SEO FOR LAW FIRMS
In our digital-first world, having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses, including law firms. One key way to achieve this is through Law Firm SEO – a strategy that greatly influences a law firm’s ability to attract clients and stand out online.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is the practice of improving various aspects of a website to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). For law firms, SEO is essential for showcasing their expertise and services to potential clients who are searching for legal help online.
It’s important to understand that SEO for law firms involves specific strategies tailored to the legal industry. While the basic principles remain the same, law firm SEO focuses on addressing the unique challenges and needs of legal practices.
Why Law Firm SEO Matters
The importance of establishing an effective law SEO strategy is more vital than ever for those offering legal services. More and more people are using search engines like Google to find legal services. Whether it’s a simple legal question or a complex case, your potential clients are starting their search online.
Ranking higher in search results not only increases a law firm’s visibility but also builds trust with potential clients. Research shows that users tend to trust websites that appear at the top of search results, seeing them as reliable and knowledgeable.
And in the crowded market of legal services, law SEO helps firms stand out from the competition. By optimising your online presence, we can help your law firm attract quality leads and ultimately grow your client base.
In essence, law firm SEO goes beyond just getting more website traffic or better rankings. It’s about strategically positioning a law firm to connect with people in need of legal assistance, driving business growth and success.
Our expertise in this sector means that we can provide clients with professionally-tailored SEO for law firms.
Key SEO services for Lawyers
A purpose-designed SEO strategy built around your legal offering can allow you to reach the customers you want. We offer clients award winning legal SEO, with our in-house specialists targetting the audience you desire, in full accordance with advertising ethics and regulations.
If you are considering implementing SEO, or using an SEO agency, here are some key elements of legal SEO you will need to consider.
Keyword Research
Keyword research is the bedrock of effective Law Firm SEO. Understanding the nuances of how people search online is key. People search for legal services in many ways, often using different phrases for the same service.
For example, someone searching for “personal injury lawyer”, “car accident lawyer”, “what to do after a car accident”, or “best injury legal services” may all be searching for the same thing. Understanding this breadth of search phrases allows legal firms to capture a wider audience base effectively.
For law firms operating locally, understanding local search phrases is also important. These phrases can be used by potential clients seeking legal services near them, making them essential components of a robust SEO strategy.
When selecting keywords, it's essential to choose phrases that accurately reflect the services offered and align with user intent. They should also have a reasonable chance of being ranked for. This will form a keyword map that will drive your SEO strategy.
Content Creation and Optimisation
A building block of effective Law Firm SEO lies in the creation of high-quality, relevant content. Based on your keyword map, crafting content that addresses user needs is essential. By anticipating and fulfilling the informational needs of potential clients, you will begin to receive the lion's share of traffic whilst building trust with your audience.
From comprehensive practice area pages to engaging blogs and informative guides, content helps you connect with potential clients and demonstrate your expertise and authority.
Developing content hubs or topic clusters is an advanced tactic that can improve a website’s topical authority. By organising related content around central themes or practice areas, law firms can streamline navigation and enhance user experience, as well as impact their search engine visibility.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is another area to focus on. On-page elements are things that you may not be able to spot on a web page, but they play an important role in communicating the relevance and context of web pages to search engines like Google. Elements such as meta tags, header tags, and structured data guide search engine algorithms in understanding and ranking website content effectively.
Meta tags, such as title tags and meta descriptions, provide concise summaries of webpage content. Optimising meta tags with relevant lawyer SEO keywords and compelling descriptions not only improves click-through rates but can also help improve search engine visibility and user engagement.
Header tags (represented as H1, H2, H3, etc) structure webpage content hierarchically, highlighting key sections and helping readability. Incorporating relevant keywords within header tags also signals to search engines the thematic relevance of webpage content.
Structured data markup, implemented using schema.org vocabulary, enables search engines to understand and interpret webpage content more effectively. By providing additional context about elements like business hours, reviews, and contact information, structured data enhances search engine visibility and enables rich snippets in search results.
Local SEO
Local law SEO helps optimise a law firm's online visibility for location-based searches, ensuring prominence in local search results and Google Maps listings.
Maintaining an updated and optimised Google Business Profile is paramount for law firms seeking local visibility. This helps improve visibility in Google Maps and local search results, providing valuable information to potential clients, including business hours, contact details, and reviews.
Consistent and accurate NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information across online directories, citations, and website pages is also essential for local SEO success. Inaccuracies or inconsistencies in NAP data can undermine trust and diminish search engine visibility.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO covers a wide range of optimisations aimed at enhancing website functionality, and improving user experiences. Addressing elements such as website speed, crawlability, mobile responsiveness, and security ensures your website is performing optimally, helping visibility in search engine results.
With mobile devices dominating internet usage, ensuring mobile responsiveness of your site is essential. Using a responsive design offers an optimal user experience across devices, influencing search engine rankings and improving the usability of your site.
There are also advanced lawyer SEO tactics such as implementing structured data, developing hreflang tags for multi-region sites, and addressing duplicate content through canonical tags. Depending on your site, they may all be relevant to improving your technical SEO.
Off page SEO
With Law Firm SEO, there is also a lot happening outside of your website that can boost your online presence. Off-page SEO strategies can help you get noticed and build credibility in the eyes of the search engines.
Backlinks are like digital votes of confidence. When other websites link back to yours, it tells search engines that your site is trustworthy and relevant. However not every link is built equal - it’s about going for topically relevant and related domains that will pass on valuable equity.
Links can be built using a variety of techniques. You could contribute guest posts to reputable sites, attend industry events, or collaborate with respected websites. Or use more advanced techniques such as Digital PR, which involves reaching out to journalists and bloggers to get your newsworthy story featured in online publications.
Measuring SEO Success
Knowing how well your Law Firm SEO efforts are paying off is crucial for making informed decisions and optimising your strategy. We use a number of KPIs to measure your SEO success:
- Keyword Rankings
Tracking your keyword rankings helps you understand how well your website is performing in search engine results pages (SERPs) for selected search terms related to your legal services. Moving up in keyword rankings indicates that your SEO efforts are helping your website become more visible to potential clients. - Organic Traffic
This is the number of visitors who find your website through search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Increasing organic traffic indicates that your SEO efforts are driving more people to your site. - Conversion Rates
Conversion rates measure the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as filling out a contact form, subscribing to a newsletter, or requesting a consultation. Improving conversion rates shows that your website is effectively engaging visitors and turning them into potential clients. - Site engagement
On-page engagement is an indicator of the quality and relevance of the content to users’ needs and interests. Analysing factors such as time on page, pageviews per session, and bounce rate will provide indicators of quality. Longer time on page suggests that visitors are actively engaging with the content, reading through it, or interacting with other elements.
Challenges and Considerations in Law Firm SEO
Law Firm SEO comes with its unique set of challenges and considerations. As an experienced agency with many clients in this area, we are comfortable working within the regulatory environment.
We understand that law firms are subject to stringent regulations governing advertising and solicitation practices. Adherence to legal advertising guidelines is essential to avoid potential ethical violations and maintain professional integrity.
We also ensure that all of our SEO practices are ethical. We follow entirely “white-hat” methods and avoid any misleading or deceptive tactics in website content.
The field of SEO is constantly evolving, with search engine algorithms and best practices evolving rapidly. Staying updated with SEO trends, algorithm changes, and industry developments is essential for maintaining competitive advantage. This is another benefit of working with an experienced agency.
Clients we have worked with
Our law firm SEO experience will create a proven strategy to get your website to stand out where it counts within the legal sector. Here are some clients we have helped:
Key trends in SEO for the legal industry
The legal sector in the UK is growing at a healthy rate, with the Law society recent statistics showing that the Law sector saw around an 8% rise over the last year. With competition for clients within the legal sector increasing, it’s more important than ever to stand out to your prospective clients.
And the search starts online: recent research revealed that 70% of people said they would start by looking online if they had a legal question. This is why digital marketing for law firms is essential for a continued flow of new clients.
Content marketing, search engine optimisation and social media are three of the top five most effective digital channels or disciplines for legal firms (source: Econsultancy). These three tactics, combined together, can effectively create a powerful law firm SEO strategy.
Image Source: Econsultancy
A visible online presence is a must in order to present your law firm’s services amongst a competitive market. SEO for lawyers is becoming the principal dimension in a marketing strategy for successful legal practices.
What our clients say
Contact us for Legal SEO
Contact us today to see how your Law firm can grow its online potential.
Law Firm SEO FAQs
Do I Really Need SEO for Lawyers?
Search engine optimisation is a critical component of your law firm digital marketing strategy. Generally, around 50-75% of your website visitors will initially discover your firm through search engines. It’s vital to establish a strong online presence in the search engine result pages. Effective SEO law firm practices ensure that your website consistently ranks high on search engine results pages when people search for services related to what your firm offers.
Do I Have to Hire Someone to Handle SEO for Me?
While you can undertake SEO on your own, it’s important to understand that it involves a significant learning curve and substantial effort. If you’re a novice, be prepared for a lengthy learning journey to master SEO for lawyers. SEO is an ever-changing field with constant search engine updates, requiring continuous investment in staying current.
If you have other time-consuming commitments, it will be challenging to achieve SEO results on your own. Digital marketing for lawyers covers a wide range of skills and marketing channels, and SEO is just one of them. This is why people turn to specialist agencies such as ourselves. We will not only save you time and the learning curve, but also ensure that your campaign is aligned with search engine guidelines. This will give you the best chance of getting strong results.
Can you provide examples of successful Law Firm SEO campaigns you’ve managed in the past?
We have successfully managed SEO law firms campaigns, resulting in increased organic traffic and improved search engine rankings. While client confidentiality prevents us from disclosing specific details, we can provide case studies and testimonials upon request to demonstrate the effectiveness of our strategies.
How do you assess our current website’s SEO performance and identify areas for improvement?
Our assessment of your website’s SEO performance begins with a free site audit that evaluates many factors including keyword rankings, on-page optimisation, backlink profile, website structure, and user experience. If you decide to work with us, through detailed analysis and benchmarking against industry standards, we will identify areas for improvement and develop a tailored strategy to optimise your website’s SEO performance.
How do you stay updated with the latest trends and changes in search engine algorithms that could affect our SEO strategy?
We keep on top of the latest trends and changes in search engine algorithms through continuous monitoring of industry publications, attending SEO conferences and webinars, and maintaining active memberships. We’ve developed a world-class internal training programme to ensure our team engages in ongoing training and is well-equipped to adapt with algorithm updates.
How Long Will It Take to See Results from SEO Services?
SEO for lawyers needs to be considered as a medium to long term project. Typically, it takes a few months, often around three to six, before websites start to see ranking movements. Efforts in SEO compound over time – the longer you practice it, the more authority you will build. Once your site starts to gain traction the results become lasting, driving ongoing qualified traffic to your site.
What level of communication and collaboration can we expect throughout our campaign with you?
Throughout your campaign, you can expect open and transparent communication from our team. The best projects work when there is engagement from both sides. We’ll find out how often you prefer communication and which channels you prefer. We provide regular progress updates, monthly performance reports, and strategic recommendations to keep you informed and involved in the decision-making process. We always welcome feedback and ideas to ensure alignment with your broader business objectives.
