A guide to SEO marketing for law firms
Law firms are businesses. And like any other business, law firms need to market themselves to the right client base. Enter SEO marketing, a cost-effective and targeted way to get your law firm seen by potential clients.
With the right SEO strategy, your law firm will benefit from increased website traffic and higher brand visibility – two key elements to helping you dominate your market.
But SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of marketing. It takes an ongoing effort to stay ahead of the competition. You need to constantly monitor your performance and adjust your strategies as needed. That’s why it’s important to know the basics of SEO for lawyers – what works, what doesn’t, and how you can use these tactics to your law firm’s advantage.
To help you get started, we’ve put together a comprehensive SEO marketing guide for law firms. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about optimising your site for search engines.
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What is SEO marketing?
SEO, or search engine optimisation, is a way of optimising your website and content so that it appears higher in search engine rankings like Google or Bing. Through effective SEO marketing, you can expand your digital presence, attract organic traffic to your website, and get the word out about your law firm.
SEO can be done through on-page optimisation, which includes things like optimising titles and descriptions. Ot it can be done via off-page optimisation, which involves getting links from other websites.
There are multiple benefits to SEO marketing. This includes increased visibility, better brand awareness, and more qualified leads. As the competition for top rankings becomes increasingly fierce, it’s essential that law firms keep up with current SEO trends and practices if they want to stay ahead of the game.
For law firms, an SEO campaign can be an extremely effective way to reach prospects who may be searching for legal services online. By improving their website’s search engine rankings, law firms can increase their chances of being seen by those who need their services. This can ultimately lead to more business. However, it is important to note that like any law firm marketing, SEO campaigns take time and effort to see results.
There are many different aspects of SEO that can be utilised by law firms to improve their search engine rankings. Some common SEO strategies you can use for your law firm website include keyword research, on-page optimisation, and link building.
Keyword research
Keyword research involves identifying the keywords that prospective clients are using when they search for legal services online. Once these keywords have been identified, they can be incorporated into the content on a law firm’s website to help improve its ranking on search engines.
On-page optimisation
On-page optimisation involves making sure that the content on a law firm’s website is optimised for the keywords that have been identified through keyword research. This includes using the keywords in the title tags, meta descriptions, and body text of each page on the website.
Link building
Link building is another important SEO strategy that can be used by law firms. Link building involves getting other websites to link back to the law firm’s website. Link building can be done by creating high-quality content that other websites will want to link to. Or by reaching out to other websites and asking them to link to your law firm’s website.
Why does my law firm need a website?
The Internet has completely changed the way people find and consume information. When prospective clients need advice from legal professionals, they don’t reach for the yellow pages anymore. They go online. And a website is your law firm’s digital business card.
Here are a few ways that a well-designed website can help your law firm:
Showcase your work
A website is the perfect platform to promote your law firm’s successes. Use your website to highlight case results, client testimonials, and press mentions. This will show prospective clients that your law firm is experienced, reputable, and can be trusted to get results.
Build trust with prospective clients
Trust is everything in an industry where people are often looking for help with sensitive, personal matters. Prospects want to know you have their best interests at heart before they hire your law firm. Your website is a great way to build that trust by providing prospects with information about your experience, education, and qualifications. You can also use your website to show that you’re an expert in your field by writing blog posts about topics in the legal industry.
Attract new business
People seeking legal advice usually turn to search engines like Google search, Yahoo, or Bing. A well-designed website will help you attract new clients by ranking high in the results for these search engines. When prospective clients search for law firms in your practice area, you want your law firm website to be the first one they see.
This is where search engine optimisation comes in. By optimising your website for relevant keywords, you can make sure that your law firm’s website appears at the top of search engine rankings. This will make it more likely that prospective clients will find and contact you.
If you’re not convinced that your law firm needs a website, consider this – 45% of legal consumers research a law firm’s website before getting in touch. If your law firm doesn’t have a website, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of that business.
Why is SEO important for my law firm?
SEO is important for law firms because it helps them rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This leads to more website visitors and prospective clients.
SEO can be used to improve the visibility of a law firm website and its individual practice areas. By optimising their website content, a law firm can attract more traffic from prospects who are searching for legal services online.
Here are a few ways in which SEO can help your law firm website:
Increase website traffic
Search engine optimisation can help increase the visibility of a law firm’s website. This can lead to an increase in website traffic. More website visitors can mean more potential clients for the law firm.
Improve conversion rates
Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action. For example, when they fill out a contact form or subscribe to a newsletter. By improving the online presence of a law firm and making it easier to find, SEO can help increase the number of website visitors who take the desired action.
Build brand awareness
SEO marketing can be the difference between your law firm being a needle in a haystack, or the needle that catches everyone’s eye. Search engine optimisation makes it easier for search engines to find and display your website in their results pages. Potential clients are more likely to see, remember and trust law firms that consistently appear in the first page of search engine results. This increases the chances that prospects will contact you when they need legal advice, instead of another law firm.
Help local law firms compete with larger practices
SEO can level the playing field for small and local businesses, including law firms. By optimising their websites for local search results, a law firm can compete with larger, more prestigious competitors that may have an advantage in organic search results.
Staying ahead of your competition
Algorithms on search engines are constantly changing. This means that what works today might not work tomorrow. But by keeping up with the latest SEO news and trends, you can ensure your law firm website is always optimised for the latest search engine algorithms.
What are some good tips when it comes to SEO for lawyers?
SEO can be a tough nut to crack for law firms. After all, the competition is fierce and everyone is trying to rank for the same keywords. But with a little creativity and some elbow grease, you can definitely get your law firm site to stand out from the rest.
Here are some tips to help you get started:
Develop a keyword strategy
Keywords are an important part of SEO for lawyers. But they need to be used strategically in order to be effective. Gone are the days of simply stuffing your content with as many keywords as possible. Today, you need to focus on quality over quantity.
To develop a keyword strategy that will actually help your law firm SEO, start by researching the keywords that potential clients are actually searching for. Once you have a list of relevant keywords, you can then begin incorporating them into your website content. Make sure to use them in a natural way that will appeal to both search engines and human readers.
Use keyword-rich titles and descriptions
When it comes to SEO for lawyers, your titles and descriptions are just as important as your actual website content. This is because prospects will often make their decision about whether or not to scroll down your website based on these elements.
As such, you’ll want to make sure that your titles and descriptions are both keyword-rich and informative. In other words, they should accurately reflect the content of your law firm site. They should also contain keywords that potential clients are likely to search for.
Link building to your law firm site
Another important ranking factor for law firm SEO is the number of backlinks pointing to your website. Backlinks are essentially links from other websites that lead back to yours. They also act as a vote of confidence from one site to another. The more high-quality backlinks you have pointing to your site, the better.
There are a number of different ways to build backlinks, such as guest blogging, directory listings, and social media posts. However, one of the best ways to get high-quality backlinks is to create informative and shareable content that other websites will want to link to.
Make sure your law firm site is mobile-friendly
In today’s day and age, over half of all internet traffic now comes from mobile devices. And if your website isn’t optimised for those users, you’re missing out on a massive potential client base.
To ensure that your law firm site is mobile-friendly, make sure that it’s responsive (i.e., it scales to fit any screen size). And all of your content is easily accessible on mobile devices.
In addition, you’ll want to make sure that your website loads quickly on mobile devices. Potential clients are unlikely to stick around if they have to wait more than a few seconds for your law firm site to load. So if your site isn’t loading fast enough on mobile devices, you could be losing out on a lot of potential business.
Publish high-quality content
One of the best ways to improve your law firm SEO is to publish high-quality content on a regular basis. This will not only help to attract leads. It will also show search engines that your website is an authoritative source of information. This will, in turn, help you to rank higher on the results pages for search engines.
When creating content for your law firm’s website, make sure to focus on topics that are relevant to the legal industry and offer value to your target audience. In addition, all of your content should be well-written, error-free, and informative.
Monitor your progress
Last but not least, it’s important to monitor the progress of your law firm SEO on a regular basis. This way, you can identify any areas that need improvement and ensure your SEO efforts are paying off.
There are a number of different tools that you can use to track your law firm SEO progress, such as Google Analytics and SEMRush. By monitoring your progress on a regular basis, you can make sure that your law firm’s SEO strategy is on track and achieving the desired results.
How much does law firm SEO cost?
Just like any other type of business, the cost of SEO for lawyers depends on a variety of factors. The size of the law firm, the competition in your area, and the services you need are just a few things that can affect the price. However as a general guideline, law firm SEO can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per month.
That being said, law firm SEO is an investment. And like any investment, you should expect to see a return on your investment (ROI). A good SEO agency will work with you to set realistic expectations and goals so that you can measure your success.
Local law firm SEO
The nature of the legal industry means law firms tend to be geographically restricted businesses. Differences in legislations across different states and countries can make it hard for most law firms to expand their reach outside their home turf.
That means an insolvency law firm on the Gold Coast won’t be targeting the same audience as an estate planning law firm in Perth. This is where local SEO comes in.
Local SEO is the process of optimising your website and online presence for search terms related to your business that are conducted in a specific location. For example, let’s say someone searches for “divorce lawyer Brisbane”. Google search will show them a list of law firms based in Brisbane that have optimised their website for that particular keyword.
And if you’re a divorce lawyer in Brisbane, you’d want to ensure your website appears as one of the top results on search engines.
Local SEO for lawyers isn’t just relegated to “Product/service” “Location” queries. Potential clients may also search for “Product/services near me”. Google determines the user’s location based on their current IP address. Google search then displays relevant results accordingly. The higher your law firm site ranks on local search engine results, the more likely you are to get clicks and calls from potential clients in the area.
For smaller law firms looking to compete against bigger and more established practices, optimising local SEO can be a great way to gain an edge in the market. By targeting local, non-branded keywords – keywords that don’t include a company’s name – even a David can build its presence among the Goliaths of the legal industry. You’ll stand a chance of capturing leads that may have slipped through the cracks of competitors that rely more on people familiar with their brand. For a deeper dive into the importance of ranking for non-branded searches, check out our article on the topic.
There are a number of things you can do to optimise your law firm website for local SEO rankings, including:
Claim and verify your Google Business Profile
A Google Business profile is the panel that appears on the right-hand side of Google’s search engine results when someone searches for your law firm by name. Google Business profiles include your business hours, address, phone number, website, and reviews. It informs Google (and potential clients) that your law firm is a legitimate practice.
Optimise your website for local keywords
When potential clients in your area search for a law firm online, you want your website to show up in the results. To do this, you need to optimise your law firm site for local keywords. That is, keywords that include your city or region.
For example, let’s say you’re a personal injury lawyer in Sydney. You would want to use keywords like “Sydney personal injury lawyer” on your law firm website.
Collect positive reviews
Google themselves confirmed that review count and score are important factors for their local search engines. So, if you’re not already doing so, make sure to encourage your satisfied clients to leave reviews on your Google Business profile.
Create local landing pages
A local landing page is a page on your website that’s specifically designed for people in a certain city or region. For example, you might have a law firm with offices in multiple locations. If so, you’d want to create a separate landing page for each location. Local landing pages help you rank higher in the local search engine results for those specific cities or regions.
Make sure your NAP (name, address, phone number) is consistent across all your online listings
Your NAP should be identical – or at the very least, very similar – on your website, Google Business profile, and any other online listings. Inconsistent NAP information confuses Google. It can also hurt your law firm’s chances of showing up in local search results.
Be seen online with a tailored law firm SEO strategy
Law firms that ignore search engine optimization do so at their own peril. A well-executed SEO strategy can help your law firm website rank higher in results pages of search engines. This increases the likelihood that potential clients will find you. And the best part? Your law firm SEO efforts can provide long-lasting results that continue to pay dividends long after you’ve invested in it.
In this blog post, we’ve outlined some SEO tips that law firms can use to improve their website ranking and drive more traffic to their site. The technical aspects of SEO may seem daunting at first. However it’s important to remember that even small changes can make a big impact when it comes to increasing organic traffic. We hope you find these tips helpful and that they help you achieve the desired results for your law firm.
Complement your law firm SEO with persuasive copywriting
SEO marketing is only half the battle, however. Once potential clients find your website, you need to make sure they stick around long enough to become paying clients. That’s where copywriting comes in.
Your website’s copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive. It should also be optimised for the keywords you’re targeting with your SEO campaign. With well-written and keyword-rich content, you can easily turn casual website visitors into paying clients.
If you’re not sure where to start, we can help. Taleist is a direct response copywriting agency that specialises in helping law firms grow their businesses with copy that gets your phone ringing. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you get more from your website.