It is a tedious task for many attorneys to master the art of search engine optimization for their law firm.
While most law firms understand the importance of them having a website many still don’t know the benefits of search engine optimization (SEO) to their website.
If done effectively, SEO will increase your website's organic traffic, and qualified leads and also increases your law firm's position on search engine results pages (SERPs).
In this article, I want to talk about five ways you can boost the visibility of your law firm with search engine optimization (SEO).
Five Ways to Boost Your Law Firm Visibility with SEO
1. Identify your industry related Keywords
The very first thing you have to do when you want to run an SEO campaign for your law firm is to do research about the essential keywords your potential clients are using to look for your firm in the search engine.
These keywords are related to your niche and your target customers are already using them to search for you.
SEMrush is a powerful SEO toolkit that will easily allow your law firm to do research and know about the keywords your potential clients are using to locate you.
There are also two types of keywords to note, Long-tail keywords and Short-tail keywords;
- Long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords as the name implies are long strings of words that are targeted toward online users' real intentions.
The keyword could be in form of a question for a specific need, or guidance to their problem.
For example, long-tail keywords would be, “Do I really need a divorce lawyer if I want to part with my husband?” or, “What are the things I need to file for divorce?”.
Using long-tail keywords will improve the visibility of your law firm in the search engine and narrow down the search results to target potential clients who are most likely interested in your service.
- Short-tail keywords
Unlike long-tail keywords, short-tail keywords are short and generic. Short-tail keywords usually don’t use to be more than two to three words and they usually cover broad topics that will cover several of your competitor’s searches.
Examples of short-tail keywords are “Divorce lawyer” or “Criminal attorney.”
These keywords open high volume results, which will limit your law firm's visibility.
However, to get the best out of your SEO strategy you can mix both long-tail and short-tail keywords together.
2. Incorporate Keywords In Your Website
After you are done with your keyword research, then you will incorporate them strategically into your website.
You must include the keywords in your website content so that the search engine can know what your website is all about and how it serves the web users.
When writing content for your industry-related keywords, you must follow the best placements for keywords if you are using WordPress to host your website.
The placements are as follows;
- Heading (h1)
- Subheading (H2)
- Titles, headlines (H2 or H3)
- Meta Description
- Images
The headings and titles of your content are what captures the attention of your potential clients.
If your content headings contain what they are searching for, they will most likely visit your website because it talks about their search intent.
- Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are a brief snippet of your web content in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Your web page meta-description should be short and you should incorporate keywords so that your potential clients will know what the web page is talking about and its relevance to their search query.
- Images
Because the search engine doesn’t read images, it is SEO's best practice to add an Alt text to any image you put on your website so that the search engines will know what the image is all about.
Additionally, if you are making use of WordPress, you can use an image title tag which will tell your website visitors what the image is all about if they hover over it.
3. Avoid “Stuffing Keywords” In Your Website
Avoid stuffing keywords in your website, it is a bad SEO practice and your website can be penalized if the search engine finds out about it.
You should be mindful of overusing your keywords when you want to incorporate them throughout your website.
When you overuse keywords, the search engine will feel your website is spam and your potential clients will also not trust you.
If your law firm website is hosted by WordPress you can make use of SEO plugins like Rankmath or Yoast; these WordPress plugins will notify you if you are overusing keywords in your content.
This is an example of keyword stuffing:
“We are the best divorce firm in Lagos. If you want to work with the best divorce firm in Lagos, contact us on 123456 to speak with the best divorce firm in Lagos.”
Repeating keywords in an unnatural way throughout your website content will not increase your website ranking and visibility in the search engine, instead, it will hurt your law firm's website rankings.
4. Create Fresh Website Content Consistently
If you want to increase your website traffic and have the potential to meet more clients then you need to consistently publish great long-form content on your website.
Blogs are a great and natural way your website can drive website traffic through the use of keywords.
To get the best out of your website, you should at least be posting educational law content twice a week to boost your website visibility and for your website to earn trust in the eye of the search engine.
As I have mentioned before, you will make use of keywords in your content title, heading, and subheadings and also distribute them throughout the body of your content.
5. Make Use of Google My Business Profile
Because most law firms have a geographical presence in a particular location, it is essential you activate a Google My Business account for your law firm.
Google My Business is one of the best SEO methods you can use to manage your business visibility in the search engine.
When you have a Google My Business account, your profile must be up-to-date and filled with the necessary information (Address, working hours, working days, pictures E.tc) about your business.
You can also include your website link in your Google My Business profile to direct visitors from your GMB account to your website.
You will appear at the top of the SERPs if you have collected many positive reviews through your Google My business profile.
When your potential clients are searching for a law firm and your business pops up, they will most definitely want to know more about your business and the number of positive reviews you might have had from your past clients.
For you to be successful with your law firm's SEO strategy you will have to practice and this will pass through trial, error, and consistency.
But if you are busy marketing your law firm yourself, you can outsource to a digital marketing professional.
KEY TAKEAWAY:
As a lawyer, if you are reading this article you are likely to say you don’t have time to write or you don’t have an idea of what you are supposed to write about.
As a busy lawyer I know these are legitimate concerns, but writing blog posts don’t have to be a great deal of work, and if you can’t write you can outsource your website content marketing to a digital marketing professional like me.
Meanwhile, if you feel like you could have time to write, you should write about the topics you are most passionate about, frequently asked questions by potential clients or changes to legislation that affect your niche in the law field.
Your blog post should position you as an authority in topics you are well versed in.