After this piece, you will understand what SEO for law firm websites is and what to look for if you are interested in using an external law firm SEO company. You will also learn tactical strategies for implementing SEO and link-building on your website.
Many people are now going online to compare their options and find information in this new-age digital world. If it is challenging for people to find your company in Google search results, your business will likely lose out on several potential clients.
This guide focuses on the various types of lawyer SEO, especially for attorneys just starting to develop their SEO strategy. If you want to go ahead and work on attracting potential clients, we suggest you start with the definition of legal SEO first.
What Is Search Engine Optimization?
Increasing your website's position and attorney SEO in the search results pages boosts your chance of users clicking on your site. With SEO services, you can get your website page to show up in the links after users enter something into Bing, Google, or another search engine.
In other words, you will get more visitors to your website if your law firm displays near the top of the search engine results, especially if you are on the first page. It is important to note that attorney search engine optimization does not include ads in the results.
Visitors may reach out to learn more about your services once they click on your link within the organic search results (this is only valid if your website provides them with the initial content they require and are looking for.)
One of the most considerable difficulties for law firm SEO companies is figuring out how to get to the number one spot on the search engine results page. There are no guarantees or foolproof plans that will allow you to rank at the top of the organic results. Everything from meta descriptions, keyword research, digital marketing efforts, on-site SEO, and Google Maps citations are part of law firms' SEO success.
Luckily, there are multiple ways to increase your chances of ranking on the first page of the SERP. It is simple to catch prospective clients' eyes and cut through the other businesses in the market if you can understand the fundamental factors search engines evaluate when deciding which website holds the most value to online users.
There are three categories that law firm SEO ranking factors can be segmented into:
Content Marketing For Lawyers
Some of the essential things on your law firm website would be data such as words, images, other content types, and digital marketing efforts. You can significantly improve your website traffic and search engine rankings by ensuring that your site has high-quality content. If your content can fulfill user intent, it will boost the user experience and your website's overall traffic.
Backlinks and Off-Page Citations
Your firm's authority, credibility, and impression online are crucial for successful SEO efforts. You can improve your current position on the SERP with several external website domains and pages directing traffic to your site.
Technical SEO For Law Firms
When Google ranks your website, the user experience is a significant factor it considers. That means you should consider your website's architecture, title tags, and page speed as long-term goals you should aspire to achieve.
Why Is Law Firm SEO Such an Important Ranking Factor for Attorneys?
One of the most effective marketing channels often overlooked is organic search traffic. If you own a law firm and want to grow your company looking at search engine optimization is one of the best things you can do in the legal industry.
Studies have shown that attorneys would benefit from improving law firm SEO, as 18% of legal consumers look for a lawyer via an online search, online reviews, or local search.
Lawyer SEO can seem challenging to get your head around, especially if your law firm has never attempted to perform this type of marketing strategy. It is imperative to note that it is an essential component of appearing in Google's search results locally and worldwide.
Now that we have highlighted why attorneys and legal marketing experts need to use SEO and outlined its basic definitions, it's time to delve deeper into each factor essential to SEO ranking and local search results.
You Need Relevant Content
Say, for example, if you want your law firm's site to show up for the keyword "Criminal defense lawyer in New York," you need to have well-written content on your website that tells the client about your practice; in this case, "criminal defense attorney in New York."
It would be best to put yourself in the customer's shoes regarding content development. If users click on your homepage, they are probably wondering:
Do I want to do business with this law firm?
Is this law firm within my price range?
Can this law firm service my particular needs?
Is this law firm any good?
Does your company practice criminal law?
Is this law firm in New York?
Preliminary answers to the questions a potential client would have should be answered by the content provided on your law firm's site. Search engines are looking to send users to the best place possible to find the answers to their questions.
If the content on your site fulfills the user's intent, it will likely display it higher up on Google's organic search results. In this case, Google would potentially play an essential role in generating leads for your firm's site.
When Law Firm SEO Experts Create Content, It Must Be Keyword Optimized
Answering a user's questions is excellent, but how does a search engine know that you answered these questions correctly? You may be wondering, "What impact does answering those questions have on an SEO campaign for law firms?"
One answer is through keywords. Google sends an automated bot to read the content on your site to understand what each web page is about when it or any other search engines evaluate your website.
You have to clarify which keyword is targeted for each page on your firm's site to help potential customers find your content. This will make it clear to online search engines and visitors that you are indeed a "criminal lawyer in New York."
It's essential to place your keyword in the following areas of the page if you want to optimize your content for keywords fully:
The web page URL
Evenly throughout paragraphs
Headings and subheadings
Description tag
Title tag
There Should be a Variety of Valuable Content That Addresses Keywords Within the Same Category
Creating valuable and relevant content is one of the more difficult parts of law firm SEO and law firm marketing. It involves keyword research to identify keywords to find the primary and long-tail forms of that particular word or phrase. This guarantees that your SEO content covers as much ground as possible when users search for your legal professionals.
Many people will search by the common keyword, but others will enter variations of the same keyword or ask questions in natural language. The aim is to create as much content as possible to address search queries connected to your primary keyword.
Say, for example, if the primary keyword you want to rank for is "criminal lawyer in New York," variations of the keyword could be "price range for a criminal lawyer in New York" or "best criminal lawyer in New York."
Here is an article we wrote about 5 mistakes to avoid in keyword research
Off-Page Citations and Backlinks
Great content is impressive, but the internet has never-ending streaming of content that doesn't come to an end. How do Google and other search engines determine the most relevant content to show to the target audience?
One of the primary factors is the quantity and quality of your website's backlinks. Any backlinks or referral links placed on other websites that point traffic to your site can significantly help you grow your organic traffic.
With regards to SEO, backlinks work like an admiration contest. If law firms get lots of links from other popular websites, these links are basically viewed as votes. On the other hand, if your firm's site has minimal backlinks, that is a sign that your credibility and popularity are low.
Increase Your Position on Search Engines with Off-Page Citations
Besides using referral links to optimize local SEO for your law firm, you can also look to off-page citations to boost Google ranking factors. Here are some examples of places where you can use off-page sources to improve your local SEO:
Reviews and endorsements on another website
Sharing your content on social media
Social profiles like Facebook, Twitter, etc
Local directories like Google My Business (The best tool to use for this is Brightlocal)
Legal Directories, like Avvo
The best tool to use to build local directories is Brightlocal. It's very affordable and easy to use.
Technical SEO Ranking Factors
You can make or break your SEO tactics with technical SEO, making it one of the essential parts of ranking successfully. It is one of the most challenging parts to get right, especially if you aren't an SEO agency or law firm SEO expert.
In straightforward terms, technical SEO measures how Google-friendly your law firm's website is. Technical SEO also extends to other things like sitemaps and security while having similarities to user-friendliness. However, many law firms decide to hire an SEO consultant specializing in law firm SEO because this process can get complex. Doing the above reduces the risk versus trying to set everything up yourself.
Make Sure Your Firm's Website is Mobile Friendly and Fast
Two of the most critical factors for technical SEO include making sure your homepage renders well across various screen sizes (especially mobile devices) and has super-fast loading times.
Ensure Your Law Firm Website Is Easy to Navigate
If your law firm's website is simple to navigate, then the chances are that a robot is sent by Google to investigate your law practice's website. You can use Google Analytics and add easy-to-use menus to make your site user-friendly and intuitive.
Conclusion
Most law firms struggle to advertise their legal services and establish their core web vitals. With us, you can keep your website up to date with the latest content and get your law firm's visibility to the top of the SERP!