Google Maps Optimization For Your Law Firm

Google Maps has become a modern requirement — both for wandering motorists as well as for businesses who want to strengthen their marketing results. Besides directing clients to your law firm, Google Maps can make your law firm more visible and appealing to local consumers. It is worth exploring Google Maps to discover if your law firm is using this helpful tool to its fullest capability. When a business optimizes the potential of Google Maps, it can enjoy more website traffic and hover higher in search engine rankings. Even if you already use Google Maps, perhaps it is time to enhance the way you manage your listing, by employing a few simple techniques.

How Can You Improve Your Google Maps Listing?

Google Maps is important for any business, but especially for law firms. Optimizing your law firm's listing on Google Maps can get you noticed in local listings. Here are a few points to consider as you examine and improve your Google Maps listing.?

Manage a Compelling Website

First things first. Before optimizing your search engine results through Google Maps, make sure you have a value-added, hospitable site for visitors to land once they click on your listing. Your law firm’s website should have relevant information that will give visitors what they seek. Your valuable content and compelling visuals should rest on a well-designed backdrop. In addition to design and content, the basic information must be complete and consistent with your Google Maps listing. Confirm that your law firm’s name, address and all contact information is the same on every site and social media platform you use. Google’s curious algorithm requires an exact match of all basic information if the search engine bots are going to navigate their way around. Search engines esteem businesses that have the profile and contact information in order, because this usually signifies that the website is reliable and the content is valuable to consumers. Important components of a compelling website include:?

• A large quantity of well-crafted content
• Mobile-friendly material
• Fast-loading pages
• Links to your law firm’s social media platforms
• Updated content with no broken links
• A variety of material, including photos, video clips, and client testimonials
• An About Us Page
• An FAQ page

Update Your Google Business Profile Page?

Besides combing through and tweaking your law firm website, it is crucial to set up or enhance your?Google Business Profile account. Google Maps and GBP are solidly connected, and they impact each other. There are a few easy ways to scrutinize and improve your GBP page:

Set Up Your GBP Page

You can easily set up a new GBP account and claim your business listing, but this is just the first step. Confirm that your profile and contact information are completed entirely, and after every field has been filled in, make sure that all of your specific contact information is consistent with your website and all other places online. This will make it easier for those search engine bots to crawl to and fro, discovering and cataloging information about your business.?

Establish Correct Location

It is critical that your law firm’s location is entered correctly, and this might mean that you include your entire service area — not just the town where your office is situated. If your law firm serves clients in Dallas, but your location is an outlying suburb, you may not be gathering in all potential traffic for your locality.?

Verify Your Consistent NAP

Make sure that your contact information includes the name, address and phone number (NAP) and that it has been entered correctly. When optimizing your business for Google Maps, it is important for your NAP to be entered the same way everywhere it can be found across the internet.?

Include Photos and Video

In addition to a cover photo, logo and profile shots, accompany your GBP page with updated, professional quality photos. These may include office and location shots, as well as candids of law firm team members shown at community events, or featured in the news.?

Video segments can spotlight your team, introducing members to prospective clients. Recently Google introduced an augmented reality version of Google Maps, which will enable consumers to view your location outside and inside in real time. This offers an appealing way to showcase your law firm and attract more traffic to your website.?

Supplement with Q & A

Answer typical questions that consumers ask in the Q & A section of GBP, and according to the rules, it is ethical to write and post your own relevant questions. Use this feature to your law firm’s advantage, because it is a simple and concise way to advertise your brand and to inform prospective clients. Answer all user questions professionally and promptly, even those with a negative edge.

Gather More Positive Reviews

Request a review from every satisfied client. You may need to nudge even happy clients with a few gentle reminders, and provide them with a convenient link to make leaving their review easier. The online checkout process or the wrap-up email you send out are possible places to ask for a client review, and make sure you thank them for taking the time to do it. Reviews are powerful advertising for your law firm and they make a definite impact on your rankings. Local searchers rely heavily on reviews left by past clients and they influence a potential client’s decision to hire your law firm. Take care to monitor and respond to all reviews in a timely and professional manner.?

Display Events and Media Articles

Your GBP page provides spaces to announce charitable events with which your law firm is involved, as well as spots to post articles and media spotlights. These function as additional advertising, but they eventually expire, so keep everything current by adding content continually.?

Gain Local Links

Building links between your law firm website and other websites is another way to accelerate your marketing efforts and enrich your GBP site. Links will impress the search engine bots, give your law firm positive exposure, and provide solid referrals to potential local clients. Start by searching for businesses who might be able to link up to your law firm’s website on their website or social media platform.?If you are wondering which businesses to reach out to, start by viewing your own business connections and those of your local competitors. Here are some additional ideas for gathering more local links:

• Donate to local nonprofits
• Get involved with schools in your area
• Search for business partners that pair well with your law firm
• Win a local contest
• Ask companies you associate with
• Join a local business group
• Start a Better Business Bureau membership

How Do You Tap Into Google Maps To Generate Leads for a Law Firm?

According to the?American Bar Association , almost half the individuals looking for a lawyer do so based on the attorney’s location. Due to this, using Google Maps effectively is essential for gaining more locally-based clients. Below, you can find out how Google Maps for law firms can help your firm gain more potential clients.

Use All the Features

Google Maps offers visitors plenty of information that might be useful for generating business leads. For instance, users can gain a law firm’s phone number, address, home page URL, and direct messaging details through the information provided on Google Maps. Additionally, users can learn how far the firm is from their own address, which might help them determine whom to contact or visit first. Alongside this, visitors may use Google Maps to find out how to drive to the law firm’s address, walk there, or use public transport. This highlights to the user how to visit the firm in person and may influence their decision regarding which firm to hire. Due to this, law firms can improve their chances of gaining leads if they provide all of this information to the listing’s visitors, as it makes the firm more visible in local, legal searches. Moreover, Google Maps is a reliable and trustworthy information source, so using all of its features can help your firm develop trust with prospective clients.

Publish Regular Updates

To generate more leads through Google Maps for law firms, publish regular updates on your Google Maps listing. Gaining more reviews is great for improving your firm’s local search rankings, but publishing content through posts and other media can help your firm target legal keywords more effectively. When doing this, the key thing is to remain consistent. Try to aim for at least two weekly updates. This can help improve your law firm’s local search rankings, while also helping to generate more leads.

Local and Maps Optimization Tips

Here are some additional optimization tips for Google Maps for law firms and local searches.

Create a Local Blog

Seeing as one of the primary aims of your Google Maps listing is to improve your firm’s visibility in local search results and gain more traffic, it can be beneficial to create a local blog to support this effort. Setting up a local blog on your law firm’s website can help you gain authoritative backlinks and develop your local, online reputation, leading to an improved search engine ranking. In this blog, advertise local promotions and events, while also discussing legal topics that specifically relate to the local area. As you develop this blog, make sure you link your posts together to improve the user experience and your website structure. Moreover, this helps improve your site’s overall SEO. Additionally, add links to your services and a call to action in each post to encourage visitors to learn more about your services and persuade them to reach out to you for more information.

Ensure Your Site is Mobile-Friendly

Many Google Maps users conduct their searches on a mobile device, such as when they are on the move, so it is essential that your law firm’s website is mobile-friendly. This means having a well-designed site that automatically adjusts text, images, and menus to fit a user’s screen so that they can easily view the website’s content. To determine if any changes are necessary for your firm’s website, try viewing it on several different devices to see if it functions correctly and make any necessary adjustments. Doing this results in an improved user experience and lower bounce rates, meaning potential clients are less likely to become frustrated and look at your competitors’ services instead.

How Law Quill Can Help?

Optimizing for Google Maps is a smart step in an effective marketing plan. Perhaps the best way to start is by completing your law firm’s Google Business Profile page, since these are closely related. In addition to this, take a look at your website to see where it may be revised and upgraded. You can also increase your visibility on Google Maps by gaining positive reviews, adding photo and video and acquiring local links. By following these action steps, your law firm can be more easily found and chosen when searchers use Google Maps to browse the local area.?

If you would like a free marketing strategy session to learn more about how we can help you with your social media,?schedule an appointment today ! You can also listen to the?Legal Marketing Lounge podcast , or check out the bestselling book?Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms from Amazon today!

Annette Choti, Esq. has over twenty years of combined legal and digital marketing experience. She founded Law Quill, a full-service digital marketing agency for law firms and businesses in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Annette is a sought-after CLE and keynote speaker for Bar Associations and legal events throughout North America. She creates and hosts the?Legal Marketing Lounge?podcast, and is the author of the bestselling book, Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so far from the law, if we are all being honest.??