Although any online project can benefit from implementing an SEO strategy, it is true that there are some sectors where search engine optimization is more important than in others. This is the case with law firms, a business niche that can particularly benefit from SEO strategies.
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The importance of SEO for lawyers and law firms.
The law sector is extremely competitive and, in the digital environment, SEO represents an essential tool to stand out among the multitude of lawyers and firms who make up this ecosystem. The difference between success and failure can lay in showing up in the first opposition among search results in the transactional searches performed by your potential clients.
Why could a law firm need to hire SEO services?
Competition is fierce in the law sector: with thousands of law firms trying to capture clients’ attention, online visibility has become a major factor in determining success. But, how can you appear above the competition in search results?
The appropriate result-oriented SEO strategy is the key to maximizing visibility. Search engines, like Google, have become the first point of contact for most users looking for legal services. An SEO expert can help your website appear among the first search results, leading to increased visibility and, thus, increased chances of attracting new clients.
Key aspects to optimize your law firm’s SEO
By now, we have already established the importance of designing and carrying out an SEO strategy to boost your law firm and its web’s visibility and positioning in order to acquire new clients. Next, we’ll discover some of the actions that must be implemented to start seeing results.
Keyword research to match search intent
Keyword research is the key in any effective SEO strategy. At this point, it is essential to find out which keywords are strictly related to the legal services you offer and how your potential clients use them when searching for assessment or the solution to their legal problems. That is, how these keywords are aligned with user search intent.
Several keyword research tools are used to this purpose. With these tools, experts can identify which are the most relevant terms and which have the highest search volume.
During this keyword search, it is essential to avoid cannibalization, which means creating several pages that compete for the same keyword. In this example, we can clearly see how several landing pages (home, service page) are competing for the same keyword (abogado extranjeria barcelona).
This is a common mistake in this type of sector, and the key to solving it could be researching keywords for this sector which are categorized by location, specialization/area, type of service and problem/solution.
Competitor analysis
To stand out in the highly competitive legal sector, it is fundamental to identify you online competitors, which may or may not be the same as your offline competitors.
Define who your competitors are on the internet and carry out a deep analysis of what their SEO strategies are, including identifying their strong and weak points, as well as potential opportunities to overthrow them off the top search results. This will help you differentiate yourself from them and attract more clients.
Work on internal linking
Internal linking optimization is an essential part of on-page SEO. A logical and efficient link structure within your website will facilitate user navigation and help search engines crawl the site completely and understand the relevance of your pages. Ensure that links are well-distributed and use descriptive anchor texts.
Continuing with our analysis, we can see how some sites do not work on interlinking with strategies such as including a “other services” module, as seen in the following example:
A correct strategy could be the implementation of a module to link to other specialties or related services to the landing in question. We can see an example of one of the law firms that trusted SEO Alive to carry out their SEO strategy:
The Importance of E-A-T in the Legal Sector
The term E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is especially relevant in the legal field. Search engines value the credibility of websites, and to increase it, it is crucial to demonstrate expertise in your field.
To achieve this, the best approach is to publish high-quality, original content authored by specialists in each topic, with solid author profiles, and a link-building strategy to obtain links from trustworthy, semantically related sites.
For some of our clients in the legal sector, we have addressed this aspect by creating pages for each of their lawyers:
Additionally, each blog article is signed by a specialist in the area discussed.
In contrast, when analyzing other websites, we have detected it is common not to use this resource, publishing their articles without mentioning an expert author on the topic:
List of Services
Your website’s architecture should be organized around the services offered by your law firm, structured so that each service has its own page with all the relevant information about it. This way, each service can be individually ranked in search results. A comprehensive and well-organized list not only helps visitors find the information they need but can also attract clients searching for specific services.
Creating a Blog: The Importance of Content in an SEO Strategy for Lawyers
As with any other online project, generating unique, high-quality content is crucial for the positioning of legal-themed pages. Below, we explain in detail the importance of content in SEO for lawyers.
Create Quality Content that Answers Users’ Questions
Both the category pages (the services of the firm) and blog articles must show informative, useful, and relevant content that answers the questions and needs of your potential clients. Research the most common doubts and questions among your audience and provide complete and authoritative answers.
Include Demand and Claim Models
Downloadable resources with added value, such as demand and claim models, can be a good strategy to attract potential clients looking for practical legal advice, as well as to boost your page’s authority by positioning yourself as an expert in the minds of consumers and search engines.
News and Updates in the Law World
Keep your page updated and your clients informed about the latest news and legal changes. Besides creating a community around your brand, you will be working towards freshness, the data update, and content that search engines favor. If the bot finds new content every time it crawls your page, it will be encouraged to return more frequently, which will translate to shorter crawl and indexation times and higher chances of appearing at the top of the SERPs.
Importance of the Author in SEO for Law Firms
Author profiles are a crucial part of your SEO strategy. Highlight your lawyers’ experience and credibility on your website. Ensure each author has their own profile page with detailed information about their education and experience, as well as examples of successful cases they have worked on.
Improve User Experience to Boost Your SEO
The purpose of your website is to attract new users who can become potential clients. To achieve this, you must work on making their navigation experience on the site as complete and satisfying as possible.
How to Increase Visitor Retention Time on Your Website
Visitor retention, or the time a user spends browsing your website, is one of the metrics search engines consider when ranking your site in search results. An intuitive website design, fast loading times, and engaging content are key to keeping users on your site. Multimedia content such as videos, infographics, and graphics can help increase visitor engagement.
Link Building Strategies for Law Firms
It is essential to obtain links from other relevant and semantically related websites, as search engines interpret each of these links as a vote of confidence from a recognized site to yours. There are several strategies to achieve this, from publishing high-quality, potentially viral original content, which can organically gain backlinks, to controlled and natural link-building strategies.
In any case, naturalness is key to avoid the risk of manual penalties for spam. Rely only on professionals to design and execute your link-building strategies.
Optimize Your Local SEO
Local SEO is crucial for law firms, as it is a sector with a strong proximity component. Searches like “lawyer in [location]” or “lawyer for [service] in [location]” are very relevant, and you should enhance your local component to fully capitalize on them.
Google’s Local Pack (Relevance, Distance, and Prominence)
Appearing in Google’s Local Pack for your area is crucial to capture all potential client queries involving geolocated searches, even if they do not explicitly include the location in their keywords.
When Google detects one of these searches, it offers a panel at the top of its organic results with a map of the area and three results:
- Relevance: The results closely match what the user expressed needing. If the query is “divorce lawyers,” the search engine will show data for three firms offering that service.
- Distance: The action radius depends on the number of businesses offering the searched service near the user; the less, the larger the radius will be; the more competitors, the smaller.
- Prominence: Your website’s authority is key for better visibility in the Local Pack.
Google My Business
Optimize your Google My Business profile to stand out in local searches. Besides your contact information, you can add high-quality photos and videos, detailed information about your firm and services, opening and closing hours, and regularly post updates and news.
Reviews and Ratings
Within the information displayed within the Local 3-pack, Google includes the average rating of your reviews, shown as a score out of 5 in the form of stars. To improve your score, actively encourage satisfied clients to leave positive reviews. Authentic and favorable reviews, besides being new and original content, can be decisive in attracting new clients. Make sure to respond to all comments, both positive and negative, in a professional and courteous manner.
Encourage Clients to Leave Reviews on Your GMB Profile
Ask clients to share their experiences on your Google My Business profile. To facilitate this, include a direct link to your profile in an automatically sent email after the service is completed with the subject “How did it go?”. Fresh and genuine reviews are a valuable asset for your local SEO strategy.
The Importance of NAP Consistency in SEO
Ensure your firm’s information (Name – Address – Phone) is consistent across all online platforms where you appear. Consistency is essential for local SEO, both for maintaining a strong brand image and for ensuring potential clients can easily find you.
Get Mentions in Local Listings and Directories
Local directories and listings, especially high-quality ones, often rank well and can be excellent allies when your firm does not appear directly among the top three options in the local pack. They improve your online visibility and help search engines confirm your legitimacy.
Enhance Local SEO with Google Maps Integration
Integrate an interactive Google Maps into your website to make it easier for clients to locate your firm. This can also improve your visibility in local searches and help users find your firm easily.
If you have a law firm and want to maximize the possibilities that SEO offers, do not hesitate to contact SEO Alive. We specialize in all types of SEO strategies to ensure you appear where your clients are looking. Request your free diagnosis now.
