How do accountants get found in ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews?
By publishing the specific answers business owners search for, under the name of a registered tax agent, on pages the AI crawlers can read. AI answers to accounting questions mix government pages, large companies and individual practices: in our Australian AI Overview Index (scan of 23 Oct 2026), an individual business or practice site was among the sources in 24 of 24 AI Overviews for accounting questions, alongside government sites in 16 and large companies in 21.
By Jarek Piotrowski · Last updated
What AI Overviews cite for accounting questions
In our Australian AI Overview Index (scan of 23 Oct 2026: 8 accounting questions, 3 runs each, searched from Australia), Google showed an AI Overview in 24 of 24 runs, listing 7.9 sources on average. Across those 24 AI Overviews:
- An individual business or practice site: 24.
- Large companies (banks, software, tax chains): 21.
- Government and courts: 16.
- Social media, video and forums: 10.
Published questions include "do i need an accountant for my small business" and "sole trader or company australia". The Index measures Google's AI Overviews only, on a fixed list of general questions (all published in the Index); it doesn't measure ChatGPT, and it doesn't measure any one business.
What a practice can publish that others can't
Government pages state the rules, and large companies write for everyone. What neither can publish is how you work:
- Your process. What you need from a new client, in what order, and how long each step takes with you.
- Who it suits. The kinds of businesses you work with, and what is different about their numbers.
- Your fees, if you publish them. A page that states a price or a range can be quoted; one that says "contact us" can't.
- The questions your team answers every week, each on its own page, answered in the first paragraph and linking the official source for the rule.
Show who stands behind the page
Name the registered tax agent responsible for each page and link their listing on the Tax Practitioners Board public register, so a reader or an answer engine can confirm it. If you advertise tax agent services, the TPB Code of Professional Conduct applies to how you describe them.
The steps
- Check crawler access with the free AI crawler checker.
- List 10 to 25 questions clients ask before they engage you, in their words.
- Give each its own page, answered first, with the official source linked and your process added.
- Name the tax agent and link the TPB register.
- Check the same questions monthly in Google and ChatGPT: how to run the check.
Questions people ask
Should we copy the ATO's guidance onto our site?
No. Link it, and add what only you know: how it applies to the clients you see, what to prepare, and how long it takes with you.
Do we have to publish fees?
No. But a page with a price or a range gives an AI answer something specific to quote; a page without one can still be cited for the process.
Do business owners actually ask AI about this?
There is no Australian figure I know of. In a US survey of 1,002 adults, 45% had used AI tools for local business recommendations (BrightLocal 2026, US).
If you would rather have it done, SEO and AI-answer visibility covers this work every month (from $2,500 a month), measured in Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT. For a practice site, see websites, SEO and GEO for accountants.
Jarek Piotrowski runs LayerOps from Canberra: fast, lead-ready websites, and SEO and AI-answer visibility for professional and service businesses Australia-wide.