Remarketing shows your ads to people who have previously visited your website. For an accounting firm, remarketing is a cost-effective way to stay in front of people who were interested enough to visit but did not enquire — perhaps they were price-checking, comparing firms, or simply not ready to act yet. Remarketing keeps your firm visible during that consideration period, at a significantly lower cost per click than Search campaigns.

How remarketing works

When someone visits your website, a cookie is placed in their browser (with their consent under your cookie settings). This cookie allows Google to identify that person when they later visit other websites on the Google Display Network or YouTube.

Your remarketing ads appear to these identified visitors as they browse other sites — a reminder that your firm exists and an invitation to return. The audience is self-selected: only people who have already visited your site see these ads.

Why remarketing suits accounting firms

The decision to change accountants or hire one for the first time is typically low-frequency and considered — a person might visit several firms' websites before deciding. The average decision timeline for professional services can be weeks or months.

Remarketing works in this context because:

  • Your audience has already demonstrated interest by visiting your site.
  • CPCs on Display remarketing are significantly lower than Search (often £0.20 to £0.80 per click).
  • The frequency cap keeps you visible without being intrusive.
  • You reach potential clients during the consideration phase, before they have decided elsewhere.

Setting up a remarketing audience

Before you can run remarketing ads, you need to build an audience of past website visitors.

Method 1: Google Ads remarketing tag

A piece of code placed on your website (via Google Tag Manager or directly in the page head) that creates an audience in Google Ads based on page visits.

Method 2: Google Analytics 4 audiences imported into Google Ads

If GA4 is linked to Google Ads (with Remarketing enabled in the link settings), GA4 audiences can be used in Google Ads. This is the recommended approach if GA4 is already set up — it avoids adding another tag to your site.

To create a GA4 audience: in GA4 go to Admin > Audiences > Create Audience. Build an audience of "All Visitors" or more specific segments (e.g. visitors to your pricing page).

Audiences must accumulate at least 100 unique visitors before Google will run ads to them. For most small accounting firm websites, this takes four to eight weeks.

Types of remarketing campaigns for accounting firms

General website visitor remarketing: show ads to anyone who visited your site in the past 30 to 90 days. The broadest audience, best for brand recall.

Service page visitor remarketing: show ads specifically to people who visited your limited company accounting page, your sole trader page, or your IR35 page. These are higher-intent audiences — they visited a specific service page — and deserve more specific ads.

Enquiry form visitor (non-submitters): people who visited your contact or booking page but did not complete the form are high-intent prospects who dropped off. A specific remarketing ad addressing common objections ("No obligation — just a 30-minute call") can re-engage them.

Writing remarketing ad copy

Remarketing uses Display ad formats: image-based responsive display ads (RDAs), which Google assembles from your uploaded images and text.

For accounting firm remarketing, key messages include:

  • "Still looking for an accountant? Book your free call today."
  • "Fixed-fee accounting — no surprises. [Firm name]."
  • "Specialist accountants for [niche]. Get in touch."

Keep copy direct and reference the free consultation or low-commitment first step. The goal is to re-engage someone who showed interest but has not yet acted.

Image requirements: Google requires multiple image sizes for responsive display ads. At minimum: a landscape image (1200 x 628px), a square image (1200 x 1200px), and a logo. Use professional images relevant to your firm — your office, team photo, or a clean branded visual.

Budget and frequency

Remarketing budgets are typically small relative to Search campaigns because the audience is smaller (limited to past visitors) and CPCs are much lower.

For most accounting firms:

  • Budget: £30 to £100 per month is sufficient for most audiences under 1,000 people.
  • Frequency cap: limit ads to 3 to 5 impressions per person per day to avoid being intrusive.
  • Duration: 30 to 60 days is a sensible remarketing window — long enough to follow the consideration period, short enough not to show ads to people who decided elsewhere six months ago.

Compliance note: cookie consent

Remarketing relies on cookies, which require explicit consent from UK visitors under PECR and UK GDPR. Your website's cookie consent mechanism must:

  • Offer a genuine choice to accept or reject marketing cookies.
  • Not run remarketing tags until consent is given.
  • Honour opt-out requests.

Most reputable cookie consent platforms handle this correctly when configured for Google Ads remarketing tags. Review your cookie policy and consent mechanism before launching remarketing.

Key takeaways

  • Remarketing shows ads to past website visitors across the Google Display Network at significantly lower CPCs than Search campaigns.
  • Build remarketing audiences via GA4 (recommended) or the Google Ads remarketing tag — audiences need 100+ visitors before ads can run.
  • Segment audiences by the page they visited: general visitors, service page visitors, and near-converting form visitors deserve different ad messages.
  • Set a frequency cap of 3 to 5 impressions per day per person to avoid being intrusive.
  • Ensure your cookie consent mechanism supports marketing cookies and that remarketing tags only fire after consent is given.

Frequently asked questions

How long does it take to build a remarketing audience large enough to run ads?

Most accounting firm websites need four to eight weeks to accumulate 100 unique visitors in the remarketing audience. The time depends on your current website traffic. You can check audience size in Google Ads under Tools > Audience Manager.

Can we exclude existing clients from remarketing?

Yes. Create an audience of clients (by email list, if you upload it as a Customer Match audience) and add them as an excluded audience in your remarketing campaign. This prevents spending budget showing "get in touch" ads to people who are already your clients.

Should remarketing ads look like our Search ads?

Not necessarily. Search ads are text-only; Display remarketing ads use images. The tone can be similar (direct, specific, professional), but the visual format is different. Use your brand colours and a clean, professional image. Avoid cluttered images with too much text.

What is the difference between standard remarketing and dynamic remarketing?

Dynamic remarketing automatically shows ads featuring the specific content the visitor viewed on your site. It is primarily used for ecommerce (showing a product someone viewed). For an accounting firm, standard remarketing (showing a consistent brand message to past visitors) is the appropriate type.

Does remarketing work better on mobile or desktop?

Display remarketing reaches users across both, and the performance varies by audience and ad. Review device performance in your Display campaign reports after a month of running and apply bid adjustments based on where conversions are coming from.