Case study: Accountancy firm triples inbound enquiries using GEO

Background

Clearwater Accounts is a regional accountancy firm serving small and medium businesses. With a team of eight qualified accountants, they had built a strong local reputation over twelve years. But the managing partner noticed fewer inbound enquiries despite investing more in Google Ads, and new clients were increasingly saying they had found the firm through ChatGPT or Perplexity.

The baseline scan

An initial Lensora scan across eight target queries revealed that Clearwater appeared in just one of them — and only on Perplexity. The audit identified three core problems: thin service content, no FAQ content, and weak third-party presence with almost no external mentions.

The 10-week programme

Phase 1: Content depth

Each core service page was comprehensively rewritten — self-assessment, VAT returns, payroll, and management accounts — expanding from around 200 words to 1,100 words each. A dedicated FAQ section was created with 24 questions and comprehensive answers with FAQPage schema.

Phase 2: Authority signals

The firm joined the Federation of Small Businesses and the local Chamber of Commerce, gaining directory listings from both. The managing partner wrote two guest articles for a regional business publication. A case studies page was created with four anonymised client stories.

Phase 3: Review generation

A systematic review request was integrated into the client offboarding process. Within three weeks, the firm had 18 new five-star reviews, bringing their total to 41.

Results after 10 weeks

Clearwater appeared in 7 of the 8 target queries, up from 1. They were appearing on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, consistently in the top two or three recommendations for regional queries.

The managing partner said: The ROI on this has been extraordinary. We have spent less than we spend on Google Ads in a month, and the results are compounding.

Key lessons

Content depth matters more than content volume. Third-party coverage is disproportionately valuable. Reviews are an AI signal, not just social proof.