches attract people looking for TurboTax, the IRS phone number, a W-9 form or an accounting job.
- Ads sent to the homepage. An “S corp tax return” searcher lands on your firm history and has to hunt.
- Calls not counted. Only forms are tracked, so campaigns that make the phone ring look like failures.
- The same budget in February and July. It runs out early in the day during the rush and goes to low-intent clicks in summer.
Campaign structure: one campaign per service
We split the account by what you sell, because each service has a different value, season and searcher.
| Campaign | Example keyword themes | Season | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual tax preparation | tax preparer near me, tax accountant [city], CPA for taxes, self-employed tax return | Jan to mid-Apr, plus extensions | Highest volume, lowest fee per client. Tight radius around the office unless you file remotely. |
| Business tax returns | S corp tax return accountant, partnership tax return CPA, corporate tax accountant, small business tax preparer (T2 accountant in Canada) | Jan to mid-Mar for partnerships and S corps; to mid-Apr for C corps; extensions to Sep/Oct | Higher fee, often turns into year-round work. Can target a wider area. |
| Bookkeeping and payroll | bookkeeping services [city], QuickBooks bookkeeper, catch-up bookkeeping, payroll services small business | Year-round; we push it in January and again after tax season (catch-up work) | Recurring revenue. Usually the steadiest campaign in the account. |
| Tax planning and advisory | tax planning accountant, S corp election accountant, fractional CFO, business tax strategy | Oct to Dec, plus mid-year | Lower volume, high value. Pushed in Q4 for year-end planning. |
| IRS / tax problems | back taxes help, unfiled tax returns accountant, IRS letter help, tax resolution CPA | Year-round; strong after April | Usually the most competitive campaign, because national tax-relief companies advertise on these searches. Only run it if you do this work. |
| Brand | [your firm name], [partner name] CPA | Year-round | Usually cheap. Keeps competitors off your name. |
Separate budgets mean you can switch individual tax prep off on April 16 without touching bookkeeping.
Match types and location. We start with phrase and exact match and loosen only once Smart Bidding has enough conversion data. Location targeting reaches people in (or regularly in) your area, not people merely interested in it: a radius for individual tax prep, a metro area, state or country for business work you can do remotely.
Negative keywords for accountants
Google’s help page notes that negative keywords do not match close variants, so singular, plural and misspelled versions have to be added separately (Google Ads Help). Our starting list for accounting firms, refined weekly from the search terms report:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Jobs and careers | jobs, job, careers, hiring, salary, wage, intern, internship, resume, remote accountant job, staff accountant position |
| Education and exams | course, class, degree, school, CPA exam, EA exam, certification, how to become, CPE, textbook |
| DIY tax software | TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxAct, FreeTaxUSA, Cash App Taxes, software, app, download, login |
| Free filing | free file, free tax filing, free tax preparation, VITA, volunteer, IRS free file |
| Government look-ups | where’s my refund, IRS phone number, irs.gov, form 1040 pdf, W-9 form, tax brackets, tax calculator, refund status |
| Wrong meaning | CPA marketing, affiliate, cost per action, tax collector, property tax assessor, sales tax rate |
Two judgment calls generic agencies miss:
- “Free” is not a blanket negative. “Free consultation tax accountant” is a good lead. We block “free” in combinations like “free filing” and “free tax preparation”, not on its own.
- Software names need care. If you set up and clean up QuickBooks files, “QuickBooks bookkeeper” is a buyer. We exclude “QuickBooks login”, “QuickBooks support number” and “QuickBooks download”, not “QuickBooks”.
Tax-season budget calendar
Google Ads for tax preparers and CPA firms works only if spending follows demand. The US dates we plan around (tax year 2026, filed in 2027):
- January 15: fourth-quarter estimated tax payment for calendar-year filers (IRS Publication 509).
- January 31 (or the next business day): employers give employees their Form W-2s; in 2026 this was February 2 (IRS Publication 509).
- Late January: filing season opens. In 2026 the IRS opened it on January 26 (IRS).
- March 15, 2027: partnership (Form 1065) and S corporation (Form 1120-S) returns, due the 15th day of the third month after a calendar tax year ends (IRS Publication 509).
- April 15, 2027: individual (Form 1040) and C corporation (Form 1120) returns (IRS Publication 509).
- September 15: extended partnership and S corporation returns (six-month extension).
- October 15: extended individual returns. An extension gives until October 15 to file, but tax owed is still due in April (IRS).
In Canada, most individual returns are due April 30, and June 15 for most self-employed people, with any balance owing still due April 30 (CRA). Canadian firms shift individual work about two weeks later.
How we might spread a year’s budget for a firm selling individual and business work. The percentages are an illustrative starting point, not industry data; we adjust them to your fees and capacity.
| Period | Share of annual budget (example) | What runs |
|---|---|---|
| October | 7% | Extension filers before October 15; start year-end tax planning; build and test tax-prep campaigns at a low budget |
| November to December | 14% (7% each) | Year-end tax planning, S corp elections, catch-up bookkeeping, payroll setup for the new year |
| January | 12% | Individual and business tax prep switch on in the first week; bookkeeping for the new year |
| February | 15% | Peak for business returns ahead of March 15; individual returns climbing |
| March | 15% | Individual peak; business returns until the 15th, then extensions for business clients |
| April | 10% | Individual returns until about April 10 or whenever you’re full; then extensions, IRS notices, back taxes |
| May to September | 27% (5-6% a month) | Bookkeeping, advisory, tax problems; extended business returns before September 15 |
Capacity rule: the day your team stops taking new individual returns, we cut that campaign’s budget. Paying for calls you can’t take sends clients to a competitor.
Bidding through the season. Google offers seasonality adjustments for Smart Bidding, but its help page says they’re built for short events of one to seven days and may not work as well over more than 14 days (Google Ads Help). A ten-week tax season is too long for that, so we change budgets and cost-per-lead targets by hand on a set schedule, and keep seasonality adjustments for short spikes such as the final days before a deadline.
Ad copy that filters as well as attracts
Good accounting firm ads turn away the wrong people as clearly as they invite the right ones:
- Credentials: CPA, EA, “IRS representation”, the industries you know (construction, real estate, medical, e-commerce).
- Deadlines: “S corp return due March 15. Book this week.” True, specific, no hype.
- Fees where you can: “Individual returns from $[your fee]” filters out free-filing seekers before they cost you a click.
- How you work: remote or in-office, extended season hours, languages.
Call assets let people phone straight from the ad. Google lets you schedule them to show only when someone is answering (Google Ads Help), which matters in March when an unanswered call is a lost client.
Landing pages for each service
Above the fold on a phone: the service, who it’s for, a tap-to-call number and a short form. Further down: what it costs (or a range), what to bring, credentials, reviews and the deadline that matters for that service.
The form asks one or two qualifying questions, such as “Individual or business return?” and, for business work, entity type or annual revenue range. That routes the lead to the right person and lets us grade lead quality by campaign. A thank-you page fires the conversion, so form leads are counted once and only once.
Call tracking and lead quality
Accounting leads often arrive by phone, so tracking calls is not optional. Google Ads can track calls made directly from ads, calls to a Google forwarding number shown on your website after an ad click, and clicks on your phone number on mobile, and it can import conversions from your CRM (Google Ads Help). We set a minimum call length so wrong numbers and hang-ups don’t count as leads.
Then, once a month, you (or your intake person) mark which leads became clients. We feed signed clients back into the account so Smart Bidding learns to find more people like them, and your report shows cost per client, not just cost per call.
Local Services Ads for tax services
Local Services Ads are separate from search ads: you pay per lead, not per click, and the ad shows a Google Verified badge once you pass Google’s checks (Google). “Tax services” is one of the listed categories (Google Local Services Ads Help).
In the US, Google’s screening for a tax specialist includes business registration checks, license checks for each tax specialist in the firm, and professional liability insurance where required by local law (Google screening and verification requirements). Professional categories may also need headshots and reviews (Google).
Our view: worth setting up if you’re eligible, since you pay only for contacts. But you get no keywords and no landing page, and availability depends on your location. Google’s verification page lists tax-specialist requirements for the US only, so Canadian firms shouldn’t count on it. We check eligibility in month 1 and run it alongside search, never instead of it.
Worked example: a year’s budget for a two-partner firm
All inputs are assumptions to show the arithmetic. Your numbers will differ.
- Annual ad budget: $24,000 (about $2,000 a month on average, above our recommended $1,000 USD monthly minimum in every month)
- February share (from the calendar above): 15% = $3,600
- Daily budget for February: $3,600 ÷ 30.4 = about $118 a day. Google can spend up to twice the daily budget on a busy day but won’t charge more than 30.4 times the daily budget in a month (Google Ads Help).
- Average cost per click: $6 (close to LocaliQ’s 2026 Business Services average of $5.87; Finance & Insurance averages $3.39, per LocaliQ)
- Clicks: $3,600 ÷ $6 = 600
- Conversion rate (click to call or form): 7%, which assumes a dedicated landing page and call tracking. That gives 42 leads, or about $86 per lead.
- Leads that become clients: 35%, so about 15 new clients in February.
If 10 are individual returns at $400 and 5 are business returns at $1,500 (assumed fees), that’s $11,500 in first-year fees on $3,600 of ad spend. In June the same account might spend 5%, or $1,200 (about $39 a day), mostly on bookkeeping and tax problems.
Proof from our accounts
Accounting firm case studies are on our case studies page.
For a 10-month view of how we report, see the Brown Law case study: 141 leads (86 phone calls), $8.13 average cost per click, 10.32% conversion rate, $81.39 per lead, and 20%+ of leads becoming clients. It’s a law firm, so expect lower click costs; what carries over is the reporting: calls counted, cost per lead and lead-to-client rate known.
Month 1 to 3: what we do in your account
Month 1. Audit your account or plan, map services, fees and monthly capacity, install call and form tracking, load negatives, build or brief landing pages, check Local Services Ads eligibility, launch.
Month 2. Review search terms weekly (daily in peak season), add negatives, rebalance budget between services, check form answers and signed clients by campaign each month.
Month 3. Import signed clients, move to Smart Bidding where data supports it, cut what isn’t producing clients, set the calendar for the next deadline.
Starting in October or November gives the account two to three months to settle before January.
Why work with an accountant Google Ads agency that specializes
Ogus Marketing Group is a Google Ads Partner agency in Hamilton, Ontario, serving accounting firms across the US and Canada remotely. Founder Jack Ogus has managed more than $10M in Google Ads spend and runs CPA Launch (cpalaunch.ca), a lead-generation program for accounting firms. Related: marketing for accountants (including Facebook Ads), tax preparer marketing, bookkeeper marketing, and how accounting firms get clients online.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Google Ads cost for accountants?
LocaliQ’s 2026 benchmarks put the closest categories at $3.39 per click (Finance & Insurance) and $5.87 (Business Services), versus $9.87 for legal. Your cost depends on city and service. We recommend at least $1,000 USD a month in ad spend.
When should accounting firms start Google Ads for tax season?
Build the account in October to December and switch tax-prep campaigns on in early January, before W-2s arrive and before the IRS opens filing season (January 26 in 2026). Firms that start in March compete only for people who haven’t chosen a preparer yet.
Should we turn Google Ads off after April 15?
Pause individual tax prep, but keep the account running. Extensions (due October 15), IRS notices, back taxes, bookkeeping and advisory continue after April, and the account keeps learning for next season.
What negative keywords should accountants use?
Start with job terms (jobs, salary, hiring), education terms (CPA exam, course), DIY software (TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxAct), free filing terms (free file, VITA) and government look-ups (where’s my refund, IRS phone number). Add plural and misspelled versions, since negatives don’t match close variants, and review the search terms report weekly.
Can tax preparers and CPA firms use Local Services Ads?
Google lists “Tax services” as a Local Services Ads category. In the US, Google checks the license of each tax specialist in the firm and may require professional liability insurance. Availability varies by location, so check eligibility for your address first and run it alongside search ads.
How do you know which ads produce clients, not just calls?
We track calls and forms, then each month you mark which leads signed. We import those signed clients into Google Ads, so reporting shows cost per client by campaign and bidding learns from clients, not just inquiries.
Book a free Google Ads audit
If you already run ads, we’ll review your account and show you where the budget is going: which searches are wasting money, whether calls are tracked, and what you’re paying per new client. If you’ve never advertised, we’ll build a first-season plan with a realistic budget for your market.
Call 365-366-2524 or request your free Google Ads audit.