If you’re a lawyer who is looking to grow your practice, local SEO is something that you should be focusing on. In this blog post, we will discuss 5 lawyer SEO strategies that you can use to increase your local visibility and attract more clients. Implementing these strategies will help you to stand out from the competition and reach potential clients who are looking for legal services in your area. Let’s get started!
First off, Why is local SEO for lawyers so important?
There are a few reasons why local SEO is so important for lawyers. First of all, many people who need legal services will search for a lawyer in their local area. If you’re not ranking high in local search results, you’re missing out on potential business. Additionally, local SEO can help to build trust and credibility with potential clients. When people see that you’re ranking high for local search terms, they will be more likely to trust you and consider hiring you for their legal needs.
So, how can you start implementing local SEO strategies for your law practice? Here are five strategies:
#1 – Claim Your Law Firm’s Google Business Profile (Previously Google My Business Listing)
One of the most important things that you can do when it comes to local SEO for lawyers is to claim your Google Business Profile. This will help to ensure that your business information is accurate and up-to-date in Google’s search results. To claim your listing, go to business.google.com and follow the instructions to either claim an existing profile or create a new one for your Firm.
#2 – Optimize Your Law Firm Website for Local Keywords
To rank high in local search results, you need to optimize your website and Google Business Profile for local-based keywords around the services you offer. This means including local terms in your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, and content as well as posts and services on your Google Business Profile. For example, if you’re a lawyer in Duluth, you would want to target keywords like “Duluth lawyer” and “Minnesota law firm”. One thing to note, before you sink a lot of time or money into targeting keywords, make sure there is enough value and search volume associated with them. You want to be ranking for keywords that people are searching for.
#3 – Get Reviews from Local Clients
One of the best ways to boost your local SEO ranking in the Google Map Pack (The first three local listings at the top of a Google search) is to get reviews from local clients who have used your law firm. When people see that you have positive reviews from past clients, they will be more likely to trust you and hire you for their legal needs. Your Google Business Profile makes it very easy to send a link asking for an honest review that will be indexed by Google after a client had a positive experience with your law practice.
#4 – Establish listings on local and legal directories
Another great way to improve your local SEO ranking is to establish listings on local and legal directories. There are many different directories that you can submit your law firm to, including lawyer directories like FindLaw and Avvo, as well as general business directories like UpCity and Yelp. Listing your law firm on directories helps your SEO, especially your Lawyer SEO when using law-specific directories. These directories list your Name, Address, and Phone number (commonly referred to in the SEO industry as N.A.P), as well as link back to your law firm’s website. These links back to your website send signals to Google that your website is an authoritative source and encourage higher search rankings.
#5 – Use Local Citations for Your Law Firm
In addition to directory submissions, you can also use local citations to help improve your local SEO ranking. A citation is simply a mention of your law firm’s name, address, and phone number (N.A.P.) on another website. The more places that you have links from with accurate information about your law firm, the better it will be for your local SEO ranking. When looking for places to establish local citations, the lowest hanging fruits are social media profiles.
Bonus Strategy – Use the Winning Strategies Other Lawyers are using to rank in your Service Area
It’s important to always keep an eye on the competition when it comes to local SEO. This means taking a look at how other lawyers are ranking for keywords in your area. If you notice that they are outranking you, pay attention to the specific pages that are ranking and what Title tags, metadata, and H1 tags they are using on those pages. Google has already decided to reward those choices in technical and on-page SEO with high search rankings, so it would be in your best interest to mirror the keywords used in those places to improve your rankings.
Local SEO for lawyers, and specifically lawyer SEO, is important to capitalize on the large volume of people already looking for legal services in your local area. Implementing these five plus strategies will help your law firm rank higher locally in Google’s search results and attract more paying clients. Always keep an eye on the competition so that you can stay ahead!
If you’re interested in learning more about lawyer SEO, and SEO in general, be sure to check out our Lawyer SEO page and other blog posts for some golden nuggets of information.
