Regardless of what law you practice, the legal field is competitive. According to the American Bar Association 2020 Report, there are 1.3 million lawyers in the US. This means that standing out is crucial for law firms to attract new clients and even retain the ones they have. Although there are various online and offline channels to become more visible to your clients, one of the most effective channels is search engine optimization. You have likely taken a shot at SEO previously, but since your law firm did not generate any results, you stopped believing in it.
Trust us, it happens a lot.
SEO is not a tactic that can be implemented overnight, and not one that yields results immediately. SEO for attorneys is a long-term strategy that requires ongoing content creation, technical updates, local SEO, and various other factors. Here are 6 ways to rank your law firm higher on search engines. Let’s dive in.
Create valuable content
Everyone has heard the saying — content is king.
Creating high-quality content with valuable information for your audience is key to a good SEO strategy. But like for other professions, SEO for attorneys has also changed. Gone are the days when you could have an article stuffed with repeating keywords and see great results. However, this does not mean keywords aren’t important anymore. But it is no longer the only factor.
So, how can attorneys create content that resonates?
The legal field is a gold mine for frequently asked questions and each FAQ is a topic of its own. Before actually reaching out to an attorney, prospects in the awareness stage are researching specific queries. For instance, if you are an immigration lawyer, your prospects may be searching for steps to file i-485. Creating content as an expert as an immigration attorney ties positively with Google EEAT.
Google values fresh, high-quality content, and regularly updating your website with valuable information establishes your authority in the legal field.
Local SEO for law firms
Based on search trends, your potential client is searching for an attorney nearby. This is exactly why it is essential to focus on local SEO. One of the first steps to local SEO is optimizing your Google Business Profile. This includes ensuring all your information is updated, and receiving reviews. Reviews benefit both, your local SEO strategy and your firm’s reputation (more on that below). Moreover, you should also list your law firm on other local directories like Yelp, and even Thumbtack.
Simultaneously, optimizing for local keywords like ‘practice area + attorney + location’ is a great way to drive local traffic to your website. Based on this query template, you would optimize for keywords like ‘family lawyer Addison Texas’.
Get more reviews
In most cases, potential clients are looking for attorneys because they are in a life-altering situation. As a result, they want an attorney they can trust. Reviews allow potential clients to trust you before they reach out to your office. But that’s not all reviews do. Reviews also have a positive impact on law firm SEO.
Reviews naturally help you rank higher, essentially, boosting your law firm’s search engine visibility and trust.
Note: All top local results for a family law search have great reviews.
Social media marketing for attorneys
While there are ways to directly impact SEO for your law firm and improve your rankings, there are indirect ways as well. One of those ways is through social media marketing. Social media marketing plays a supporting role in your overarching SEO strategy. Potential clients searching your law firm by name (branded search) are likely to come across your social media profiles as well. A fully optimized social media profile, for instance, Facebook or Instagram can help drive traffic organically.
Creating high-quality content on social media also helps you generate backlinks. Reputable linking back to your website helps Google determine you to be a reliable resource for the audience and boost your rankings so more people are seeing your website.
Optimize your PPC campaigns
Like social media marketing, law firm PPC campaigns do not directly impact SEO but they complement each other. For targeted keywords, while you are leading the rankings, PPC campaigns can multiply your visibility on search results. PPC campaigns will also generate a higher click-through rate (CTR) which leads to higher organic clicks in the future. If the prospect finds a paid link, clicks it, and searches for the same keyword later, Google is highly likely to suggest the same link organically.
Enhance your website’s user experience
User experience is a broad topic and includes a variety of different factors. From the content, you publish to what mobile usability is like, all matters. Here is why. When potential clients search on Google, Google wants to give them the best possible response. This includes content that is relevant to the query, has a seamless experience, and is likely to engage with the content.
If your website is outdated, not optimized for different devices, and not one where potential clients want to spend more time, Google will not boost your rankings.
Often in the legal field, you will see websites that have not been updated and do not showcase the right information. Hence, website design and development become important factors in helping your law firm rank higher.
Conclusion
Law firm SEO varies depending on where you practice and what you practice, however, the fundamentals of law firm SEO remain the same. An easy-to-navigate website with valuable optimized content that has other domains pointing to you. We understand you are busy running a law firm and may not have the time or expertise to implement an SEO strategy, but there are best practices you can implement with minimal effort.
SEO is far from dead and today, more and more law firms rely on SEO to rank their websites and generate high-intent leads. At DVC, we specialize in search engine optimization for attorneys looking to generate more revenue. Schedule a 15-minute phone call to learn more.