In today’s digital world, many businesses are looking to grow their brands online, and law firms are no exception. Lawyer search engine optimization (SEO) marketing, when effectively implemented, can generate sustainable growth for law firms. It involves making it easier for potential clients to find you online.
This simple guide will cover SEO tips for lawyers who are looking for ways to generate more leads online and attract more clients. We’ll also share some tips on how to find the right SEO agency that specializes in law firm marketing.
Let’s begin by breaking down what it means to optimize your law firm website for any search engine and how you can get started.
What Is Lawyer SEO?
SEO marketing involves taking steps to help a law firm’s web pages or content pieces get more traffic by increasing its ranking on search engines like Google or Bing. Websites that have a higher position on search engine results pages (SERPs) usually get the most traffic. More visitors to your law firm’s website means more leads generated and a higher chance of getting increased business.
It’s important to remember that search engine results also include ads on the first page. SEO doesn’t involve getting your law firm’s website or content to show up on this section in search results. It focuses on getting your web page to show up on the organic results, which means you spend less on law firm marketing and still get increased traffic.
There is no full-proof plan to get websites to appear first on top of SERPs through law firm SEO. However, there’s a lot that can be done to improve your chances of ranking first page on Google. We will go over some basic factors that search engines use when determining how to rank websites to provide the best user experience.
Law Firm SEO Ranking Factors
Law firm SEO requires a lot of time and effort. This is not a marketing tool you can use today and expect to see immediate results tomorrow. It involves taking daily action with a proper understanding of how search engines work when determining how to rank web pages. The goal of law firm SEO services should be to achieve long-term success for law firms.
Why Content Matters in SEO Legal Marketing
You’ve probably heard that “content is king” before. This simply means a search engine like Google will put all its energy into ensuring its users get exactly what they asked for by directing them to the greatest content they can find on the web.
Great content that fulfills user intent has the following characteristics:
- It provides preliminary answers to the specific inquiry made by the user on the search engine. The search engine will try and ensure that when a user is sent to the web page, it’s the best possible place to find answers to their questions.
- It is keyword-optimized. Every page targets a specific keyword, making it clear to search engines that you are indeed an accomplished law firm.
- It covers as many subtopics as possible about a specific topic or subject area. This can be done by optimizing pages using a primary keyword and then long-tail forms of that keyword to cover as much as possible within the same category.
Why Backlinks Are Important in Lawyer SEO Marketing
Having great content is a good starting place. The next important ranking factor for any search engine is determining whether you have the quality and quantity of backlinks to back up your law firm’s website authority. Simply put, backlinks are referral links that are placed on other websites to direct traffic back to your website.
If you get lots of links pointing traffic to your firm’s website, especially from popular, authoritative sites like legal directories, these are viewed by search engines as votes of confidence and enhance your credibility online. However, if your backlink profile is low or contains links from low-quality websites, search engines look at it as a red flag.
Technical SEO
Another critical aspect of your lawyer SEO marketing involves getting the technical requirements right from the start. Technical SEO can be the hardest to maneuver, especially if you’re not an expert. Technical SEO involves:
- Keeping up to date with Google’s Webmaster guidelines. These guidelines change from time to time, and implementing the changes should form a key aspect of your marketing strategy.
- Maintaining fast loading and mobile-friendly web pages.
- Ensuring your firm’s website is easy to navigate, and users can find content in an easy and quick manner.
- Ensuring everything is set up properly, e.g., the sitemaps, as they will contribute to your site’s performance.
Simple Tips To Implement SEO for Lawyers
If you’re looking for quick tips to level up your lawyer SEO marketing, here are a few to get you started:
- Perform keyword research: Start by understanding the primary keywords that feature your law firm’s area of specialty, locations and services. Then use these to generate long-tail keywords, which are simply alternative ways of saying the same thing.
- Begin publishing content: There are so many content ideas that law firms can implement to improve their SEO strategy. Make sure that you answer questions in a simple and easy-to-understand way when writing content. Don’t overuse keywords but always ensure they are covered in the title, meta description and headings on every page.
- Invest in local SEO for law firms: A simple step to improve your local SEO is to automate the submission of law firm websites to various local directories using an online tool. Identify legal directories and other quality sources of at least five new links every month.
- Meet basic technical requirements: This last step is often the most difficult one when implementing SEO for lawyers. Law firm SEO can be a time-intensive task, and most lawyers will need to work with an expert who will focus on this critical tool to grow their law firms.
Find the Right SEO Marketing for Law Firms
If you don’t have time to work on your own law firm website, hiring a reputable legal marketing agency should be your next step. When talking to potential experts who offer legal SEO services, look out for those who mention some of the foundations we’ve highlighted above. Be sure to check their references, particularly from other law firms they have worked with before. Watch out for red flags, such as SEO consultants who guarantee immediate results for your law firm.
When attorney SEO is properly implemented, your legal website will rise up the rankings and provide growth to your practice through organic search.
