BIG NEWS: Google has added a new property type to Search Console called platform properties. It lets you connect a social or video account and see how that content performs in Google Search and Discover, including the search terms that surface it, without needing to own the website it lives on. For years Search Console only reported on your website. Now it reaches the content you publish off your own domain too.
Here is what it shows you, how to set it up, and an honest take on whether it deserves an accountant’s time.
What platform properties actually do
A quick bit of housekeeping first, because there is a common misconception doing the rounds.
Platform properties do not measure how your posts perform inside the app. They will not tell you how many people liked your LinkedIn post or watched your YouTube video on YouTube. That is what the platform’s own analytics are for.
What they measure is how that content performs when someone finds it through Google. If your firm’s YouTube explainer on the Making Tax Digital deadline shows up in Google search results and someone clicks it, Search Console records that. You get clicks, impressions, the search queries that surfaced your content, average position, and click-through rate. The same reporting you already know from your website property, applied to social and video.
That distinction matters. Google sits on an enormous amount of search data, and until now none of it covered the content you publish off your own domain. This opens a window into that.
Which platforms are supported (and the one that isn’t)
At launch, platform properties cover four accounts:
- TikTok
- X
- YouTube
For most accountancy firms, one glaring name is missing from that list: LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is where the majority of B2B activity for accountants happens. It is the platform where firms share technical updates, comment on Budget announcements, and build a professional profile in front of business owners and finance directors. And it is not in the launch four. So if LinkedIn is your main social channel, this feature does not cover your most important platform yet.
That is not a reason to ignore it. YouTube in particular is relevant if your firm publishes any video content, and plenty do now. But go in with clear expectations. Whether Google adds LinkedIn later is anyone’s guess, and we would not plan around it.
How to set up a platform property
The process mirrors how you added your website to Search Console. If you have done that before, this will feel familiar.
- Sign in to Google Search Console using the Google account that owns or manages the account you want to connect. If you manage several brand accounts, double-check you are in the right one before you start.
- Open the property selector in the top-left corner, the same dropdown you use to switch between website properties.
- Click “Add property” at the bottom of the list.
- Select the platform you want from the supported options (Instagram, TikTok, X, or YouTube) and click “Add” beside it.
- Choose the correct account or channel. Confirm the account name and profile image carefully, especially if you handle more than one.
- Follow the verification prompts. Google will ask you to authorise the connection by signing into the platform account, or it may verify through an existing connected website property.
- Open your new property once ownership is confirmed, and wait. New properties often show empty charts at first. Google needs a few days to gather and process data, so do not panic if there is nothing there on day one.
One thing to be aware of during rollout: the feature is being released gradually. If you do not see the social platform options when you click “Add property”, it has not reached your account yet. Check again in a week or two. Using a desktop browser rather than mobile tends to help.
Don’t confuse this with “Associations”
This trips people up, so it is worth spelling out.
Inside your website property, under Settings, there is an “Associations” section where you may already have linked a YouTube channel or a Google service. That is not the same thing as a platform property, and having one does not mean you have the other.
An association connects your website property to another Google account or service. A platform property is a standalone property for the social account itself, with its own performance reports in the main property selector. If you see your YouTube channel listed under Associations, that is the old feature. To get the new reporting, you still need to add the channel as its own platform property through the steps above.
Is this worth an accountant’s time?
Here is the honest answer: it depends on how much you actually publish on social.
If your firm posts occasionally to tick a box, the data will be thin and there are better places to spend your effort. Adding a property and checking it once a quarter is not going to change anything.
If you publish regularly, especially video, it becomes more useful. A few things you can actually do with the data:
You can find out which search terms are surfacing your content. Sometimes people find a video through a phrase you never targeted, which tells you what to write your next post or web page about.
You can spot content that is starting to gain traction in search before it takes off, and improve the title or description while the opportunity is still open.
You can pair a well-performing video with a proper written guide on your website, embedding the video in the article and linking the article from the video. Your website and your social content start supporting each other rather than sitting in separate silos.
And you get a cleaner separation of data. Your social performance in Google sits in its own property instead of muddying your website reporting.
What it will not do is improve your rankings on its own. Adding a property is a measurement tool, not an optimisation. The value is entirely in what you do with what you learn.
A word of caution on the “keyword hack” doing the rounds
You may have seen advice suggesting you stuff a target keyword into the first line of every social post so it lands in the URL and title, then blast that same post across every platform to rank in Google. It works to a degree, because platforms like LinkedIn carry serious domain authority.
Be careful with it. Google has been clear for years about its stance on manipulative tactics, and posting identical keyword-loaded content everywhere leaves an obvious footprint. For a profession where trust and credibility are the whole game, chasing a short-term ranking trick is rarely worth the risk to your reputation. Publish content that is genuinely useful to the businesses you want as clients, and let the data guide what you make next. That holds up far better over time.
The bigger picture for accountancy firms
The reason Google built this is not a footnote. It reflects a wider shift in how people find information: increasingly through social and video, not only through websites. Google is telling you it cares about that content and is measuring it.
Websites still matter enormously, particularly for a YMYL sector like accountancy where Google holds financial content to high standards of expertise and trust. Bottom-of-funnel content on your own site, the pages that catch someone ready to pick an accountant, will keep doing the heavy lifting. But the firms that treat social and search as one connected effort, rather than two separate jobs, are the ones best placed as this plays out.
Platform properties are a small, free step towards seeing the whole picture. If you are active on the supported platforms, set one up, give it a few weeks, and see what the data tells you.
Let us handle your firm’s social media
Getting your firm found on social takes more than posting and hoping. Our social media management for accountants service handles the content, the strategy and the reporting, so your posts actually reach the businesses you want as clients. Book a discovery call and we will talk it through.