Does your Law Firm need SEO Services?

Legal SEO is found to be the most competitive niche when it comes to SEO. The 2017 AccuRanker study showed that law firms have the most challenges when it comes to attracting traffic for their websites. This study underscores the importance of having an effective local SEO strategy that tackles local and technical strategies and law firms.

 

In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of Legal SEO strategies for law firms and how lawyers can generate more traffic for their law firm websites.

 

What is law firm SEO?

 

97% of people who are looking for legal services go online to find local law firms and local attorneys. They use keywords to search for particular services, law firm types, practice areas, and answers to their legal questions. In order for your law firm to reach these prospective clients, you can take advantage of keyword optimization and other SEO strategies. 

 

Law firm SEO is the process of optimizing law firm websites for users and search engines. Having an optimized website allows your firm to increase its search engine ranking and lead to more traffic to your website.



Why is law firm SEO important?

 

Generating traffic online is easy for law firms that know how to do SEO right. However, most lawyers and law firms don’t have the technical background and time to implement SEO strategies. Law firm SEO helps your website outrank your local competition, improve click-through to your website and attract a new audience.

 

What are the benefits of SEO services for law firms?

 

Your law firm can take advantage of hiring a legal SEO company to handle your digital marketing while you focus on your cases. Here are a few of them:



  • Generate organic and qualified leads to your website – Your law firm can be at the forefront of the search results, matching your prospects’ search queries. Doing so allows you to receive continuous qualified leads to your website.

  • Build Directory-Generated Leads and Attract Local Leads – Optimizing your website for local search generates local traffic. The right local SEO strategies enable external websites to link to your website and mention your brand in the most effective way. This can translate to more phone calls and local queries.

  • Outrank competition – Plenty of law firms are doing SEO and you are missing out on potential leads if you don’t. When you hire a legal SEO company, they will take care of your competition ensuring that the traffic goes to your website once your potential clients search for your practice area.

  • Convert prospects to paying clients – As your brand awareness increases, you also increase your ability to convert existing traffic to paying clients.

  • Establish your law firm’s authority – SEO can cement your reputation and authority in your local practice area. Your legal practice will be seen as the best, creating an impact for your law firm.



What are the available SEO services for law firms?



Legal SEO services vary depending on your needs. A qualified SEO provider can audit your website, optimize your on-page elements, improve your local ranking, enhance technical SEO, and market your content. When you hire a third-party digital provider, they can conduct an assessment of your website and suggest necessary improvements. 

 

Legally SEO can customize SEO strategies to help achieve your goals --- be it leads generation, reputation management, or increase revenue. We are focused on improving search rankings for your law firm’s relevant keywords.

What practice areas can benefit from SEO services for law firms?

 

Any legal practice can take advantage of SEO services. Whether you specialize in family law, commercial law, or criminal law, your law firm could benefit from custom SEO services for lawyers.



Working with a law firm SEO expert



While SEO can generate leads and improve your reputation, it can be time-consuming and tedious especially for those who don’t have the technical knowledge to optimize their website. Working with a qualified SEO provider allows you to focus on your cases and build lasting relationships with clients.  Consider this guide:



  • Determine your budget 

 

Allot budget for your SEO. Just like your legal services, quality comes with a cost. You need to dedicate a marketing budget for legal SEO services. Consider the budget when hiring a team vs hiring a specialist.

 

  • Ask around

 

You can ask your professional network for a referral. Recommendations allow you to gauge the SEO providers’ performance. Make sure to check their qualifications. A suitable SEO expert should be fluent in your industry and understand your bottleneck as a law firm. They must be able to discuss strategies and SEO factors that can help your law firm’s website.

 

  • Request for portfolio

 

Don’t just take their words for it. Ask your prospective SEO provider about case studies and websites they have worked in the past. Check for red flags while you are at it. Beware of legal SEO providers that guarantee the top results or are vague about their processes.



Does your law firm need SEO?



Your law firm needs SEO if you encounter the following:



  • You aren’t generating leads from your website

  • People don’t know about your law firm and practice.

  • You can’t expand your digital presence because you focus more on your cases and management.

  • Your website design is outdated or you don’t have a website to begin with.



Conclusion

 

It is not enough that you have a law firm website if you wish your potential clients to find your law firm in 2021. You need to make sure that it is optimized for search engines and users. SEO may be learnable but it can be time-consuming. On top of that, search engines algorithm constantly evolves. 

 

What works in the past may not be applicable in the present. Hence, it is important to hire an SEO expert who stays on top of the recent algorithm updates. The right SEO service providers can help bring your firm’s digital marketing services to the next level so you can improve your law firm website’s search rankings and ultimately generate new leads.

 

 

 

 

 

What is Legal SEO and How Can Attorneys Benefit?

It is important for attorneys to seize every opportunity to get their law firm ahead of the competition. As most of your potential clients are online, you should take advantage of digital marketing. Instead of going directly to any website, smartphone users tend to start researching products through a search engine. Of those that conducted their research using their mobile device, 93% do your website’s desired action (i.e. purchase, consult, etc). 

 

Besides optimizing your website content for search engines, you should not ignore the benefits of mobile optimization. As Search Engine Optimization is complex, it is best to understand how it works first. 

 

What is Legal SEO?

 

Legal SEO is the practice of improving the quantity and quality of your website traffic through organic search engine results. It is important that you pay attention to quality and quantity to boost your law firm website rank. The combination of quality and quantity emphasizes the importance of legal SEO. 

 

Improving the elements of your law firm website informs your potential clients of the legal issues you are capable of handling. Developing and executing a concrete SEO plan allows you to attract your desired traffic through using relevant keywords, informative and compelling content, comprehensive link building, and social media management. 

 

Why is law firm SEO important?

 

Implementing SEO strategies improves your website's chances of increasing its ranking. Now that we've tackled the basics of legal SEO, we need to dig deeper into the two types of search traffic - paid and organic. Paid traffic refers to bidding on keywords and attaching ads on them whereas organic traffic involves traffic that comes naturally to your website. 

 

Paid traffic can be expensive depending on the popularity of certain keywords and how much your competitors are willing to pay for the top results. The most cost-effective way to generate leads is organic traffic. However, you need to build a solid SEO plan to reap the benefits of organic traffic. 

 

Your law firm website may be included in search results related to your practice areas and geographic location, without executing organic SEO, your website will be buried down on the search engines. 

 

Why does my law firm need an SEO-optimized website?

 

If you wonder how legal SEO can help your law firm website, then you should know that 96% of people use the Internet to look for an attorney. People aren't using Yellow Pages anymore as they really on online searches to find lawyers. Your law firm website can generate new clients through an extensive legal SEO plan.  

 

Your potential clients conduct their search on Google, Yahoo, or Bing and choose a law firm. 72% of them contact one attorney and if your website isn't in the top 3 results, your law firm will be drowned out by the competition. Check out the benefits of SEO for your law firm:

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  • Establish Authority

 

People often connect authority, reliability, and professionalism with higher-ranked law firm websites. The higher your website rank in search engines, the more established your law firm becomes in the industry. 

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  • Generate Targeted Audience

 

Optimizing your website using specific keywords related to your practice area and field, you widen your target reach. People who get to your website, are most likely led by your SEO efforts. Once you start ranking highly and increasing search traffic, you'll generate traffic of prospective clients reaching out to you. 

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  • More Conversions

 

You increase your chances of converting your prospects to paying clients with an optimized website. You also save time marketing as SEO brings more people to your website, allowing you to focus more on cases and customers. With more customers generated from your SEO efforts, you will have more face-to-face time with new customers and more time researching for cases. 

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  • Increased ROI

 

The law firm market is fiercely competitive. Boosting your SEO efforts efficiently allows you to put your law firm ahead of the competition. Starting SEO can be challenging and tedious at first but once you get the ball rolling, your clients will come rolling in. 

 

How to Improve Legal SEO

 

Now that we have established the benefits of legal SEO to your law firm, it is time to improve your website. As an attorney, it is more likely that you have plenty of things to attend. Optimizing your website can be time-consuming especially if you are not familiar with the technicalities. Here are a few things you can do to improve your website rankings:

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  • Use the right keywords - SEO is all about using the right keywords to attract potential clients. You need to analyze the competition, use the right tools, and implement the keywords relevant to your practice area. 

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  • Optimize metadata - It is important to incorporate keywords in your website especially in the content and metadata.

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  • Provide quality content - Avoid using legal jargon when producing compelling content. Write content that your audience can understand. 

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  • Consider local searches - Your prospective clients want to meet you face-to-face to discuss their cases. It is important that you optimize your local searches on search engines using targeted keywords toward your local areas. Connect to any local events, submit your website to local citations, and always make sure that your information is correct across all these websites. 

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  • Build connections - Build relationships with other websites so you can link your website and improve your backlink profile. 

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  • Get more reviews - An easy way to improve your reputation is to generate genuine reviews online. The more positive online reviews you get, the more you establish your authority and improve your rankings. Ask your clients to provide testimonials and reviews that you can use on your website. You can also ask your regular customers to leave reviews on reputed review sites to improve your rankings. 

 

 

Improving your web ranking can be challenging. If you have a lot on your plate, you can hire the services of professional SEO for lawyers Metairieto implement winning strategies. 

 

SEO for Lawyers Metairie: How to Ask and Manage Online Reviews

What your clients think of your business is critical to the success of your law firm. Your clients will check online reviews first before visiting your law firm website. Positive reviews are the best referrals while negative reviews (with the right response) show your professionalism and integrity. Generating great reviews is a great foundation for SEO for lawyers Metairie

 

Clients trust reviews online as much as word-of-mouth recommendations. They use reviews to determine whether to hire your law firm or not. 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses. 

How to ask clients to leave reviews

    Not all clients are willing to leave reviews on your website. Some clients would leave reviews if they are too pleased with your service or are very dissatisfied. A great way to inspire clients review is to provide excellent customer service. However, in case you get negative reviews, it is important to handle them professionally and ensure the issues don’t happen again in the future. 

    Don’t be scared to ask for reviews. Here are ways to ask for customer reviews for your law firm:

     

    Ask during a phone call or email – It is inevitable for clients to give positive feedback when your service is excellent. When they call or write to you about how good your service is, don’t hesitate to ask them for a copy of your website.

     

    Include a review button on your law firm website – Don’t make it hard for your clients to leave a review on your website. 

     

    Add in-store customers using a URL – Increase the number of reviews by providing your customers instructions for creating reviews on review sites such as Yelp, Google+.

     

    Refer them to review sites - Your regular customers are more likely to leave compliments on review websites.

     

    Get reviews from review sites

     

    There are thousands of websites that your customers can leave reviews on. However, these websites will help boost your reputation locally:

     

    Yelp – A third of Americans turn to Yelp to post reviews and read reviews. If you want your website to stay in the forefront, you shouldn’t miss out on Yelp. Take note that Yelp discourages companies from asking for reviews overtly. You can mention that your website is on Yelp but don’t blatantly ask for reviews. Include Yelp badge on your website, social media, and newsletters to encourage your customers. 

     

    Google My Business - GMB is essential for any local business. Adding Google + enables you to add a citation to your business besides encouraging your clients for reviews. GMB reviews are featured in local knowledge panels which is essential for your SEO for lawyers Metairie.

     

    Law firm-specific review websites - Besides location-specific review websites, your law firm websites can take advantage of lawyer-specific review websites such as:

     

    • Avvo – This site is particularly designed for people looking for lawyers online where they can search law firm websites based on location or practice areas. Create an Avvo profile or claim your profile so you can post your law firm services and contact information.

    • Lawyers.com - Lawyers.com is a free website for individuals and small businesses needing legal advice. The best way to optimize your law firm website is to ensure that your profile has complete information about your law firm or practice. 

     

    Besides these websites, many state bar associations enlist lawyers based on location or practice area. You can reach out to your state bar association to ensure your practice area or law firm is included and with the right contact details 

     

    How to manage reviews

    Whether it’s good or bad, you have to respond to reviews to improve your credibility and display professionalism. Here are ways to manage reviews:

     

    Monitor online reviews – Check your reviews online specifically on major citation pages and listings. 

     

    Create a standard response – Keep your response short and professional. 

    Don’t ignore bad reviews – How you respond shows your professionalism and can inspire potential customers to hire your services. You can follow these tips to manage bad reviews:

     

    Read the review well – It may be tempting to respond immediately without fully understanding your clients’ perspective. Cool off first and be empathetic. No need to be rash or unprofessional as it can hurt your reputation. 

     

    Acknowledge the issue – Ignoring a bad review and denying the issues can harm your law firm’s reputation. Don’t be scared to engage in a conversation as you dig your client’s issue. This shows that you are acting on negative feedback positively. 

     

    Provide solutions – Don’t just apologize, be proactive and provide solutions. Once you have a solution, respond to reviews to inform customers of the actions you will take to resolve their issues. If someone is set not to hire your services again, you can’t change their minds. However, answering their negative reviews professionally helps potential customers decide for themselves.

     

    Take it offline – There are negative reviews you can’t resolve online. In cases that involve confidential information, you can take the conversation offline. Offer a way for your client to reach out to you directly. Engaging in discussions offline shows that you are serious about resolving their issues.

    Steer clear from these review mistakes

    Don’t miss out on the benefits of reviews by avoiding these mistakes:

     

    Buying reviews – It may be hard at first to generate reviews but buying reviews can harm your website. It is not worth the risk as search engines could penalize your law firm website.

     

    Faking reviews - Another way to penalize your website is by generating fake reviews. 

     

    Ignoring bad reviews – You can turn negative reviews into a positive experience for your law firm. Responding to reviews can keep your clients at bay and also improve your reputation.

     

    Deleting negative reviews – Doing so will just earn the ire of your upset customers. Deleting bad feedbacks hinder the success of your law firm.

     

    Generating and managing client reviews can be time-consuming and tedious but once you get the hang of it, it can be rewarding for your law firm website. You can also hire the professional service of SEO for lawyers Metairie to oversee your digital marketing.  

     

    Content Marketing for Law Firms: Why You Need it and How to do it

    Your potential clients often search for answers to their questions before hiring your services. They would spend their time researching answers to their concerns and about your firm before reaching out to your law firm.

     

    It is important to provide comprehensive details and information on your website to establish your authority, credibility, and reputation. Content marketing puts your firm at the forefront and attracts the right clients and referral sources. You must produce content on your website and social media that can help earn your customers’ trust. Content is what captures your potential clients. Failing to spend sufficient time to create and market your content can substantially harm your digital marketing efforts.

    What is content marketing? 

     

    Content marketing involves creating and distributing relevant content online with the goal of capturing website visitors and new clients. Content can take a range of forms and type but the main goal is to generate clients online. Studies revealed that 65% of law firms spend their advertising dollars online on content marketing.

    When done right, content marketing could help your law firm with the following:

     

    ·       Improve brand awareness

    ·       Establish your authority and expertise

    ·       Create an online community

    ·       Attract new leads, sales, and clients

     

    Content marketing is essential for a law firm as more and more individuals and businesses are increasingly doing their research online before hiring a law firm or signing a contract. If your law firm provides robust, authoritative and trustworthy content, you’ll increase your chances of attracting new clients. The best content marketing strategies can help you reach your goals. To get started with your content marketing, here are some of the tips:

    Understand your target audience

     

    It is important that you understand what motivates and interests your target audience. Take time understanding you’re their challenges, the services they are looking for and the issues they need to resolve.

    Determine your content marketing goal

     

    Your content has many and varied purposes from generating web visitors to improving engagement on social media. Besides understanding your target audience, you also need to consider your main content marketing goal. Are you trying to attract new visitors? Growing your email list? Improving your social media presence? Increasing your law firm’s authority? Conduct a PR campaign? Generate backlinks? Whatever your content marketing goal is, you need to establish your content marketing goals.

    Conduct keyword research

     

    If your aim is to increase your law firm website’s presence, then you need to integrate your content with searchable keywords. Make sure to determine the keywords that your target audience is searching to find your law firm. There are plenty of free keywords tools you can use to determine relevant keywords for your website. Keywords are also a great way to help you determine great blog topics.  

     

    You can input keywords for any term you can think of that might define your services and law firm. Check the search volume and competition score of each keyword to determine whether they are worth writing about. Use these keywords in your blog posts and throughout your content such as title tag, headings, and meta description.

    Use varied content

     

    Engaging your audience is not only limited to providing blogs and articles. Vary your content by using infographics, videos, case studies, e-books, and more. Providing diverse content widens your potential client base. When you write, focus on expertise, authority, and trust. 

     

    This allows you to provide value and relevance to your readers. Most content nowadays is written poorly and integrating keywords that don’t really add value to readers. Focus on writing content that helps your audience understand your law firm and answer their queries.

    Create a content schedule

     

    Quality may be important in content marketing but consistency gets you ahead of the game. Your law firms content marketing efforts are more effective when you produce, publish, or post regularly. You may want to start slow to keep up with a regular schedule. The key here is to help your audience get used to your publishing schedule. You can use project management tools to help you stay on schedule, organize your content and ensure that you are posting and distributing them on different channels.

    Come up with a content distribution plan

     

    It is not enough that you write awesome content, you need to market them. You need a content distribution plan to get your message across to your target audience and widen your customer base. You can distribute your content manually or use content distribution tools including Hootsuite and Buffer. Among the places that you should post your content includes social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Email, Google Ads, Pinterest, and Reddit. 

     

    You can also post content on Message bots, Google My Business and Guest Post websites. What matters is understanding where your audience is located and understanding how to maximize each channel. The goal is to generate maximum exposure.

    Attract backlinks

     

    Create a linkable asset to attract backlinks to your websites. Great backlinks can improve your SEO, increase your rankings and attract new visitors. A few of the linkable assets you can write include e-Books, and guest posts. You can repurpose blogs and make them in another content form such as infographics or social media posts.

    Pay attention to your on-site SEO elements

     

    Besides keywords, title tags, and meta descriptions, you also need to focus on the technical elements of your website. Make sure that you are using the right keywords, linking your blogs, installing sitemap, etc. Monitor these elements regularly for your SEO presence. If you can’t maintain these elements, consider getting the services of qualified SEO specialists who can monitor and maintain your website.

    Make your website mobile-friendly

     

    A poorly managed website deters your potential clients. No one wants a website that is hard to navigate. Frustrated users end up abandoning your law firm website and visiting other websites. As your target audience attention is short, you need to make sure that your website captures their interest immediately. You need to ensure that you provide your target audience with an excellent user experience. This means improving your site speed, minimizing broken links, and making your website mobile-friendly. 

    Proven and Tested Link Building Tactics for Law Firm

    Link building is the backbone of SEO and is an essential tool to a successful law firm SEO campaign. However, this strategy is oftentimes executed poorly by law firms. Building links isn’t just about getting as many links as possible, it’s about getting quality links from authoritative websites. Several lawyers and law firm marketers implement outdated link building strategies that hurt their websites more than increase their traffic. 

     

    In this article, we will explore proven link building techniques you can implement to build authentic links to improve your website.

    What is link building?

    Link building is the process of increasing the number of links to your website. Having a great link building strategy supercharges your website ranking and ultimately generates traffic. When authoritative websites link to yours, Google regards your content as relevant and valuable. Backlinks also allow your potential readers to get to your website.

    Why Backlinks Are Important for Law Firm SEO

    Backlinks indicate that your site is worthy of being linked to. When a reputable website links to your law firm website, it signals Google and other search engines that you have quality and relevant content. It also informs your potential audience that you have content worthy of visiting and checking. Backlinks improve your site traffic by increasing web page ranking. They also help your target audience find your law firm website

     

    You can improve your reputation and credibility with a great backlink profile. High ranking websites can direct their domain authority to your law firm website to increase your website authority. As a result, search engines see your website as trustworthy. 

    Good links and bad links

    The idea of backlinking is simple. Hence, law firms fall prey into the idea that all links are good for their website. Several end up paying link vendors to generate backlinks only to realize that their website rankings have suffered a dip instead. 

     

    Not all links are great for your website. Sketchy link builders will link websites to spammy websites whose purpose is just to build links instead of providing users relevant information.

     

     Google algorithm is constantly evolving to spot bad sites. Websites that are linked to spammy websites end up being penalized or worse being taken down. 

     

    The goal is to earn and generate quality links from credible websites related to your niche or within your practice area. 

    Evaluating Credible Website for Link Building

    Quality and quantity are more important in link building. A part of your link building strategies is evaluating a website based on its niche, content, and web design. 

     

    It is sometimes easy to point out factors that make a website not suitable to build links. A few of these factors include poorly maintained web design, outdated content, broken links and missing images. 

     

    It is also very telling if that website has a large number of spammy links or irrelevant website links. Chances are, search engines don’t find these websites as credible. You can also see if the website is suspicious if it’s bombarded with plenty of ads that lead to sketchy websites. 

     

    On the other hand, there are factors that are not easily pointed out at the first glance. You can use free tools to evaluate websites or get the help of attorney SEO services to do these for you. 

    How to make credible domains link to your website

    It is possible for other websites to link to your law firm website naturally. You may not notice it until you check the referrals in your analytics or run tools to check your backlinks profile. There are plenty of ways you can attract websites to link to yours. 

     

    Consider the following:

    Craft compelling content on your website

    Establish your authority and credibility by producing compelling content that stirs a buzz, provides insights, or just overall creates impact. Many law firms produce content that other websites can’t help but refer to. 

     

    Among these content include e-books, exclusive interviews, case studies, how-to guides and FAQs that answer your audience’s burning questions. Don’t just limit yourself to written content. You can diversify your content by producing videos and images that speak of your expertise. 

     

    Make sure that you market your content online and interact with your audience to attract links and traffic.

    Be a guest author

    Guest posting remains to be an effective link building strategy so long as you contribute to relevant websites and produce quality content. Be sure that the website you are contributing content to has a good reputation.  

     

    Write content that is substantial and valuable to the website’s target audience. Make sure that you link to websites related to your niche, practice area or loc

    Update directory listings

    A listing on popular directories can increase your traffic and boost your rankings. While not all directory listings offer a do-follow link, they are essential as your target audience may be looking for your service on these websites. 

     

    When listing your website on any of these directories, make sure that you have a consistent NAP (name, address, and phone number) format to establish your credibility. You can start claiming or creating your website listing on generic directory listings.

     

    Google My Business should be on top of your list as it has a direct impact on your website’s ranking for local searches. There are also award-based or legal-focused listings where you can add listings. Several of these listings are based on geography and practice areas. Make sure to do your research so you don’t miss out on relevant directories. 

    Final Thoughts

    Link building is an essential part of improving your website rankings, generating traffic and leads. However, it can be risky when not done right. It is important to build a solid link building plan rather than going in blind and link to whatever websites come your way.

     

    It is imperative that you evaluate each website based on its credibility, reputation, authority and relevance to your niche or practice areas. You can also hire the help of professional attorney SEO services to do this tedious work for you so you can focus on your practice area and nurture client relationships.

    The Fundamentals of SEO For Lawyers

    In this blog, we lay out the basics of SEO for lawyers, how it can benefit your firm and the important steps you need to take to succeed. You will get a deeper understanding of why you need to implement SEO for your firm and equip yourself in selecting professional SEO specialists for your law firm.

     

    It cannot be denied that several online marketers are focusing on their gains rather than growing your business. Hence, you should know how to choose an SEO company to outsource.

     

    What is SEO?

     

    SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of increasing online traffic and visibility through organic search results. 

     

     

    Performing SEO for lawyers increases your website’s rank in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page), thereby improving your chances to attract potential clients.

     

     

    The higher your website ranks in SERP, the better chance your website is exposed to your target audience. 

     

     

    What is interesting for your law firm is how you can take advantage of SEO for lawyers to generate relevant traffic, leads, sales and revenue to your law firm. 

     

    About 95% of potential clients are already seeking legal advice and lawyers online. About 76% of consumers visit a law firm they find online. 

     

     

    Regardless of your practice area, it is a challenge to figure out how to rank your law firm and get it to the top SERPs. No SEO providers who practice White Hat Strategies can guarantee to rank your law firm on the first page.

     

     

    White Hat strategies refer to any practice that increases your search rankings without violating the search engine rules. You can do plenty of organic ways to improve the rankings of your law firm's website

     

     

    Understanding how SEO works allows you to provide quality and relevant content to your target clients. It also makes your law firm stand out from the competition.

     

     

    There are three major categories for SEO ranking factors - Backlink, Content, and Technical SEO.

     

     

    Backlink

     

     

    A backlink is the backbone of SEO. A backlink refers to a link from one site to another. Qualified and relevant backlinks can help rank your website as they indicate the trustworthiness, credibility, and reputation of your website. The quality and quantity

     

     

    The impression, credibility, and authority that your law firm has online when compared to other law firms. Pages with a great number of backlinks have a greater chance of ranking high on search rankings. 

     

     

    Backlinks are categorized into two, no-follow and do-follow. A no-follow link tells the search engines to ignore the link. No-follow links don’t have any value from one website to another.

     

     

    Generally speaking, no-follow links don’t help in improving your law firm website. Meanwhile, do follow links can improve your search rankings as they are considered a ranking factor.

     

     

    However, your law firm website should link to relevant and websites else you’d risk penalty or being de-indexed. 

     

     

    A great backlink profile isn’t just about quantity, it’s also about quality. Your website should link to authoritative websites that are relevant to your niche (law firm).

     

     

    How to get backlinks

     

     

    Building backlinks takes time, effort, and patience. Among the link building strategies include:

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    • Adding links to your social media profiles.
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    • Adding your website to free and paid directories.
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    • Writing guest posts on other blogs and websites
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    • Participating in online forum
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    • Promoting your quality content
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    • Participating in podcasts, or speaking forums
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    • Sponsoring local events related to your practice area or law firm
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    • Contribute to relevant publications

     

    When building backlinks, make sure to choose websites based on their credibility, authority, and reputation. You can also create quality content on your website to inspire websites to link to your website.

     

     

    Content

     

     

    Ever heard of “content is king”? Quality content drives your audience to action. The right message influences their decisions. 95% of consumers view content as a trustworthy factor when they evaluate a business.

     

     

    Producing relevant content establishes your authority, credibility, and reputation in your practice area. Great content also fosters a great lasting relationship with your target audience. 

     

     

    How to produce content

     

     

    Here are a few ways you can position yourself as the authority in your practice area:

     

     

    • Produce regular blogs on your website
     
    • Answer Frequently Asked Questions
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    • Present cases studies
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    • Integrate keywords in all your content
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    • Diversify your content. Use visuals such as images, videos, and infographics
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    • Guest posts on other blogs
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    • Guest on a podcast
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    • Learn how to distribute your content

     

     

    You must showcase your authority and credibility without losing your personality. Potential clients resonate well with a blog or website that is genuine and has a character. You can make your law firm website stand out from the competition with a solid content strategy. 

     

     

    Technical SEO

     

     

    Technical SEO refers to improving website and server elements to help search engine spiders crawl and index your law firm website. Improving your website elements means improving your target users’ experience.

     

     

    A proper technical SEO setup allows search engines to understand what your law firm website is all about. You need to look at aspects including metadata, site speed, broken links, duplicate content, etc.

     

     

    How to conduct Technical SEO

     

    You can optimize your website elements by following these tips:

     

     

    • Optimize metadata
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    • Integrate keywords in your website elements including metadata, content, and images
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    • Eliminate duplicate content
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    • Redirect broken links
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    • Disavow bad links
    •  
    • Create an XML sitemap and submit it
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    • Check and fix crawl errors
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    • Optimize internal links

     

    Improving the technical aspects of your website is just as important as building links and creating quality content. A wrongly executed Technical SEO strategy doesn’t just affect your rankings, it also affects your users’ experience. 

     

     

    SEO can be a challenge to wrap your head around especially if your law firm is used to doing traditional marketing. Now that we’ve covered the basics, you are ready to take on the next steps - come up with SEO strategies.

     

     

    No matter if you do SEO in-house or hire a third-party provider, if you can implement a solid SEO for lawyer strategies, your law firm website will rise above the competition. 

     

     

     

     

     

     

    5 SEO Marketing Secrets For Personal Injury Law Firms

    5 SEO Marketing Secrets For Personal Injury Law Firms

     

    The unique nature of the personal injury law makes it the most competitive among the practice areas. You could spend thousands of marketing dollars and bring in hundreds of potential leads but only a percentage of them converts. This is why it is important to understand your potential customers before launching your digital marketing campaigns. Customized marketing campaigns can help you generate more leads, more sales, and ultimately growth to your law firm. 

     

    From investing in SEO services, submitting your firm on local directories like Google My Business to creating social media ads, there are plenty of ways you can maximize your marketing strategies.

     

    In this post, you will have a better understanding of how you can generate new clients and rank better on search engine: 

     

    1. 1. Define Clear Goals for Personal Injury SEO

    It is not enough that your digital marketing generates leads, your need to convert these leads to paying clients. This is why you must define your marketing goals before diving into whatever personal injury SEO strategies for your law firm. 

     

    You can start by defining the number of clients you want to generate on monthly basis as a result of your law firm’s SEO strategies. Be specific on the type of client you wish to generate. Determining your potential clients allow you to capture qualified leads that need your services. 

     

    You can also look at your lead and traffic conversion rates besides determining your potential clients. The traffic conversion rate measures how many conversions you capture from your website traffic whereas the lead conversion rate measures the number of leads it takes to convert a new client. 

     

    Not all leads can turn into a new client. Knowing your estimated lead and traffic conversion rates allows you to understand how much actual traffic you need to generate new cases monthly. 

     

    1. 2. Decide which tactics to employ

    2.  

    There is no universal tactic when it comes to personal injury lawyer SEO strategies. You need to define your marketing goals and overall strategies, understand the competition, analyze your law firm’s existing marketing and the financial results at different spend levels. 

     

    Once you figure out all these, only then you can choose suitable SEO techniques for your law firm. This means you don’t have to follow what the first marketer tells you to do unless you define the factors mentioned. Digital marketers who immediately layout SEO plans for you without conducting any analysis of your current marketing and goals are more concerned with profiting themselves than helping your business succeed. 

     

    1. 3. Set yourself apart from the competition

    2.  

    Build your brand, not just your website to set yourself apart from another personal injury law firm. Showcase your expertise and position yourself in the industry through a compelling website. Your potential clients need the best resource to answer their queries and concerns. 

     

    A website is your client’s first impression of your expertise and your law firm. Be consistent with your messaging from your home page down to the contact page. State your unique value proposition and your promise to your client. Your law firm can generate new cases when you optimize and brand your website well.

    1.  

    2. 4. Invest on PPC 

    3.  

    Also known as Pay Per Click, PPC is the best investment to bid on your brand. PPC allows you to see results fast without having to wait for months, unlike personal injury lawyer SEO. With the right price, your brand name will show up on the first page of SERPs. 

     

    A successful PPC campaign requires a great setup to ensure that your ad is seen by your target audience. You need to select the right keywords that your audience is searching for and that your law firm offers. Most PPC campaigns allow geographical targeting for local traffic. 

     

    However, since PPC is competitive marketing, you may be charged as much as $300 for every click on your ads. Besides getting into the first page of the search engine results, PPC also protects your brand. If you don’t bid on your brand name, your competitors will. PPC also allows you to send the right message to your potential clients. 

     

    1. 5. Build the Right Backlinks

    2.  

    Getting backlinks from reputed websites builds your reputation and helps your law firm website rank better. Backlinking is a tedious job that when done right can yield great results from generating leads, boosting conversion to building credibility and authority. 

     

    Plenty of backlink techniques can yield short-term results but could affect your rankings in the long run. Make sure to generate qualified backlinks from trusted and credible sources including local businesses, local citations, social media, nonprofit organizations, schools and businesses, and local media.

     

    Make sure that you generate links from sources that are physically located within your services areas to signal search engines that your business is relevant locally. Submitting your websites to legal directories such as lawyer.com, HG, FindLaw, and AVVO also helps build your profile on these websites. 

     

    Legal directories are a great way to build your legal and local relevance for your law firm. Generating backlinks from legal publications and magazines will make a great impact on your credibility, authority, and reputation. Take time to write a well-thought article or produce compelling content to build quality backlinks from these websites. 

     

    The more qualified backlinks you generate, the higher your website can rank on search engines. You can also increase your website page sessions by maximizing the links within your website. Interlinking is the process of building links between different pages of your website. 

     

    This process guides your user to navigate through your website, provides contextual relevance to the pages and increases conversions. 

     

    Conclusion

     

    Personal Injury SEO strategy isn’t an overnight process. Tracking your progress allows you to see whether your efforts are paying off or not. By monitoring your efforts, you can make adjustments to your campaigns and skimp on strategies that are not yielding your desired results. 

     

    Partnering with the right SEO agency can also help pull in your marketing goals at your desired timeframe. Make sure to do your homework before outsourcing your personal injury SEO strategies. 

     

     

    Top 8 SEO Tips for Law Firms, Lawyers, and Attorneys

    Search engine optimization is important to help businesses succeed. Whatever niche or industry you have, SEO is crucial for lead acquisition, sales conversions, and customer relationships.

    Optimizing your law firm website and its off-site properties allows you to inform search engines and your target customers a clear message on what you do and who you are.

    Clear messages can lead to improved search ranking, more organic web traffic, improved leads and sales. 

    Potential clients are already looking for law firms online. 96% of people who need lawyers will start their search online. About 76% of consumers will visit a law firm’s website to take action.

     Having comprehensive SEP strategies doesn’t just help your site ranking, it also builds your reputation. If you are new to SEO, here are SEO for law firm tips to boost your position:

     

    1. Comply with American Bar Association

     

    Refer to the American Bar Association before starting any digital marketing strategy on your law firm website. Make sure you comply with their advertising rules.

    The ABA advertising rules prevent law firms from making misleading and vague claims that can’t be backed by any evidence.

    ABA rules also prevent legal marketing teams from exaggerating a lawyer’s qualifications or claiming misleading information about their practice area. Refer to state bar advertising laws too so you can personalize your advertising.

     

    2. Check Your Law Firm’s Target Keywords

     

    Determining the highly converting keywords is necessary for optimizing your website. The more specific and targeted your keywords, the more you attract qualified leads and increase your traffic.

    When choosing keywords, think about the kind of searches you want your website to rank for.

    Think of your main areas of practice and the searches related to the areas of practice. Make sure to refine your topics to align your areas of practice more closely.

    There are plenty of keyword tools you can use to generate relevant keywords. These tools will show you the popularity of searches, amount of competition, and additional suggested keywords.

     

    3. Optimize for Local Search

     

    Local SEO increases search visibility for businesses that serve clients face-to-face. Optimizing your website for local search involves using different tactics and techniques to improve your business rankings on local search.

    A local search takes place when a user includes a local keyword in their search or uses a local location in their search.

    There are plenty of ways you can optimize your website for local search including claiming business listing or citation management. Claiming a business listing ensures that your law firm location will appeal in a local Google search

    Getting local reviews from your customers, managing online ratings, and managing your social media locally is also a great way to optimize your website for local search.

     

    4. Check Your Competition

     

    Use the keywords you’ve generated and see where you rank compared to your competition. Competitor analysis gives you an idea of what your competition is doing.

    Benchmark from your competition and check how they optimize keywords, content, and structure their website to get better ranks.

    Checking your competitors’ websites gives you insights into what they do to improve their visibility, rankings, and conversion.

    Take advantage of these tactics, refine the techniques and implement them on your law firm websites.

     

    5. Make Your Website Mobile-Optimized

     

    It is crucial to make your website mobile optimized with Google’s mobile-first indexing. Mobile-first indexing means that Google will use the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking.

    Google Search will continue to show the URL that is the most appropriate to users.

    If a website is moved to mobile indexing and has issues such as lazy-loading website speed, poor image quality, and different image URLs between desktop and mobile version, your site rankings will be negatively affected. 

     

    6. Optimize your on-page elements

     

    On-page SEO refers to the optimization of your website from images, metadata to site speed. Your title tags, meta descriptions, and images play a great role in boosting your rankings.

    Optimize these on-page elements using your keywords. It is also important to also provide quality content as part of your on-page optimization.

    Make sure that the content is easy to share and access otherwise it will deter your potential readers from visiting the page.

    It’s also a great idea to simplify your URL to make it easier for the search engine to crawl your pages.

     

    7. Build Healthy Back Links

     

    Great backlinks are the backbone of SEO. You can start building great links within your website through internal linking. Internal linking refers to linking from one page of your website to another.

    Doing so allows low-performing content in your website to get exposure. Interlinking also increases page views and page sessions on your website.

    You can also entice a website to link to your website by producing great content. People would love to link to relevant websites that deliver value.

     Besides great content, you can also build links by following white hat SEO techniques. You can submit your websites to online directories such as Yelp, Linked In, and Facebook.

    Answering questions on websites such as Quora is also a great way to build your reputation and your expose your website to potential customers. 

    As a lawyer, you likely have a profile with your state’s Bar Association website and aggregator websites including Justia and SuperLawyer. Make sure to optimize your profile on these websites.

    This will help potential clients find your law firm. Additionally, building your profile on these websites boost your rankings and builds your authority.

     

    8. Clean Bad and Broken Links

     

    Broken and bad links can harm your ranking factors. Make sure to conduct a regular assessment of your links and make sure to redirect, delete or update them.

    You can use free tools online to check your bad links and clean them. Search engines and SEO practices are constantly evolving and it is essential to keep up with the trends if you want your law firm website to rank online.

    Following these SEO tips above can help boost your ranking, generate leads, and turn them into clients.

    However, SEO can be a tedious task. You can hire the help of SEO professionals to offload these tasks from your hands and focus on your business. 

    Local SEO for Lawyers: How to Optimize Your Website for Local Customers

    Local SEO for Lawyers: How to Optimize Your Website for Local Customers

     

    Whatever areas of law you practice, it cannot be denied that SEO significantly impacts client acquisition. Clients aren’t using yellow pages compared to 96% of people using the internet when looking for a lawyer.

    Potential clients rely on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing to choose a law firm or lawyer, and 72% of them will only contact one lawyer.

    When people are looking for a law firm, they are typically searching for someone around the area. Showing up in local search results is an integral part of your online marketing strategy. 

    As a trusted local law firm, here are straightforward ways you can maximize Local SEO for Lawyers strategies to promote your service, attract new clients, and build credibility.

     

    Claim local citations

     

    A local citation is defined as any online mention of your business name, address, and phone number that can occur on local business directories, websites and apps, and social platforms.

    Local citations guide online users to discover local businesses.

    Appearing on local directories increases your chance of being seen by your target customers. You need to gain more exposure and obtain backlinks from these local citation websites.

    Accurate setting up your contact information helps you rank on Google Maps. You can start claiming your profiles on business citation pages that include:

     

    ·         Social Profiles

    ·         Legal Directories

    ·         Local directories, such as Google My Business.

    ·         Reviews and endorsements on other websites, and

     

    Google My Business Page

     

    Setting up a Google My Business profile allows you to appear in Google Maps and Local Pack Listings.

    The Local Pack Listings is the highly visible map and the business names list that show right on top of the page.

    This listing is the first thing that any Google user will see after their queries.

    An optimized Google My Business gives your users an overview of your contact information. It allows your regular customers to leave a review.

    Google My Business is the way to go if you wish to be found by your local customers. Make sure to verify, update, and update your contact information on Google My Business.  

    When optimizing your Google My Business, consider the following:

     

    • Use the long description of your law firm, your area of practice, and types of services. Integrate highly relevant keywords.
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    • Upload relevant photo
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    • Make sure to categorize your law practice correctly
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    • Don’t forget to include a local phone number and complete address that is the same format found on your website for consistency
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    • Insert a link to your website
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    • Update your contact information regularly.

     

    Use Local Keywords in Your Website 

     

    You would want your website to appear when your local customers look for a law firm within the area. The best way to do that is to optimize your lawyer's website with local keywords.

    Integrate local keywords to each website page to ensure Google knows your law firm is for a local business.

    You can start including local keywords in your metadata, meta tags, images, and your blogs. Include local keywords all over your website to signal Google what your website is all about.

     

    Optimize your website for mobile users

     

    There is a difference between a mobile-friendly website and a mobile-optimized website. Mobile-friendly websites display websites accurately on smaller screens but not always on touchscreen devices.

    These websites also feature text-based phone numbers or email addresses that prompt calls or emails through mobile devices. Meanwhile, a mobile-optimized adjusts itself for different mobile devices.

    It makes navigation easier since it reformats content and optimizes images based on its screen size. 

    Optimizing your website on mobile devices provides a better user experience. Your potential customers can read your content and navigate your website with ease, thereby increasing user engagement.

    A mobile-optimized website also improves site speed, keeping your visitors longer on your website.

    A mobile-optimized website is also a great way to boost your website rankings, especially now that Google follows mobile-first indexing best practices.

    Mobile-first indexing means that Google prioritizes the mobile version of your website content for indexing and ranking.

    It used to be that Google indexes the desktop version of a website when evaluating the page relevance of a user’s query. 

     

    Build links from credible sources

     

    Backlinks are the backbone of SEO. It is vital to boost your rankings. Building links also help build your credibility, authority, and impression of your services and law firm.

    Link building is the process of obtaining incoming links to your website from other local websites.

    The website that you should link to should have consistent citations and relevant keywords to your website. It is also ideal to link to websites with high Domain Authority to boost your rankings.

    There are plenty of ways you can build credible backlinks. You can write a blog, publish it on your local news outlet, reach out for sponsorship in exchange for links or listing, or publish a Press Release. 

     

    Generate Review from your customers

     

     

    Reviews are a powerful tool to influence your potential customers. Online reviews generate 6.47% increased local searches. Customers read online reviews before reaching out to a company.

    Local consumers trust reviews so much that 91% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 believe in online reviews and trust them as much as personal recommendations.

    Generating reviews boosts your search engine rankings and provides a trustworthy advertisement. Encourage your customers to leave a review on your website.

    Make sure your website is ready for reviews before asking from your clients. You can also request reviews on a business card, invoice, or email.

    Keep a list of your happy and satisfied clients and personalize your emails when reaching out to them. These customers will be a great ambassador for your law firm.

    Optimizing your website for local searches is a powerful marketing strategy for your law firm. However, it can be a time-consuming activity.

    You can offload the local SEO tasks from your hands by hiring the expert help of an SEO company.

    A professional SEO company can help generate clients, boost website ranking, build your reputation, and fortify trust among your clients. 

    Pros and Cons of SEO for Lawyers?

    Pros and Cons of SEO for Lawyers?

     

     

    What are the pros and cons of search engine optimization (SEO) for lawyers? Should your law firm invest in SEO? Or is it just a waste of time and money? Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of having a search engine optimization.

     

    The Pros of SEO for Lawyers

     

    Virtually everyone who needs legal advice in your area will start their search on the Internet. They’ll turn to Google, type in their legal problems, and then visit websites with the answers they need.

     

    That means most, if not all, your potential clients will begin their quest for a lawyer online. If your website isn’t optimized for search, then all these potential clients will go to lawyers whose websites are.

     

    With an SEO team, you can have your website optimized for your expertise and location. As a result, you’ll get more traffic, more clients, and more revenue.

     

    A well-optimized web presence is like having a team of marketers with well-polished scripts, all marketing your services to your potential clients. And since search engine traffic is free (unlike paid ads), it’s like having free round-the-clock advertising for life.

     

    With good SEO, you’ll spend less time looking for clients and more time doing the work that matters to you.

     

    The Cons of SEO for Lawyers

     

    Unfortunately, the legal industry has caught on to the power of SEO. Google’s first page, which is the Holy Grail of SEO, is already dominated by the biggest names and aggregators in the industry.

     

    That means to show up on page 1, your web presence needs to be optimized in certain, specific ways. And that is beyond what layman knowledge can do.

     

    Another disadvantage is the cost. Hiring a good SEO firm is an investment that, while it will pay for itself many times over, is still a consideration to be made.  We track your traffic so you know there is a positive cost to benefit.

     

    What’s more, you’ll need a firm that covers all the bases:

     

    ·         Knows the ins-and-outs of the science of SEO

    ·         Is on top of current trends in SEO, as the rules are always changing

    ·         Is versed in the legal industry, and knows how to create quality content your potential clients are looking for

    ·         Is a good copywriter, able to translate complex legal terms into a language your prospects understand

     

    The Bottom Line

     

    So not only does your law practice or firm need SEO, but you’ll also need a professional who can tick all the checkboxes above. Fortunately, you don’t need to look far.

     

    At Legally SEO, we pride ourselves on providing top-notch SEO services to lawyers, attorneys, and law firms. We optimize websites, social media profiles, lead magnets, and more. We’ll make sure your prospective clients turn to you for answers and help.

     

    Feel free to contact us today for a free analysis of your case and quote.