I led the SEO strategy for an accounting firm based in Lisbon, aiming to improve their visibility across Portugal. The main goal was to connect with two very different audiences: Portuguese-speaking locals and English-speaking expats looking for reliable tax and accounting services

Competing in a crowded space of Lisbon-based accounting firms

Reaching both native Portuguese clients and foreign entrepreneurs

A weak online presence with poor site structure and no local SEO strategy in place

No clear system to manage Google Business Profile or business listings

Ran a full site audit and cleaned up the backend for better performance

Added hreflang tags so content would show correctly in English and Portuguese

Improved mobile responsiveness and site speed (especially important for local users)

Focused on Core Web Vitals to boost Google’s trust

Rewrote the GBP description in both English and Portuguese with keywords like: Contabilista Lisboa, Accountant in Lisbon, Consultor Fiscal Lisboa

Shared regular posts around tax deadlines and key services

Used geo-tagged images to improve local presence in Lisbon searches

Created a Q&A section addressing common expat concerns

Wrote targeted service pages like:

Created blogs focused on expat needs:

Focused each page on a specific user intent: discovery, comparison, or action

Listed the firm on Portuguese directories and expat-specific platforms

Focused on consistent NAP (name, address, phone) info across all listings

Prioritize credibility-building directories, especially those related to finance/accounting

Profile views: ↑ 425%

Direction requests: ↑ 280%

Website clicks: ↑ 195%

#1 ranking for "Contabilista Lisboa" and "Accountant in Lisbon"

Top 3 for "Consultor Fiscal Lisboa"

Organic traffic increased by 315%

Contact form submissions grew by 89%

Consistently ranked in top 3 for primary keywords

Appeared for broader terms like "Company Registration in Portugal"

Improved Google reviews (from 3.8 to 4.7 stars) with better trust signals

SEMrush: for keyword research & performance tracking

Ahrefs: to monitor backlinks & find content gaps

Google Search Console: to track technical issues

GBP Manager: for local optimisation

BrightLocal: to manage and clean up citations