According to the Google Consumer Survey, 96% of people look for legal advice using a search engine. As a law firm, most of your business would come in from clients who are locally situated. Therefore, local SEO is of critical importance for generating business. However, you can’t depend on regular local SEO to work for your law firm as it would for other online businesses. It is best that your organization hires an SEO firm that specializes in law. They would be skilled at using the local ranking factors to your advantage. After all, the more exposure your firm receives through their expertise, the more business will come your way.
Ranking well for local SEO has never been as important as it is now. That’s because Google has shifted from showing more than seven local search results to just three. If the agency you hire can get your firm’s website in the coveted space on Google, it will receive high click-through rates (CTR). A large number of CTRs can attract relevant traffic to your site.
So, how can you make sure that one of the three spots is yours? By learning as much as you can about how SEO for law firms is different from regular SEO. Consider the following elements that can be a part of the strategy that an expert SEO firm should apply:
The right keywords can change the game
Put yourself in client’s shoes. If they are looking for the kind of legal help that your firm can provide, they would be using certain keywords to search for it online. Therefore, you’d need those keywords to show up in the search results that they see. Ranking high in organic search results only won’t help because those potential clients would have to scroll past the local map results and the paid ads to find you. A good SEO firm can make you the part of the local map results. SEO for Law Firms can help you get where your clients assume a top-rated business to be!
The essential step of putting the mobile first
If you are one of those law firms that still haven’t caught on to the importance of mobile search, you are setting up yourself for failure! More online searches are being carried out on mobile phones than on desktop computers. It isn’t just us who are saying this; Google’s own research supports this claim. What makes catering to mobile searchers so important? For starters, Google’s app for mobile search is automated. Thus, when a potential client of yours starts typing personal injury, the app recommends searching for personal injury lawyers near me instead. When he taps on Google’s recommendation, your client can see a snapshot of the law firms providing services for personal injury located close to him. A great SEO agency can land your website among these results.
Voice search has become one of the biggest game changers. Combined with mobile search, it has made it easier and quicker for users to search for what they need using the Google search app. The only effort that your potential clients have to make is to open the app, tap the mic, and then relay their search query. Research shows that more teens (55%) are now using voice search than adults (41%).
Getting the top local ranking factor to speak for your firm
According to SearchMetrics, there is one factor that can land a website in one of the main spots in the local search results, and that is your content. This means if you want to beat your competition and rank in the top three positions, your focus should be on it. Great content still rules the roost, and there is little doubt on whether or not it is the popularity that Google uses to rank websites. In fact, sites that don’t house good content will be viewed by most search engines in a suspicious light.
With a capable SEO agency creating relevant content on your site, you can earn the top position. By making sure that the content provides in-depth information, you increase your chances. Besides the search engines, this confirms you as an expert in your field in the eyes of your clients too. Thus, don’t go for thin and vague content that is placed on a site to fill space. Instead, opt for authentic and detailed blog posts because they can help you break the ranks even for highly competitive keywords.
The use of direct data to get the maximum benefit out of local law SEO
Good and relevant material is important, of course. However, there are other aspects of local law SEO that you should be looking into. An expert SEO agency would be familiar with the strategy of using direct data to maximize awareness about your law firm. They can use it in local SEO and increase the exposure and location awareness for your firm. What is direct data? Direct data are the details that are associated with your law firm. Imprecise and thinly created data wouldn’t do the trick. For direct data to work, it will have to be as granular as it can get.
Capable SEO firms will leverage this kind of data from your organization by weaving it into the Schema language. The following examples can be of high importance when it comes to local SEO for law firms:
- Names and roles of partner and team members
- Fax numbers
- Present address locations that won’t change soon
- Payment methods
- Reviews
- Areas of practice the partners of your firm specialize in
- Phone numbers
- Multiple landing pages, each for a specific location
- Areas Served
- Aggregated ratings from external sources
- Hours of operation
SEO for law firms isn’t the same regular local SEO. If your firm isn’t using it, you are missing out on marketing your legal services to a huge swathe of your target audience. We’d suggest that you get right on it!