Search engine optimization should be an essential element of your law firm marketing plan. SEO helps boost website rankings on Google and drive more web traffic – leading to more leads and new clients for your law firm.
No matter if you’re handling attorney SEO yourself or hiring an agency, it’s essential that you understand what SEO entails. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
On-page optimization
On-page optimization refers to those components of a website under your direct control, like content and HTML. It should not be confused with off-page SEO which refers to activities conducted outside your own website that affect search engine rankings.
As a rule of thumb, your goal should be to craft engaging content that meets the needs of your target audience. Given that many searches last less than a minute, focusing on user intent and creating relevant content are key elements. Furthermore, prioritizing local keywords should also be top of mind – these should be included in page titles and meta descriptions for maximum impact.
Integrating local keywords into your web pages can help your law firm capture more business from Google Search Results Pages (SERPs). Also helpful is adding FAQ schema, which informs Google that your law firm offers frequently Asked Questions pages – something which may earn it a featured snippet – highlighted excerpts that answer searchers’ queries that increase click-through rates significantly.
Content creation
Content creation or content marketing refers to the process of producing and disseminating information for targeted audiences online, such as blogs or social networks. Content production involves everything from writing articles to video creation. Content marketing plays an essential role in lawyer SEO as it attracts potential clients and drives traffic back to websites.
Local SEO for lawyers involves optimizing website content to target specific geographic areas. Utilizing keywords related to local searches in title tags, descriptions and headers makes it easier for search engines to discover your law firm site in local searches as well as increasing the probability of your law firm showing up in local pack and organic results.
Content creation for lawyers can be daunting, but there are ways to get started. Begin by identifying your audience and understanding what they value before using that knowledge to devise a content strategy with specific SMART goals derived from marketing goals.
Social media marketing
Marketing via social media involves companies using these platforms to build awareness and brand recognition for their products or services, customer trust and loyalty, market research information gathering and the listening of customer voices and perspectives – for instance after Apple released the iPhone 6 Bend Test fiasco online video footage demonstrated its ability to bend under hand pressure was everywhere on social media platforms like YouTube.
An effective law firm online presence should be consistent across websites such as its local bar association website, Avvo and lawyer directories like Justia in order to achieve optimal search engine rankings. Search engines favor such consistency.
SEO for lawyers is an integral investment for any firm, as it can significantly boost organic traffic and lead generation. Unfortunately, however, SEO takes time and patience to produce tangible results; therefore, hiring an expert law firm SEO company is crucial.
Link building
Link building or link earning in search engine optimization refers to the practice of generating backlinks to increase search engine ranking. Law firms should only employ natural link-building techniques so as not to trigger any unnatural Google behavior that could see their site rank lower or even be removed altogether from search results.
Attorneys can build links for their websites through contributing to legal blogs, meetup groups, or directory submissions. While these methods may work to generate some links quickly and provide high-quality backlinks, they may not result in as much traffic to your site as desired.
Another effective method for building links is through “Help a Reporter Out” (HARO). By responding to reporters’ inquiries or opinions with links back to their websites, lawyers can create valuable backlinks which will grow organically with each submission they make – the more links your website has, the higher its credibility will become!