Digital marketing is becoming an increasingly popular strategy across industries, and many law firms are realizing the potential it has to offer, too. Legal SEO is just one of the approaches that law firms are leveraging to grow their online presence and reach potential clients.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing content on websites to gain higher rankings in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Combining fundamental web optimization tactics with an ongoing content strategy can help law firms increase organic traffic and leads generated from their sites.
What does an SEO strategy for legal firms look like?
In today’s digital world, legal SEO plays an important role in law firm marketing strategies and should be neither overlooked nor underestimated. By taking the necessary steps to properly optimize webpages and create original content related to legal topics, firms can expect to:
- Increase lead generation.
- Develop long-lasting solutions for driving organic traffic.
- Establish your brand’s identity and increase its visibility.
- Become authoritative voices and area experts cited by other websites.
- Create a more resourceful and accessible web experience for clients
With so much to offer, it’s no wonder that 79% of law firms identified law SEO as their most effective marketing channel, according to studies cited by the National Law Review. But, what does SEO for legal experts look like?
An SEO strategy for legal firms would be quite similar to SEO strategies for businesses in other industries and fields.
Many law firms don’t have the time for legal search engine optimization. Luckily, a dedicated team of SEO experts can develop a strategy with you from start to finish. The process involves a combination of technical-focused strategies and content development for your website, ensuring your website has the highest chance of ranking high on SERPs.
Your law firm SEO strategy should always coincide with your firm’s broader interests and goals. It should not be based on creating irrelevant or spammy website content for the sole purpose of appearing in search results. In fact, due to recent updates, this can actually hurt your SERP ranking and sunder your reputation.
Develop goals and objectives with a team of law firm SEO experts;
Here’s what you should expect from working with an SEO team that can tailor your firm’s approach to SEO.
The first step for law firms looking to grow their web presence through SEO is to set clear objectives. This allows experts to fine-tune a lawyer SEO strategy that meets both marketing and technical objectives. Depending on the focus of your firm’s marketing strategies, you may decide to prioritize and monitor some of these key performance indicators:
- Organic visibility
- Organic click-through rates
- Backlinks
- Keyword rankings
- User engagement
The SEO agency you work with should also strive to help you meet your specific performance goals. The following are common examples of this:
- Teams may work with you to target increased lead generation by strategically incorporating forms and linked trails throughout generated content.
- If your firm is interested in expanding its reach, technical experts will work with content teams to create a content strategy that targets the highest-ranking search terms relevant to your new goals.
- Establishing domain expertise and becoming a thought leader can be done with pointed keyword research and strategic content creation.
From here, it’s possible to establish a clear timeline with specific legal SEO performance objectives. While results may not be instantaneous, your team will monitor and report the success of your strategy as it unfolds. The right team will pivot as needed.
Build a strong foundation based on technical SEO for law firms
Technical performance and on-page optimizations are necessary to gain an online presence. Content strategy alone won’t be enough to get your site to rank, and some technical shortcomings can even poorly affect your ranking altogether.
Duplicate content, broken links and bad redirects, and poor mobile deployments are all compromising factors to your website’s search engine rankings.
To give your firm’s pages a better chance of appearing among the first results on SERPs, your SEO team should work with you to optimize content by using HTML titles and header tags that are updated to target relevant keyword phrases. This makes it easier for algorithms to pick up on key phrases on your website.
Likewise, indexing websites and fixing backlinks can affect the way search engines “crawl” sites for relevant content. Indexing refers to the way website content is stored and accessed by search engines. Failing to properly index sites can be catastrophic, leading content not to appearing on search engines at all.
By taking the time to properly focus on factors that affect on-page SEO, law firms can better ensure their web pages rank higher. Thoroughly evaluating the moving pieces that search engines look for can be time-consuming, and missing simple fixes can have lasting results. It’s highly recommended that firms consult with an SEO expert to identify opportunities for optimization.
Conduct keyword research and develop a content plan
Creating content for SEO purposes can feel overwhelming. Many firms struggle to know where to start or what direction to take once they’ve begun. This is why keyword research is so important.
Pointed keyword research offers guidance to firms, identifying which keywords are the most viable routes for ranking.
Selecting a mix of keywords and related phrases is the best way to increase ranking; it can also help establish domain authority, expand your content’s reach, and create a broad selection of resources for your clients to use.
For example, family lawyers leveraging SEO strategies may be interested in ranking for “divorce lawyer”, but this keyword likely has a high ranking difficulty with many competing sources. Though it’s still worthwhile to pursue the keyword, a strong content strategy will also prioritize related phrases like “child support lawyer”, “divorce without a lawyer”, “family attorney”, etc.
While a firm may not offer, say, divorce proceedings without a lawyer, content teams can strategically incorporate that phrase in a piece that is more relevant to your firm. Your firm can also write pieces without necessarily advertising services, as it is still content that will rank and bring your firm’s website up on SERPs.
Publishing legal SEO content also allows lawyers to link other relevant sources hosted outside their own domain to guide larger audiences toward where they originally began when searching for answers related to certain legal questions. This is a strong technical strategy and can also bring more organic traffic to your site while adding credibility to your pieces.
Tips to guide search engine optimization for law firm websites
Create a consistent legal SEO plan
The only way to ensure success from your SEO strategy is to keep your law firm SEO tactics consistent. Once your plan is set in motion, it will require some maintenance and pivoting to ensure that your website continues to rank.
Regularly tracking performance metrics and devoting time to page maintenance is what will allow smaller firms to compete with large corporate firms. Developing a routine schedule for posting and sharing SEO content is an excellent place to start.
Base your approach on focused research
Not all content is strong, high-performing content. Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to rotate blog post writing within your firm to get results. The more focused your keyword research and planning phases are, the more likely it is that your content will rank.
Keyword research will provide your firm with the topics that it can pursue and offer high-value terms to include in your copy for search engines to pull as they crawl through your site.
Hit focused content from multiple angles
Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when writing legal SEO content is that it is for your reader, not just the search engine. While the goal is to see your website at the top of SERPs, ultimately the search engine returns results based on what actual people are searching for.
That means that your focus shouldn’t solely be on the “big money” words that are most obvious. Your clients likely have many questions and are looking for that information somewhere online. Prioritize thinking like your clients might and target the keywords they’re most likely to pursue as they’re searching for representation or legal guidance.
The information they are seeking is likely the first step in a longer search for an attorney they can trust.
Ready to get started with search engine optimization for law firms? Contact Ranq Today!
When all is said and done, SEO for legal professionals is a straightforward process—all it requires is dedicated research, careful planning, and a little bit of technical know-how. Ultimately, though, a closely monitored site and content creation strategy can offer far more return than one that is less closely maintained. If your firm prefers to devote its time to servicing clients rather than finding them, a devoted SEO team can bring them right to you. Contact our team today to talk about a strategy fit for your legal team.