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Law Firm Marketing & SEO For Lawyers
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Australia's #1 Law Firm Marketing & SEO service for Lawyers. Our agency helps Lawyers get more calls, open more files and grow their firm, fast. Discover our Lawyer SEO marketing system we use to make lawyers the best local choice. Find out what makes us the best SEO company for lawyers.
“How We're Different From Every Other SEO Agency You May Be Considering”
Dealing with a lead generation specialist that practices only in the legal industry means you get to “hit the ground running” and get results out of the gate faster. This is because:
The Founder has been the General Manager (3-years) and Acquisitions Director (2-years) of Australia's Largest National Law Firm that practices only in property law. We already understand how a law firm works and how to market them.
We know what “good results” looks like, having been directly responsible for successful nationwide in-house law firm marketing campaigns.
We're familiar with the players (and gaps) in the market.
SEO for Law Firms
is our strength, you'll enjoy a team with deep experience in Paid (AdWords, Facebook, PPL), Conversion Rate Optimisation, Analytics, Sales, and Direct Response Copywriting. These will be baked into your campaigns.
We know how to market without compromising the integrity of your firm. We are strongly aware of the material risk associated with doing so.
You won't need to teach us about industry jargon, multi-jurisdictional legislation, claims, and the rigour surrounding words – we have a solid grounding already.
You'll have a partner committed to your commercial objectives. We know it's revenue you care about (as well as top Google rankings).
Most of all, we've been able to deliver consistent results and success stories for our clients again and again over the last 6-years working in legal marketing.
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“While SEO is our strength, we bring a formidable set of skills” SPEAK WITH THE FOUNDER 100% No-Obligation free chat.
not National practices So our clients can enjoy exclusive dominance in their city and respective practice areas.
We only work with one law firm per city according to practice areas.
e.g One Family, One Personal Injury, One Commercial per city.
This is so we can amass Nationwide SEO data, get statistical significance, and make fast informed decisions.
This allows all our clients the privilege to instantly enjoying learnings and strategies proven by other sister clients in other states.
Our goal is to get you legal rankings; without lock-in contracts and the benefit of multiplied testing across our entire client base;
What is attorney SEO?
Attorney Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involves strategies, techniques, and tactics that help attract more prospective clients to a law firm's website by obtaining first page ranking positions in search engines (such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo).
It's already pretty clear that for most people, search is their go-to for finding legal services. Social and word of mouth certainly play a role, but online search almost always dominates the research phase.
Some elements of search engine optimization also have the ability to compound or increase their benefits over time. Content, for example, presents two opportunities: the first is the potential to rank for more keywords and the second is that, through an exceptionally well-crafted piece of content, the potential exists for natural link building to occur.
Why is law firm SEO important?
The way consumers find, research, and choose a law firm has changed dramatically in recent years. Search is a primary channel that people use to find information online and since Google's founding in 1998, it has grown to dominate the search space.
When Google was founded in 1998, it served about 10,000 queries per day.
3.5 billion 93% of all global traffic originates from Google search, Google Images, and Google Maps.
Search is 53 percent of all website traffic , while paid search only drives 27%.
a third of consumers use SEO on a daily basis.
49% of marketers believe organic search is the most profitable channel Organic search generates up to in the legal sector That means if you run a law firm and want to generate new clients, much of your success hinges on whether or not your website can be found in Google search.
Why does my law firm need an SEO optimized website?
Attorneys need a website because the way that consumers find businesses has changed.
This isn't a new idea, obviously, as the Yellow Pages are not (and haven't been for quite some time) the go-to source for research that they once were.
Businesses need the best resource to answer searchers' queries and intent and showcase the business's expertise.
A website, no matter what business you're in, is the central hub for your search engine optimization strategies. It's the foundation of everything you'll do to put yourself in front of your ideal prospective client, as well as create and promote your brand.
70% of law firms land new cases through their website first position in Google search results carries a 31.7% click-through rate.
only 0.78% of Google searchers click on results from the 2nd page.
Why is SEO better than PPC?
Pay-per-click and sponsored ads essentially lease your marketing visibility: that visibility disappears as soon as you stop paying for it.
Law firm SEO is an investment. The content and backlinks that you acquire have a long-lasting and evergreen impact; in effect, their rankings pay dividends long into the future. Ultimately, SEO creates an asset your firm owns, not rents.
Further, PPC in the legal vertical can be incredibly expensive. For example, it may cost you $300+ per click on average if you're bidding for a high intent keyword such as “car accident lawyer.”
Why is SEO better than social?
converts 10x better social media traffic (on desktop)!
Search engines (especially Google) have only gotten better at understanding the meaning behind the phrases we type into them and are therefore used even more on the internet to cut through all the noise.
With so many people using search, it makes sense that lawyers marketing themselves online should ensure their websites are built and configured to be found easily using these tools.
Why should attorneys care?
It's already pretty clear that for most people, search is their go-to for finding legal services.
According to the National Law Review , 96% of people seeking legal advice use a search engine in their research process and 74% of consumers visit a law firm's website to take action.
Simply put, prospective clients use organic search to find and hire law firms.
Arguably the most important aspect of an SEO campaign lies in measuring your return on investment (of not just money, but also time). After all, whether you hire an independent agency or you do the work yourself, you need to be sure that the seeds you've sown will bear the proper fruit.
If you find yourself in need of an impartial assessment of your firm's SEO health, contact our expert SEO strategist today to discuss your options.
While SEO's growth potential is typically more gradual, its value compounds. PPC and sponsored directories can drive more immediate traffic, but their value added is somewhat temporary and subject to continued payment. Search engine optimization is an investment and PPC is a cost, the same way that a healthy diet is an investment vs. the cost of plastic surgery.
Why should attorneys care?
Search is 53 percent of all website traffic, while paid search only drives 27%.
Why should attorneys care?
The top three reasons why attorneys should invest in SEO include:
Attracting New Clients - Search Engine Optimization helps attract new clients by increasing your exposure and ranking higher in local searches. This increases the likelihood of getting calls from potential clients who are searching for your services.
Generating Leads & Sales - A properly designed site will help increase leads and sales.
What Are The Benefits Of Local SEO For Law Firms?
There are so many benefits to finding the best law firm SEO company to handle your legal services organic search engine marketing, and here is just a few of them:
Drive Continual Organically Generated Highly Qualified Attorney SEO Services Leads
There are over 3,600 people searching for personal injury compensation lawyer-related keywords alone in Sydney (with an average Cost Per Click of $84.88 AUD in Google Ads), there are also over 4,500 people searching for ‘criminal lawyers Sydney' related keywords (average Cost Per Click of $31.70 in Google Ads). Your practice has the opportunity to bridge the gap between you and a huge dragnet of prospective clients every day, 365 days/year. We are an expert SEO agency for law firms across Australia and can help you to maximise your potential and regularly receive qualified potential clients to their practice.
Local Lawyer SEO Marketing Builds Google My Business & Other Directory-Generated Leads
With organic local attorney search engine marketing, optimise your content not only on your physical website, but also optimise external websites to mention your brand in the most effective manner, effectively sending out positive sentiment and mentions across the city, which means phone calls and enquiries are coming from all sources.
Outrank Any Local Law Firm's In Your Area Crushing The Competition
Can you imagine the impact of our SEO services for lawyers driving your law firm ranking positions to the top of the search engine results for all relevant keywords, crushing your competition and driving large numbers of qualified traffic - you above every competitor, every time? This is exactly what our SEO for law firm websites will do, when you type into Google ‘personal injury lawyers Sydney', your brand will be above your competition and this will ensure anyone searching for your legal services will find you first, putting you at the front of the queue!
Turn Prospective Clients (Existing & New Traffic) Into Paying Clients
As your brand becomes known as the local authority in your practice area(s), your ability to turn existing traffic and new traffic into paying customers becomes less of a challenge, due to your local authority and awareness.
Stamp Your Law Firm's Authority As The Reputable Option
With the hope of not sounding too repetitive, we are a specialist SEO agency for lawyers, and will ensure that your practice is consistently found highly in the search engine results above your competitors. Thus, your legal practice core legal services will be seen as the best option, creating a tidal wave of qualified and ready to commit prospective clients.
Things to Consider with Law Firm SEO
Law firms that choose not to do SEO have to play the Google or Bing Ads game. That's super-expensive! Here are some things to consider with your Law Firm SEO.
Get your new law firm a new website that matches the marketing objectives of your Brand Strategy With the Brand Strategy in place, we dsign every other piece of marketing collateral in your law firm Use our tried and true CRM technologies to track, nuture and convert your clients Don't underestimate the importance of website hosting. Our servers are hosted in ultra-safe and secure locations in the region of your law firm.
Always where things fall over. We can create every piece of content that your firm needs. From practice area content through to bios to articles.
The Traffic Conundrum for Law Firms
There's no other way to say this, but your law firm's growth now and into the future will be predicated on online traffic to your website.
The way that this traffic finds you are the most pressing question for a growing number of law firms who are finding that other lead channels are drying up.
In this context, at Fast Firms, we demarcate traffic into two categories, one, traffic that you earn and two, traffic that you buy.
In relation to the former, this is obviously where every law firm wants to be and we have a number of clients who are now in this position. Earning website traffic requires a multi-dimensional approach. Most importantly it needs a combination of SEO (search engine optimisation) and content, preferably omnichannel that drives content to your website.
The latter category is simply about spending money on Google Ads.
Why law firms should focus on the former is because whilst Google Ads work you will always be at the peril of paying the cost per click (CPC). CPC isn't cheap for any practice verticle and the cost has and is growing exponentially. For example, once your law personal injury law firm would enjoy leads at a CPC of $20.00. Now the same clicks can you cost in excess of $100 in metropolitan areas.
That said, the reason why law firms choose a CPC approach over and SEO approach are simply because if you work with an agency that is legal industry-specific, you will start getting leads within a very short period of time. In contrast, SEO requires effort, long term commitment and month after month funding.
Experienced SEO Agency For Law Firms & Lawyers
In of itself, SEO is expensive because of its laborious nature. At Fast Firms, we have a proven track record of getting our clients ranked exceptionally well in very competitive search landscapes, and content and design changes that are required, are all handled seamlessly in our one agency.
How can SEO help my law firm?
Google may be an advertising company but its core function is to serve the best information to its user base. Given that there almost 3,000 monthly searches for ‘criminal lawyers Sydney' alone, each of these searches represent a prospective new client. Through careful keyword research, optimising your website's structure, content, usability, and acquiring external citations, SEO can increase your search engine visibility and help promote your legal services over your competitors.
How can SEO bring in personal injury leads?
According to Safe Work Australia, there were 106,260 serious claims with a median compensation of $11,500 paid per claim in 2016-2017. Although the incidence rate of serious claims have fallen 28 percent from 2006-07 to 2015-16, personal injury remains as a viable business stream with well over 1,500 monthly Google searches for ‘personal injury lawyer' across Australia. Did you know that 75 percent of users do not scroll past the first page of search results?
SEO versus PPC: which is better?
Digital marketing agencies tend to prefer PPC because it can produce immediate results but running Google Ads with CPC of $99.00 is not sustainable. This is why search engine optimisation should always be a part of your marketing strategy as, unlike a PPC campaign, SEO can have a cost-effective always-on approach.
Law Firm SEO Guide: Ultimate Search Engine Optimization Blueprint for Attorneys
The basic premise of search engine optimization (SEO) is simple: Maximize your law firm's visibility online by taking advantage of proven techniques to rise higher in search results. These techniques range from creating content that positions you as an expert, to technical tasks such as ensuring your website's structure and code is correctly optimized.
While SEO can be a significant investment, it's an essential part of the marketing mix for those in a marketplace as competitive as the legal space. There are challenges, though: Some law firms that hire outside companies may become frustrated at the lack of transparency or failure to improve search engine rankings. Those who attempt to manage SEO in-house may find a lack of qualified candidates that are good at Local SEO, copywriting and link building. These are all unique qualifications that aren't usually found in one person. Whether you fall into either of those categories or are new to SEO, this search engine optimize guide for attorneys can help you realize the ROI you should be getting from your investment.
SEO for law firms
To gain the visibility you need, you must perform search engine optimization (SEO) on your website to:
Get the pages properly indexed
Get the indexed pages appearing highly enough in the search engine results pages (SERPs) that prospective clients find your pages in Google
Google uses a complex algorithm to decide how to rank pages for keywords. To be successful in Google's rankings, how you optimize your website must dovetail with the ever-changing requirements of Google, and do so in a way that also provides clients and prospective clients with the information they need in a user-friendly way.
Your website is the foundation of successful SEO. From a high-level perspective, your legal SEO campaign should include:
There's much more to these tactics, of course, so read on for the details. If you have any questions along the way, please contact DAGMAR Marketing to find out about our SEO services for lawyers.
Part 1: Keyword Research Keyword research consists of using professional tools and strategies to discover how people are searching for the legal services you provide. Although some keyword tools provide a degree of free usage, the most sophisticated typically are not free, so consider paying for a subscription or outsourcing keyword research to experts who offer SEO services for lawyers. Another short-term option is to see what free trial offers currently exist for these tools. We italicized short-term because SEO is a long-term endeavor. Some of the tools we use include:
Google Keyword Planner KWFinder SEMrush SpyFu Wordtracker
Your ideal keywords are highly targeted with steady to good levels of traffic and with manageable levels of competition. The latter requirement is why, for example, you don't try to simply rank for “attorney.” As you conduct research, you'll need to analyze keywords found for commercial intent. Although terms with commercial intent may have less traffic than other terms you find, they have two advantages:
You can rank more easily with these terms
They tend to convert at a much higher rate because people are looking for services, rather than just information
As an example, the keyword in the image below is from someone who is clearly interested in suing an insurance company. This keyword is entered as a search term an average of 90 times per month.
Another example of a keyword with commercial intent are the 320 people searching each month for “Florida legal services.” The intent is commercial because they are looking to obtain (hire) legal services.
You'll also want to find keywords with research intent. These often start with “why” or “how” as people seek answers to problems searching on these terms. Content based on these keywords make sense to use in content such as blog posts, white papers, case studies, and videos. These searchers may not be quite ready for legal services, but getting your law firm in front of them makes sense as a lead-nurturing strategy. The creation of quality content matters here: Content that educates or informs tends to garner more links and shares, which are ranking factors we'll discuss below.
After you conduct your research, you can create a strategy based upon the keywords that you found, monitoring its success and tweaking it as needed.
SEO Tips for Law Firms
When it comes to SEO, the legal industry is one of the most competitive, so outsmarting and outranking competitors will require taking a strategic approach. In addition to finding keywords with research intent, it's important to know which keywords your competitors are ranking well for and which ones they aren't ranking well for in SERPs so you can map out your strategy accordingly.
Below are several other helpful SEO tips law firms can abide by in order to outperform competing law firms in search engines:
领英推荐
For more in-depth information, check out our post on keyword research for attorneys A side note: At this point, you probably already have a domain name. If you don't, get in touch with us to discuss how to choose a relevant, keyword-rich domain name that isn't spammy. If you don't yet have a website, you can also find out why we recommend WordPress as your content management system.
Part 2: Website Optimization As a baseline requirement, you must have a responsive site design . If you do, you're ready to move on, and here are key elements of website optimization.
SEO Site Structure
How your site is organized and where your content appears within your website's architecture is an important part of having a search engine-friendly site. Your site should be logically organized and structured in a way that makes it easy for site visitors to find the information they need.
Because you want potential clients to find your services section as quickly as possible, put that selection far to the left in the main navigation bar. Here is an example:
Beneath the main Areas of Practice navigation item, make it equally as easy for potential clients to find your legal specialties. Here is how Harrell & Harrell handles the areas of practice sub-navigation:
It can be tempting to put your About Us link first in the navigation, but it's better for SEO purposes and users if practice pages are first. These are the pages you really want to have rank well in search engines, and having them more prominent in the navigation sends more authority signals to search engines.
Our experience with studying the click patterns of multiple client websites is that users go first to the practice pages and then to attorney profiles and About Us pages.
Look for other ways to provide a quality user experience (UX) throughout your site. If your site is easy to use, people will feel more comfortable using it and be more likely to spend more time exploring it.
Good UX is also playing an increasingly important role in the effectiveness of your SEO. Google notices when people spend a reasonably significant amount of time on your pages and site (and, conversely, when you have a high bounce rate and low time on page/site). In addition, Google also monitors other engagement metrics.
Google has stated that engagement metrics (which allow Google to measure how much site visitors are engaging with your site and content) are not directly a ranking factor. But studies have shown a significant correlation, with high-ranking sites typically being the ones in which site visitors engage.
Here are additional UX tips:
When people find your site through organic SEO, they typically don't see your home page first. They instead find you through the page on your site that ranks the highest for the keyword they used. This means you need to envision every page of your site as a potential front door to the rest of your site and as the first impression of your company.
Whenever you're adding pages, consider where they belong, with streamlined simplicity a real bonus. A common mistake that lawyers make is adding too many pages to the navigation menu which could dilute the authority flowing to services pages. Instead we recommend creating sidebar navigation elements on individual pages to progress deeper into a subject matter.
Make sure you also include appropriate site maps so search engines can more easily find and index your content. Here is information from Google about site maps.
Optimize URLs
Based on the keyword research you've conducted, use keywords in each URL on your site without overdoing usage. We've seen, as just one example, some personal injury attorneys using the term “personal injury” on every single URL on their websites. For example, they might use That crosses over from keyword usage to keyword stuffing, which can hurt your efforts rather than help your SEO. A better URL for the about us page would be . This is a better choice because this page is about your law firm overall, not about a particular service, such as personal injury, that you offer. More examples: Your motorcycle accident services page would be and your car accident services would be Important note: What we're discussing here is optimizing new rather than existing pages on your site. It's possible that you might not have optimized URLs on the pages that already exist on your site. Those pages are almost certainly indexed in Google and, once they are, it may not make sense to change the page URLs for optimization purposes. If it does make sense, this involves more advanced SEO techniques that when done improperly will cause you to lose your visibility in the search engines for those URLs. So, please contact us before changing any URLs.
Blogging
Having a blog is an important part of any law firm SEO strategy. Google has a “freshness” ranking signal that rewards higher rankings to site with frequently updated content. Blog posts also allow you to target search terms that are more research-based in focus. These search terms normally have a lot of traffic and, while your service pages won't qualify to rank for these search queries, they're perfect for a blog post.
To return to the example used earlier, the search phrase “can I sue an insurance company” currently has 90 searches a month. You can target this search term by writing a blog post titled, “How to Sue an Insurance Company if You've Been in an Accident,” with the first how-to on the list being the recommendation to hire an attorney.
Here's another example: Ninety people search for “how to choose a criminal defense attorney” in the United States every month; that's more than a thousand people every year.
You can write a blog post with this title and otherwise optimize the blog post for that term. You could add geographical tags such as “in South Dakota” or “in Miami, Florida.” You may have noticed that the monthly search figure we cite is national in scope, not just within your geographical practice area. But that number still has value: If you write a broad-level post about choosing a criminal defense attorney, there is clearly value in people inside your practice area reading the post. And, when people outside your practice area read your post to gain information, it will help with the engagement metrics described above.
You have multiple audiences for blog posts such as this, including:
The bottom line here is that your blog can be a powerful, linkable asset. This means that it's the most likely place that other sites will link to, which is essential for your legal SEO (again, more about linking later).
Page Speed
Page speed has been a ranking factor for desktop searches for several years and it's now become a factor for mobile searches. From an SEO perspective, Google states that pages that “deliver the slowest experience to users” will be negatively impacted. However, at DAGMAR Marketing, we believe that everyone should keep page-speed considerations front of mind. Even if your speed is fast enough to satisfy Google, site visitors are impatient. If your pages take too long to load, someone who really needs to hire a lawyer will likely move on to your competitor's site. This potential client is worrying about a legal issue, so he or she isn't going to wait very long, probably much less time than someone ordering a pizza online or buying a pair of shoes.
In addition, if your pages are among the slowest to load, you'll be hit with a double whammy: less visibility in Google and potential clients fleeing to your competitor's site. If you're interested in more information about page speed, we've done a deep dive here . You can test your site at Page Speed Insights By using BestBuy.com as an example, we can see the following information about their mobile offerings:
This tells us that although BestBuy.com is reasonably well optimized, its page speed is mediocre. More specifically, its First Contentful Paint (FCP) metric tells us it takes nearly two seconds for users to first see a visual response from the page. It then takes another full second for the HTML document to load and be parsed; DCL stands for “DOM Content Loaded.” Is being average in mobile page speed good enough for BestBuy.com? Or, more to the point, if your load times are similar to Best Buy's, is that good enough for your site? The answer is, it depends upon what your competitors' page speeds are. You can check your competitors' page speeds with the Page Insights Tool.
Here is a look at BestBuy.com's desktop speed and optimization:
Desktop is somewhat faster for BestBuy.com, with optimization not as well done.
We can learn even more from Page Speed Insights. For example, here is additional information about the mobile site's page load distributions:
We can see, using both of their metrics (FCP and DCL), what percentage of their pages are considered to be fast in loading speed; how many are average; and how many are slow. Here are desktop results:
Another tool we recommend for checking page speed and other purposes is GTMetrix.com One more thing is important to mention: Google's accelerated mobile pages (AMP). We wrote about AMP in depth but, in short, AMP is Google's way of facilitating your ability to create lightning-fast mobile pages, crucial to consider since U.S. consumers are now spending an average of five hours daily on their mobile devices.
On-Page Factors: Content
Now more than ever, great content is a must-have if you want your law firm's site to rank well in Google. Besides the home page, what else must you have?
First, it's important to have a landing page that provides an overview about the services your practice offers, linking to individual pages for each of your individual specialties. For example, you could have a page describing your law firm's services in general, and why a client should choose you. Then, from that services page, link out to a page that describes how you can assist car accident victims, as well as to one that describes services for truck accident victims, motorcycle accident victims, wrongful death and so on. Ensure that all services of any significance are included.
On your services page, include high-level keywords that people use to search for those services, using geo-modifiers as it makes sense. Include clear calls to action on each page, making it seamless to contact you online, by email, by phone and in whatever other ways you offer.
Do you offer free case evaluations? If so, it's important to make clear.
If you have multiple locations, create a location landing page that clearly delineates the city/state of each of them, along with how to contact each of the offices. Then link to individual location pages and create quality content for each location page. This is an excellent opportunity to use geo-targeted keywords.
Create a compelling story in your about us section. Experiment with ditching corporate speak as much as you feel comfortable doing. Here is how attorney Megan Zavieh presents herself as the well-rounded person she is through her choice of images:
This may feel too casual for you. If so, that's fine. This approach doesn't work for everyone. Take a look at how we handle introductions to our team at DAGMAR Marketing . Consider including a snippet that personalizes each attorney in similar ways.
Strategically include testimonials and reviews throughout the site rather than limiting them to the page specifically for testimonials. They really do influence potential clients. Why? Here, we'll quote from a guest post we wrote for LSAInsider.com : “84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, with 74% of them saying that positive reviews increase how much they trust a local business, and 54% visiting a website after reading positive reviews about the company.
“Here's one reason why this happens: social proof. This concept (known more formally as the informational social influence theory) states that when a person does not know how to act in a certain situation, he or she will look to see what other people are doing, and then imitate their actions.” A comment about page length: Although there is no magic number as far as length, Google rewards longer content. We recommend a service page for every segment of your law practice, each with a minimum of 1,000 words.
Provide an FAQ page and use checklists and bulleted lists throughout your site. Google now provides an Answer Box in response to many questions asked, located at the top of search results pages. If Google pulls content from your site and puts it there, it's really located in what is called position zero, since it's found even higher than the top-ranked organic listing.
Schema
This is an additional form of HTML markup that you can use on your law firm's name on your own website, as well as on any address information. You can find the schema information for local businesses here . It's important that you use the appropriate schema for reviews on your site, as well. By doing so, Google may reward you with a review snippet in search results. Using schema is more complicated than entering title tag and meta description tag on the backend of your site, so contact us with questions or for help.
Part 3: Local SEO for Lawyers Local SEO requires you to optimize for your specific locations.This means that, if you have multiple office locations, you should have a unique optimized page on your website for each one in order to link well for your local audience.
If you're more successful at this than your competitors, then your firm will appear in the coveted three-pack found in Google's SERPs.
Below is an example of a three-pack. When we search for “providence rhode island attorneys,” a map appears at the top of the SERPs that pinpoints the location of the three highest-ranking attorneys in local search. Below that is more detailed information about each of these three attorneys. This is prime real estate, indeed.
If you click on the “ More places ” link, you'll see additional listings.
As this image shows, Kelly, Souza, Rocha & Parmenter P.C., is just one ranking away from appearing in the prized three-pack for “providence rhode island attorneys.” In other words, this law firm could go from being buried in a “More places” link to being highlighted on a map at the top of the SERPs.
We'll examine this example in more detail but, first, let's do a bit of reverse engineering to help you rank well for local search. If you haven't yet created or claimed your Google My Business (GMB) listing , put that at the top of your list. It is essential that you have an accurate and complete GMB listing.
After you create or claim yours, you will need to verify that listing. You can find more information about the process here You must have a complete and accurate GMB listing, even if you have a great website. To quote Google , “Google My Business complements your existing website by giving your business a public identity and presence with a listing on Google. The information that you provide about your business appears on Google Search and Maps.” It's vital that the name, address and phone (NAP) information found on your website and in accompanying schema matches that of GMB. Think of it as the Yellow Pages of the digital age and you'll quickly see why inaccuracies are highly problematic.
If there are any discrepancies in your NAP, prioritize this fix because accurate business data is fundamental to Google's local search algorithm. The maps section of Google, for example, relies heavily on accurate data so users call the right number and get accurate driving directions. The bottom line: If your online NAP information is incorrect, Google won't trust your listing enough to show it for searches.
Now, let's go back to the law firm that was ranking number four in local search.
You know what stands out?
“No reviews.” Reviews in Google are a huge factor in local SEO rankings, so encourage satisfied clients to write a review of your law firm. Don't ask for a positive review; simply make the request of clients that you believe are satisfied with your services. Here's how you can create a unique link that will take these clients to where they can write that review.
Never write a fake review or encourage anyone else to do so. Don't have members of your law firm team write one, and don't ever leave a bad review about your competitors. Have a plan in place about how you'll respond to any negative reviews you receive, and don't respond to only the negative ones.
SearchEngineLand.com has more recommendations about reviews and here is our own deep dive about customer engagement marketing and Google Reviews Any time you're listed in a directory, make sure that your name, address and phone number are correct. Contact any directories that have incorrect information and request corrections to the citations. Google references the NAP information in your GMB profile against NAP data displayed in any other online business directory (such as Yelp.com, YP.com, and Foursquare.com) and discrepancies lead to a lack of trust with Google.
If you're new to local SEO or aren't getting the results you need from your current local SEO provider, DAGMAR Marketing can help. We focus on proven best practices and have helped law firms like yours realize gains in rankings and a better ROI.
Local SEO for lawyers is one of our specialties, and we've even picked up local SEO awards along the way.
Part 4: Link Building To have a highly effective legal SEO campaign, you must have quality backlinks or inbound links that exist on one site and point to yours. These inbound links must be relevant and from diverse set of domains, which is very important if you want your site to rank well in Google.
Measure Your Results
As you incorporate SEO tactics into your digital marketing plan, you'll want to benchmark your success. This can include measuring how much your site traffic increases, which pages are receiving the most traffic, how many inbound links are coming into your site and the quality of these links, and more. You can find a wealth of information in Google Analytics and the Search Console, and you can monitor your DA score and so much more. Create solid baseline reports, along with monthly follow up reports. Continue to tweak your strategy as you learn more from your results.
Understand the state of Google results for legal search queries
Google's top spots are dominated by paid ads and local results
Among the 10 organic results, almost 50% of the sites are large aggregator sites like Avvo, Justia, Super Lawyers, etc
Only 25% of organic traffic is available to individual websites
The competition is huge and CPC is insanely high
You can't outrank the aggregator sites so you should rank your profile on them instead
You can also run ads on sites like Avvo and avoid the ridiculous CPCs for legal keywords in Google
Google's search results are changing. There's currently 19 result types that dominate Google's top spots.
This applies to the legal space as well. When searching for “Miami DUI attorney“, there's a lot of noise:
7 paid ads (4 on top, 3 on the bottom)
3 local results (“Maps” pack)
10 organic results (“blue links”)
Think about that – of the 10 organic results, half of them are aggregator sites (Avvo, Yelp, etc) – only 25% of organic results are really available.
The competition for those spots is tough – you need to be realistic about your campaign and adjust strategy accordingly.
Aside from just ranking your website, there's other tactics that will increase your overall organic exposure.
My best piece of advice as it relates to attorney SEO is instead of fighting aggregator sites, leverage them. Avvo, Justia, Super Lawyers – they've done the hard work, they rank for everything.
The beauty of these sites is they have their own internal algorithms to rank profiles.
If you optimize your profile to rank in Avvo, you're essentially ranking for your “money” keywords right off the bat.
On top of that, you can pay for ads within Avvo . These are a great way to bypass the ridiculous CPCs for legal keywords in Google, and capture that traffic through Avvo.
The point is, in competitive spaces, you have to realistic about your goals. The competition is only getting stronger, keep your mind open when it comes to capturing “organic traffic” – it doesn't have to come from Google.
Select your keywords based on intent
Keyword mapping is the process of optimizing pages according to the keyword intent
The “Funnel” model gives us keywords for the Awareness, Interest and Action intents
The intent for the Money keyword is that someone is looking for your services
The intent for Discover keywords is that a user is looking for information on your services
The intent for Attention keywords is that the searcher is looking for information on their case
You should try to rank for all three types of keywords because it will triple your organic exposure and get traffic in the door much faster
I'm not going to cover how to find keywords – others have already done that (see Brian Dean's guide Instead, I'm going to cover keyword mapping.
Keyword mapping is the process of optimizing pages and based on keyword intent.
We like to visualize using the “funnel” model.
“Awareness” keywords.
Intent: Looking for your services.
KW examples: Hire a Miami DUI attorney, Boston defense attorneys near me.
“Interest” keywords.
Intent: Looking for information on your services.
KW examples: Miami DUI attorney reviews, Miami DUI attorney cost,
“Action” keywords.
Intent: Looking for information on their case.
KW examples: How to fill out EB-5 Visa, DUI prison sentence length.
The main goal is to rank your “money” keywords. But … we want to dominate and rank for everything.
This strategy allows you to triple your organic exposure and get traffic in the door much faster.
To do so, you need to clearly understand how your keyword list maps to intent.
It's a tedious process, but it helps you clearly understand how your website should be setup and the type of content to populate it with.
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