May 2012

NASBA’s Vice Chair of the Board, Gaylen Hansen, searched for CPAverify using Google and noticed that the website was not always showing up in the search results list or as high up in the results as would be expected. So, he came to the ALD Task Force to see if there was anything that could be done about it.

The Committee’s Public Strike Force took the lead on this effort and enlisted NASBA’s internal marketing resources to research Search Engine Optimization tactics. It was decided that rolling out a Google Ad Words campaign for minimal investment was the most effective and immediate method to assure that CPAverify.org is seen when people are searching for a way to verify a CPA’s license.

Google Ad Words targets a set of keywords associated with the content of the website. When people search on Google using one of our chosen keywords or phrases, our ad may appear next to the search results. This is a great way to help build awareness in the market about the State Boards’ national database of CPAs.

In less than a month since the campaign was rolled out in early March, the CPAverify.org ad has shown up in almost 17,000 search results pages and has been clicked on 239 times.

Another powerful way to optimize search engine result rankings for CPAverify is by adding links to our site from other trusted websites around the internet. The ALD Task Force’s Outreach Strike Force Chair, Wade Jewell (VA) headed up a campaign to have State Boards offer links back to CPAverify.org on their Board websites. You probably recall seeing Wade’s email request. The response has been overwhelming! Thank you to all the State Boards that have supported this effort for CPAverify by posting the link on your Board’s website!

At present, we have seen that the following state boards have posted the link: AR, IA, KS, ME, MD, MN, MT, NE, NV, NH, NM, OK, TN, TX, VA and WA and VT’s board recently approved the addition. The following state societies have also posted the link: ID, IA, KS and NE. THANK YOU for your support!

If your state is not listed here, but you have posted the link THANK YOU and please let us know, because we want to hear about it. Otherwise, if you do not have it posted and would like to, please contact Elizabeth at [email protected] for the information you will need.