How an Accounting Firm Went From “Barely Showing Up on Google” to #1 in Their Area in Just 2 Weeks

A few months ago, I found out an old friend owned an accounting firm based in Royston, Barnsley.

Tiny place. Quiet. Easy to miss on a map, let alone online.

She told me she “might want help with marketing one day”.

That day came fast the moment she realized her business was basically a ghost on Google.

So I asked the only question that matters for local businesses:

Where do you show up when someone nearby searches for what you do?

So I did a quick scan around her area for: accountant near me.

Here is what I found…

THE STARTING POINT

So, before I touched anything, her Google Business Profile was sitting:

• Top 20 or worse in most surrounding areas

• Nowhere to be found in Barnsley searches

• Floating at about 5th place in Royston, her actual village

• Sitting unverified, with no address

• Weak description

• Missing services

• Website mismatched info and inconsistent phone numbers

Basically, if you didn’t already know she existed, Google had zero reason to show her to you.

And that’s deadly for a local service business.

I ran a heatmap to see how Google truly ranked her across the whole region.

It lit up red everywhere except a tiny patch over Royston.

(Google ranking for “accountant near me” per area, circles are at a distance of 1 mile from each other. - Heatmap done on 17/11/25)

THE STRATEGY

Most people jump straight to “I want to rank in the city centre”.

That’s the equivalent of trying to win a boxing match before you even learn how to throw a jab.

Google always rewards proximity + relevance + trust.

So the task was simple:

Make her the dominant, obvious, unshakable choice in Royston and the nearby areas first.

Once the foundation is solid, then we push into Barnsley city centre.

But first things first.

WHAT I DID

As soon as she gave me access, I cleaned up everything that was silently killing her rankings:

• Added her proper address in Royston

• Triggered verification for the Google Business Profile.

• Fixed inconsistent NAP(Name, Address, Phone Number) signals across her site

• Corrected descriptions, and services list.

• Changed title tag and H1 on her home page.

• Repaired the weird website issues on Ionos (painful platform but I survived)

• Started building the core trust signals Google needs before it ranks anyone

• Improved on-page relevance

• Corrected profile weaknesses competitors ignored

THE RESULT: TOP 1 IN HER VILLAGE

Within two weeks of tightening her profile and site while fixing the fundamentals:

Royston ranking jumped from Top 5 to #1

Surrounding areas saw massive lifts

Visibility finally spread beyond her village

As you can see here is the heatmap afterwards:

(Heatmap done on 27/11/25)

And even much later(past two weeks) another scan was taken slightly further up north:

(Heatmap done on 3/12/25)

WHAT’S NEXT (PHASE 2)

Barnsley city centre is the long-term target, but that’s a different battlefield.

The competitors ranking top 1 there barely have any citations or authority, which tells me one thing:

Citations, authority stacking, local relevance boosting, all the heavy lifting comes next.

SUMMARY

A business that was practically invisible across Barnsley is now:

• #1 in Royston jumping from #5.

• Rising rapidly in nearby areas

• Properly verified, optimized, and trusted