by AlexAre you a law firm looking to take the next steps and achieve local, national, or even international success? Inc Studio is here to help.
We know how hard it can be to reach that next level. The market is more competitive than ever, potential clients are almost spoilt for choice and it can be a difficult task to even get your website noticed. And that’s all before they’ve even landed on your home page!
But what if we told you there was a way to naturally reach your target audience and significantly boost your leads, all without spending a fortune on marketing?
In this blog post, we will explore what law firm SEO is and how you can use it to propel your business forward. Keep reading to find out more.
What is SEO?
First things first, we need to clear the air and establish what SEO is – just in case you were unsure.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of optimising your website for search engines with the goal of ranking higher in organic (unpaid) results.
When you type a query into a search engine, the engine’s bots will crawl all available web pages to identify which is most relevant to your query. It then uses algorithms to determine which pages should appear at the top of the organic search engine results pages (SERPs).
When optimised correctly for Yahoo, Google and Bing SEO, your law firm’s website will appear higher on the SERPs and attract more qualified leads who are looking for legal advice. In turn, this will aid in boosting your firm’s brand awareness and online presence in a natural and cost-effective way.
Better yet, by utilising local SEO best practices, you can target potential clients in your local area and ensure that they find your firm first.
Considering that 78% of consumers use search engines to find information about local businesses at least once a week, this is not an aspect of SEO to be slept on.
Why is Law Firm SEO important?
One of the biggest challenges for any law firm is working out how to stand out against competitors and sit at the top of competitive search queries.
When people search for legal advice and services, it is likely that your firm will be competing with a range of other options. And without proper optimisation, potential clients may miss your website completely.
Additionally, it’s highly likely your main competitors are implementing a unique SEO strategy of their own, so you need to make sure you’re staying one step ahead.
That’s why SEO for law firms is so important, especially now in 2023 when the market is more competitive than ever before. By implementing an effective SEO strategy, your law firm is offered the opportunity to stand out from the crowd and boost its online visibility.
An effective SEO strategy allows you to optimise your website and content for key law-related phrases, you will be able to target potential clients who are actively searching for legal advice and services online – thus providing you with a unique advantage over your competitors.
Does SEO Work For Lawyers?
It’s all well and good outlining what this kind of digital marketing strategy is, but does search engine optimisation for law firms actually work?
The answer is an emphatic yes. By crafting a bespoke SEO strategy for your law firm and optimising the backend of your site to be more visible and attractive to search engines, you can reach out to potential clients who are searching for legal advice or services online.
Furthermore, by crafting well-written blog posts and keyword-optimised content across all digital channels, you can further enhance the visibility of your firm’s website by engaging with potential clients who are actively searching for legal advice online.
For example, using a well-researched SEO strategy, Inc Studio has recently helped one of our clients achieve several top 3 positions on competitive search queries, a 266% increase in organic traffic and a 553% increase in search engine impressions all within a six-month period.
These are just some of the key benefits of hiring an SEO company to craft your content strategy – but more on that later on.
Legal SEO Ranking Factors
Now we’ve explored whether SEO for law firms is a worthwhile venture, it’s time to explore what makes up a great SEO strategy.
Search Engine Optimisation can be broken down into three distinct pillars – On-site SEO; Technical SEO; and Off-site SEO. Each pillar is equally as important and should be addressed in a comprehensive SEO strategy. Let’s explore them below:
On-Site SEO
This is probably what first comes to mind when you think of SEO. The first pillar of SEO contains keywords, bespoke optimised content and a strong internal web of links.
On-site SEO for law firms begins with in-depth keyword research where you discover high-value, industry-relevant keywords to target. An understanding of the search volume, length, intent and search difficulty of these terms is vitally important to the success of your SEO strategy, as this can help set out and identify realistic goals.
These keywords are then carefully incorporated into the copy of your website, such as in the meta titles and descriptions, headers, content body copy and more.
After creating a keyword matrix of primary, secondary and Latent Semantic Indexing keywords, an SEO expert will create a tailored content strategy spanning several months. This will include blog posts, landing pages and other content pieces that address your target keyword’s search intent, is entirely original, and fulfil other key aspects of SEO, such as the correct use of header and body tags.
This content must be closely monitored and optimised to ensure that it is consistently meeting the search query’s intent in addition to the latest SEO best practices and guidelines.
However, as tempting as it can be to write content tailored to be noticed by search engines, you should really be creating content for the query’s targeted audience. Not only will this create a positive user experience (which is now a crucial ranking factor for Google SERPs), but it will also encourage customers to contact your firm or return to your website multiple times.
Finally, building a strong web of internal links ensures that customers can easily navigate around your website and find exactly what they are looking for. This internal web can massively affect the user experience of your site, and therefore your overall ranking.
Technical SEO
Truthfully, great SEO for law firms is so much more than just keywords and optimised onsite content.
Technical SEO is the second pillar of a successful SEO strategy, and it involves optimising the backend of your website to ensure that it’s running smoothly. It includes an array of factors such as page speed, crawlability, mobile-friendliness and indexing.
One key aspect of Technical SEO which isn’t to be overlooked is a site’s core web vitals, which measure website speed, mobile and desktop usability, and on-screen visible stability.
Having poor, unoptimised core web vitals can lead to weak positions on SERPs, and therefore a lower rate of organic website visits and leads.
However, there are several other crucial factors to consider with technical SEO, such as creating good meta descriptions, optimised image tags, and intuitive UX and UI design.
Much like its on-site counterpart, technical SEO requires constant management and optimisation to ensure pages are correctly indexed and performing at their best.
Following the search engine guidelines for technical SEO can be a difficult and time-consuming task that can have extremely negative effects on your website if done incorrectly, which is why it’s best to employ an expert who understands the complexities of this pillar.
Off-Site SEO
Off-site SEO consists of external link building, social media SEO and much more besides. As its name suggests, these activities take place beyond your website itself.
Generating external links back to your site, otherwise known as backlinks, is a hugely important activity that can massively increase the visibility of your website on SERPs.
Think of a backlink as a recommendation from another website that your content is reliable, engaging and noteworthy. As with any reference, be it a recommendation from a client or a link back to your site, the more high-quality backlinks you have pointing to your website, the better.
It’s a matter of quality over quantity. It is always important to have two great backlinks rather than 200 sub-par ones, as this will demonstrate to search engines that your content is trustworthy and useful.
It’s worth noting that poor backlinks can negatively affect your site’s domain authority, performance and SERP rankings. While there are ways to block these links from being indexed by search engines, we recommend being careful with which websites you approach to reference your content – if that’s the strategy you decide to take, that is.
Additionally, simply ‘buying’ backlinks is a huge risk to take, as Google can easily spot these links and rank your site lower on the SERP.
Social media SEO for law firms is also a key factor in an off-site SEO strategy, as networks such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn can be great for driving website traffic and building a following.
Creating relevant social content that your target audience will find valuable and engaging can increase brand awareness, trust with your clients and help increase visits to your website from other platforms.
Can I Do SEO Myself?
While there is nothing stopping you from implementing your own SEO strategy, it can be a dangerous game that can lead to your site getting flagged, penalised, or even worse – completely removed from SERPs.
Optimising for SEO requires an in-depth knowledge of the various ranking factors, as well as how to properly balance them without risking any penalties.
Therefore, it is highly recommended that you enlist the help of a professional SEO agency with the knowledge and experience to help you reach your goals in the most efficient way possible.
An SEO company, like Inc Studio, will have experience with the latest Google algorithms and understand how to create strategic campaigns that drive organic traffic. Certain SEO studios may also have access to specialised tools that are worth their weight in gold for law firms.
How to Achieve Great SEO For Law Firms
Despite the fact that Search Engine Optimisation can yield fantastic long-term results for any business, it’s an activity that requires a significant investment of time and ongoing maintenance.
So, how can you make the most of your SEO strategy and avoid aimless wandering through the back ends of search engine result pages?
Like any great marketing strategy, good SEO starts by setting a marketing budget.
You wouldn’t spend pennies on a billboard advertising how great your law firm is, so why would you do that on search engines in front of a daily audience of over two million?
Truthfully, installing great SEO on your site doesn’t come cheap, but the rewards can be immeasurable. A good marketing budget combined with a team of industry professionals can do wonders for organic search traffic, and ensure your return on investment is maximised.
The following are three critical steps to follow if you want to boost your website’s online visibility and your brand’s awareness:
1) Follow Basic SEO Best Practices
A successful SEO strategy should involve on-site, off-site and technical activities. This means creating content that is optimised for your target customer and their search intent, ensuring the backend of your site is performing at its best and building a network of backlinks from reliable sources.
This step also requires close and frequent monitoring of all web pages and content for errors and improvements. This can be achieved by using Google Analytics in combination with specialised SEO tools to track your website’s performance over time.
2) Create Original & Engaging Content
By creating original content for law firms, potential customers and industry professionals, you can build trust and strengthen your authority in the legal field, all while boosting your SEO rankings.
Original, optimised content in the form of blog posts, whitepapers and case studies can be incredibly beneficial for your website’s rankings and brand awareness. This is because it will not only see an increase in organic search traffic, but it also gives you the opportunity to rank for more competitive long-tail keywords and phrases as your domain authority grows.
However, just because an original blog post has been created in accordance with SEO best practices, it doesn’t mean the post will automatically rank on search engines. In fact, it can take anywhere from three to six months for a blog post to start ranking on Google SERPs so be prepared to put in the hard yards and create content consistently.
3) Hire an Experienced SEO Expert
As we’ve established, creating an effective SEO strategy isn’t something you can do overnight. It takes time, attention and frequent updates to be successful.
That’s why it pays to enlist the help of an experienced SEO expert, who knows what keywords to focus on and how to create content that will reach your target demographics.
There are many evident benefits to hiring an SEO company, especially with a good SEO specialist being able to seamlessly create original content for your website that’s designed to rank, all while providing guidance in other areas, such as UX/UI design, copywriting, and more.
When you hire a qualified SEO, you’ll be able to accurately set SEO goals that are tailored to your law firm’s needs so you can make the most of your SEO efforts.
An SEO specialist can provide you with key insights into how to improve your website’s visibility, as well as help you create a long-term SEO strategy that focuses on both short-term gains and long-term growth.
Additionally, with professional SEO services, it’s easy to track how well your website is performing. Through frequent reports, you’ll be able to analyse data and see things like the increase in organic search traffic and the number of visits to your website, giving you a better understanding of what’s working and what isn’t. Data like this is invaluable when trying to build an organic presence online.
Although there are costs to consider when hiring an SEO expert, the potential growth your law firm could experience (especially compared to the dire consequences of performing a poorly-executed SEO strategy yourself) is more than worth it.
Discover The Best SEO Law Firms For You
SEO is a necessary strategy for law firms aiming to reach their target market and gain valuable customers, and bringing on board an experienced SEO professional can be the difference between success and failure.
We might be slightly biassed, but when it comes to law firm SEO, there’s no better place than Inc Studio.
Inc Studio is an experienced SEO agency for law firms within the UK and abroad, having had ongoing SEO success in numerous fields with our bespoke strategies.
Our approach is focused on creating a long-term SEO strategy that increases the visibility of your law firm in organic search, driving quality traffic to your site and increasing conversions.
We understand the complexities of SEO for law firms and have access to advanced tools and insights that help us identify new opportunities within our client’s markets. Our team is skilled at understanding how to create content that reaches their target customers and achieves success with SERP rankings.
Take your legal firm to the next level with Inc Studio’s SEO services – get in touch today to learn more about how we can help your business grow.