In the world today, there are hundreds of thousands of digital footprints all over the internet. With the growth in technology, it is vital for businesses who want to remain relevant to have a good online presence. The main reason is that people are more likely to use online search engines like Google to find what they are looking for.
Be it a movie, books, historical facts, football updates, or the closest restaurant; there is traffic daily on search engines. The story is the same for the legal industry. With more lawyers joining the oversaturated market each year, and some of them birthing new law firms, legal professionals need to set themselves apart.
The wide range of options has also made it hard for Google users to choose the law firm that is best for them. There's also the problem of some legal practices outshining others and always appearing first on search engines. If your law firm belongs to the latter, you can overcome it with the help of search engine optimization (SEO).
SEO would help increase your firm's quality, authority, and credibility as a trusted source for legal content. As effective as SEO is, not all legal service providers have utilized it to increase their visibility and improve their review. For this reason, we put together top reasons legal firms should use SEO. But first, what is law firm SEO?
According to Rankings.io, attorney SEO involves strategies, techniques, and tactics to attract prospective clients to a law firm's website by obtaining a first-page ranking position. The position could be on the largest search engine, Google, or others like Bing or Yahoo.
Lawyers need to take advantage of proven techniques to rise high in search results. The techniques range from content creation like blog posts or social media posts to online advertisements. The more a firm ranks, the more traffic they generate on their website, and each visiting person has the potential of becoming a client.
In a nutshell, whether you are a personal injury lawyer or criminal defense attorney, you must have an SEO strategy to:
Note that in attorney SEO, the firm's website is its key marketing component. Thus, a successful law firm SEO campaign should have:
Since the internet became things and search engines came into existence, the way people search for things changed. Google's creation in 1998 made it easier to find things online, and since then, several organic search engines have followed suit. At the time of Google's creation, there were about 10,000 searches per day.
Today, nearly 93% of all global traffic originates from Google search, Maps, and Images. It means that most high-volume traffic comes from the world's largest search engine. Also, 49% of marketers believe that the platform is the most profitable channel they use.
Bringing it home to the legal industry, organic search traffic in the legal sector is up to 66%. According to a National Law Review publication, 96% of people use search engines when looking for legal services and legal advice. Most of this search engine traffic is from people who are not looking for a particular lawyer.
They are simply looking for help with legal issues, explaining why most searches are "unbranded." Other stats show that 92% of searches pick businesses that appear on the first page. 70-80 percent of people ignore paid ads, and the SEO conversion rate is at 14.6 percent compared to other traditional marketing methods.
What these numbers show is that you can never go wrong with marketing tactics built around SEO. Whether you're using SEO agencies, a marketing agency, or an in-house marketing team, your marketing efforts would be rewarded with more clients if used right. The simple logic is that the more people visit your website, the higher the likelihood of becoming your law firm clients.
Having seen how important search engine optimization is, it's time to discuss why you should use it for law firm marketing. Below are some reasons why you should get on the SEO train.
As already established, people are more likely to search for legal advice online than walk into a law office. The office can be on their street, and they would still use Google before considering a physical visit. This is why a vast majority of those in the legal industry are paying more attention to search engine marketing.
With the right keyword, your firm can be at the top of search results. Thus, if you are a personal injury attorney, the posts on your website should include keywords for that practice area. Marketing experts note that adding your location also increases your visibility. You can register with Google business listings to help people find you easily.
A business without credibility and trust will not succeed, and this applies to law firms also. With many online fraudsters, search engine users need to know that they can trust your firm. Thus, aside from boosting your online presence, your firm SEO services increase your credibility.
The more reliable your posts are, and the more positive reviews you get, the more credible you become. With time, you become a reliable and trustworthy source. For this reason, the component of your SEO strategy must show people the problems you can solve. It would also help to educate them on legal topics using your blog.
Building trust and credibility take time and patience. If you or your marketing team cannot develop workable plans to improve your credibility, you can contact an SEO company. By working with them, you'll increase your organic traffic and rank highly.
As mentioned earlier, the oversaturated nature of the legal industry makes it extremely competitive. This is why modern law firms must do all they can to keep up with big names existing for years. However, established firms often rely on their name and precedent to get them, clients.
This is to the advantage of smaller law firms. Implementing SEO can make you more competitive and give you the edge needed to catch up or overtake the industry giants. With the right SEO marketing tactics, you can make yourself more available to potential clients. Once you are easily discoverable, more people would click on your posts. The traffic can generate leads that will birth new clients.
You can have the most beautifully designed website that is user-friendly and have no one visit it. You can post the best legal articles on your blog post and have no one read it. You could also add links to your firm's social media platforms, and no one clicks on them.
All these can happen for one reason, either you are not engaging in SEO marketing, or it's not optimizing. When you combine a firm marketing campaign with SEO, you'll make your website more engaging. More people would visit to see what you're about and will not stop with viewing on Google.
If for nothing else, carry out SEO marketing because your competitors are doing it. By default, there are ten organic search results on the first page of Google. The clicks for the firm in the first position are likely twice the number of the one in second place. It shows that if you're not doing SEO, someone else is, and they will have the advantage over your firm.
One thing is knowing the reasons to use law firm SEO. Another is knowing how to improve your SEO if you're already on it. Here are some tips to help you.
PPC marketing and sponsored Google ads are good for increasing your marketing visibility. However, unlike SEO, they disappear when you stop paying. SEO, unlike those two, is an investment. The content and backlink acquired have an evergreen impact, meaning they remain relevant for a long time.
It's like putting your money in investment and reaping the dividends later. Ultimately, SEO is an asset you own, not borrow. Also, PPC marketing costs more depending on the keyword you're bidding for. Phrases like "car accident lawyer" are known to be high intent keywords.
Lastly, SEO converts better than social media traffic. Google understands some of the phrases typed into it and cuts through the noise by providing filtered options. Thus, lawyers marketing themselves online should optimize on SEO, but together with social media marketing.
No matter how good a lawyer you are or how credible your firm is, no one will know about it if you don't put yourself out there. For this reason, you must capitalize on the opportunities search engine optimization presents. So, are you a law firm looking to increase website traffic or get new clients? Get on the SEO marketing train today!
