Potential clients no longer flip through phone directories to find a legal expert—they look them up online. If you are running your legal business, pay close attention to local SEO for law firms. Why you may ask? Because that’s how your audience is going to find you easily.
When your prospective clients search for ‘real estate lawyer near me’ or ‘divorce lawyer in Texas’, it is local SEO that makes your firm’s website show up. But what is local SEO, and why do law firms need it?
Continue reading to find all these important answers.
Local SEO for Law Firms: What Is It & Why It Matters
Local SEO (search engine optimization) optimizes your digital presence in a manner that you easily attract local clients from your respective locality. For a lawyer or law firm, it means having more visibility in front of clients looking for you in that particular geographic area.
SEO ensures that your website and social platforms show higher in the search results when someone searches for you. Local SEO does the same job, with the only difference that it improves your presence in the local search results. This includes visibility on Google Maps as well as on the ‘near me’ searches.
Why is Local SEO Crucial for Law Firms?
Local SEO is indeed a game-changer for law firms. Whether you are running your legal sole proprietorship, managing a small to medium-scale legal practice, or having a well-established law firm, local SEO is essential.
Law firms in the US are going through quite a competitive phase. The legal landscape is cutthroat, and location matters a lot in acquiring a client. With local SEO, you get an edge on your competitors. This means your clients will find your practice and not that of your competitors.
Soon, your website starts drawing more traffic. What’s even better is that the traffic comprises people with the serious intent of getting your legal services. You get visitors who actually need your expertise, and won’t just waste your time.
Over time, your conversion rate increases, and bam, your law firm climbs the success ladder. With that, your credibility also perks up, which automatically improves your SEO.
To cap it, local SEO for law firms creates desirable outcomes—your law firm gets the recognition it needs and deserves.
So what are some key local SEO strategies for law firms?
Important Local SEO Tactics for Legal Practices
Ready to advance your law practice’s local SEO? Whether you are taking care of it alone or have an SEO agency handle the task, here are the strategies you must implement.
#1: Start with Optimizing the Firm’s GBP
GBP or Google Business Profile, lays down the bricks of local SEO. Optimizing it escalates your visibility in the search engine results.
You can optimize it by doing the following:
- Add the correct and authentic business details, including its name, phone number, address, and website.
- Select relevant categories, such as family lawyer, immigration lawyer, or personal injury lawyer.
- Upload high-quality images of your practice.
- Encourage your satisfied clients to leave positive reviews.
#2: Keep the NAP Consistent
NAP refers to the name, address, and phone number of any entity. In this case, we are talking about the NAP of your law firm.
Make sure that your NAP stays consistent across all your digital channels and platforms. This list comprises your website, all the social media profiles, legal directors such as FindLaw and Avvo, and any video or article on your work.
#3: Focus on the Local Keywords
Targeting the local keywords is mandatory to level up your local SEO game.
For instance, instead of using ‘best divorce attorney’, target ‘best divorce attorney in Orange County.’ Rather than using ‘economical personal injury lawyer’, try ‘economical personal injury lawyer near Staten Island.’
The more local keywords you target, the more visibility you get.
Ensure to use the local keywords in your website’s copy, meta descriptions, and blog posts.
#4: Take Advantage of the Local Backlinks
Backlinks are critical for your site’s SEO.
When working on local SEO for your law firm, get more backlinks from the renowned local websites. These include the local news channels, community blogs, directories from the Chamber of Commerce, and the likes.
Basically, the backlinks serve as your website’s ‘votes of confidence.’ They signal your website’s authority, relevance, and influence in your area of expertise, as well as your geographic region.
#5: Craft Location-Centric Landing Pages
Make sure you have location-specific, separate landing pages in case of the following:
- If you run multiple branches of your law firm
- If you have partnered with different law firms in diverse locations
- If you operate from various locations
Have a dedicated and functional landing page for each of these locations to further increase your visibility in that local area.
Each page must have:
- Reviews from that area’s clients
- City- or location-specific keywords
- Google Map and directions embedded with it
While you work on these key strategies, pay attention to your site’s content as well. Your articles and blogs should be according to the local topics your audience is searching for. As a result, your site becomes a valuable resource for the locals seeking legal guidance.
How to Work on Local SEO for Law Firms?
Evolving algorithms, voice search, and AI-driven SEO trends have made the SEO landscape more competitive. Working on your law firm’s local SEO is now the need of the hour.
You need to devise and implement a foolproof SEO strategy centered on local SEO to help your law firm rise in the local market.
Here’s how you can achieve this goal:
- While you can work on your law firm’s local SEO on your own, we recommend you hire an expert for the task. A seasoned SEO specialist or expert SEO agency is more skilled in the subject matter, can handle it better, and generate desired results efficiently.
- When seeking an SEO agency or digital marketing firm, look for one with substantial experience in local SEO.
- Also, try finding a good SEO firm that specializes in doing SEO for law firms.
- Go through the case studies and testimonials of the SEO firms you like.
- Search for ‘best SEO firms specializing in local SEO and law firms’ and similar keywords when looking up an agency online.
- Once you find a couple of suitable agencies, discuss your needs and budget with them in detail. The preliminary consultation meeting is crucial to figure out whether or not you and the potential agency can get along.
- After finalizing an SEO agency or expert, have them create a local SEO plan for your law firm.
- Ensure to monitor and track their performance.
Finding a skilled local SEO expert is barely a problem in this day and age. Follow the guidelines given above to find the perfect SEO partner for your law firm.
Wrapping Up
You have the legal knowledge and expertise to help so many people. There are in fact, people in search of brilliant lawyers like you. Sadly, they cannot find you because your online visibility is poor. Local SEO for law firms is the perfect solution to fix this problem.
Start working on this key area using the top strategies in this article, and allow your audience to access you effectively.
