SEO for attorneys can be a powerful tool in generating more high-quality leads. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a widely understood term with perhaps only rare instances of incomprehension. People have adapted very quickly to it. There is perhaps no other way to gain online visibility and attract clients for your business than optimizing your content to suit the search needs of web users.
But what does this all have to do with lawyers and law firms?
The business world is rapidly advancing to the online realm, and this applies to law firms as well. Unless you find ways for clients to be able to see you and reach out for help, you'll have a very hard time maintaining a stream of clients for your firm.
The era of cold calling and ads is dying out. Ask yourself this: what do you do with ads? Probably skip 'em without a second thought.
Content sells if it is well written and especially if it targets the right keywords for your audience to find. Without SEO, gaining visibility in the online realm is virtually impossible.
But how does it all work?
You're probably wondering if SEO is even as important as we make it to be; rest assured, we're not exaggerating at all. In this article, we will cover the basics of SEO for attorneys, how it works, and most of all, why do lawyers need SEO for their websites. Triple Digital can help your website gain much-needed visibility and handle your SEO for you.
Read on to explore the topic in complete detail!
SEO encompasses all forms of online content. The goal is to structure your words such that they resonate with the search queries of those for whom it is written. Law firm websites follow the same principle as all other websites. If you want to gain visibility in the online world, you must understand the search behaviors of your clients.
When it comes to SEO for attorneys, here's how it works:
Suppose you're dealing with personal injury law in a particular state. You'd want people from that state to reach out to you for advice and more. This is only possible when your content has been optimized in such a way. If you follow a generic content structure, you will get views and traffic from all over the world, but that doesn't help you.
You need dedicated visitors and viewers who are genuinely seeking help and will hire you after reading your content. This means that you'll have to somehow ensure that only such people find your content on the internet. SEO is the way to that.
Look at things from the client's perspective.
Let's say a certain Mr. John has been hurt in a motorcycle accident in Texas. They've sustained serious injuries and faced financial losses as well. What would they search for on Google? Well, they might be curious about the state laws regarding motorcycle accidents in Texas, what should they do next, how much they can recover, will the liable party have to pay, and so on.
Your content must address all of these concerns.
Firstly, your content must address the client specifically, i.e., in this case, a motorcycle accident victim in Texas. Secondly, you should provide ample resources to address the issues at hand, ideally, you should have the most frequently searched phrases in your content for the client.
This will not only create a sense of confidence in the client but also help Google show your content to the other party. The idea is to gain visibility and show the clients that you can help them. SEO helps you target specific keywords that work to this effect. With the incorporation of commonly searched phrases (after careful keyword research) and tails (such as "in Texas"), you can help the Google algorithm show your content to the relevant audience.
As a law firm, you need website visitors who not only want to read your content but are from the same geographic area as your regional office and will reach out to you for your services. For this, you'll have to design your content as such. Show, through your words, that you're offering a service for people in a specific location, list your services, and optimize your content for maximum outreach.
The idea is to attract an audience from a specific area, who need your services, and then give a call to action to get in touch with them.
SEO can help you do all of this!
The basic idea of search engine optimization is to tailor content based on the search trends of the target audience. When searching for a law firm near you, you'd probably be looking for a local business that is conveniently nearby. How does Google know that? The search query is structured that way - a person searching for a local business, even a law firm, is bound to use tails like "near me," or "in City X," or "in state X."
An SEO specialist uses detailed analytics to point out the most thoroughly searched keywords and phrases for a certain service within an area. Then they incorporate those keywords strategically into the content without stuffing (which is penalized by Google).
However, keywords are only one phase of SEO.
To stay relevant in the realm of the internet, one must produce an endless stream of content to both keep the readers updated and to incorporate a continuously expanding pool of keywords, allowing you to command a higher position in the SERPs for more and more keywords.
Plus, the technical aspect of SEO is also important. This involves constantly reviewing the progress of SEO, optimizing the meta tags, using optimum sized images, incorporating readability and other user experience feedback.
In short, SEO has both traditional (keywords) and technical components. To get the best results, you must ensure that all aspects are taken care of. Keyword optimization and improving user experience will be stage one, later on, you'll have to keep your site up to date with all the ever-changing SEO trends and Google ranking factors.
In recent years, content readability and general user experience have also become important SEO ranking factors. This means that your website should be well received by the audience on top of being keyword optimized.
But how does Google understand that?
Naturally, there are certain indicators that Google uses to understand the user experience impact that a website makes. This includes, but is not limited to the time spent on the website, reviews, time taken to explore pages of the website, and responding to CTAs, i.e., filling up contact forms, buying products online, subscribing to newsletters, and so on.
Potential clients will see your content as a first impression of your capabilities. You need to make the best out of your writing to engage the audience to reap the rewards of your online presence and to sell your legal services. Your SEO efforts, after all, are not merely directed at gaining organic traffic but also to gathering positive reviews from the audience.
Your search engine rankings are thus affected both by your relevance with regards to keywords and phrases commonly used for Google organic search, and also the user experience of prospective clients. The way you structure your content has much to do with both factors, thus by optimizing the content both on your website and off-page (such as on Google My Business, social media, and other websites via guest blogging) you can improve your search rankings.
Your SEO strategy should be dynamic just as the ranking algorithms of major search engines constantly shift and change. SEO for attorneys should not be seen as a one-time thing. Not only will you have to constantly update your writings or explore new angles of topics already discussed with high-quality content but also conduct regular SEO audits to modify your strategy as needed.
If you can't seem to find a sense of direction with regards to the search term to use in a specific area, or the selection of a primary keyword (i.e., should it be a personal injury lawyer or personal injury attorney?), conduct competitor research to see which direction to go for. In the end, your goal is to provide the best user experience with regard to your topic.
Since we've discussed how SEO works (ever so briefly) and why your law firm needs premium SEO services for your legal content, now comes the part where we see why hiring dedicated experts for your SEO efforts is the prudent choice. You can handle SEO on your own as well, if you have a working knowledge of keyword research and can deal with the technical aspects of content optimization, you can handle your own SEO campaign.
However, doing so will be counter-productive, considering the big picture.
This is because you'll be using a huge chunk of your time and resources on your SEO, these resources would be better spent on managing your business and making an actual impact where it matters the most: customer satisfaction. Hiring an SEO expert will allow you to dedicate your time and resources to the things that matter the most for your legal practice, and also offer several perks.
You'll get:
All of these perks and more are a direct result of outsourcing SEO to those who've been at it for years. You need guaranteed results, so it would make sense to invest in a team that guarantees the type of impact you want to. In some cases, the results emerge almost immediately, but in most cases, SEO is a prolonged affair.
You don't have to worry about SEO for your law firm's website.
At Triple Digital, have extensive experience optimizing the online content for legal practice businesses throughout the USA. Not only do we understand how SEO for attorneys works but have also garnered much success with our content marketing strategies. Through our efforts, legal firms have gained much-needed visibility in the search engine results, Google maps, and online directories (based on top searches).
The world has gone beyond the old days of business listings, now businesses don't rely on legal directories for visibility but instead fight for the top spot in the online search engine results rankings. Not only can we help you with all the best target keywords (criminal lawyer, divorce lawyer, car accident lawyer, etc.) after doing meticulous research with keyword research tools, we also create content for you that will inspire and amaze your readers.
Need to gain visibility in the Google search results? We've got law firm marketing experts who will create a specialized SEO campaign for your law practice. Triple Digital is a trusted SEO firm, and we work tirelessly to deliver the best for your websites with our optimized blog posts and other SEO content. Our efforts will generate qualified leads and improve the overall conversion rate.
If you feel that your business can improve its outreach in the online realm, we've got your back! Reach out to us today so we can discuss how Triple Digital can help your law firm generate more leads.
