Hiring an attorney SEO expert helps law firms climb search results, attract more inquiries, and compete with larger firms online. The work covers site structure, keywords, link optimization, content, and paid ads, all of which feed into a single strategy.
Why law firms need SEO
If you run a law firm, you want clients to be able to look up your firm on the Internet. An attorney search engine optimization expert makes sure they can. The specialist builds, maintains, updates, and checks your legal directory daily, and develops, manages, updates, and lists your firm’s profile on a frequent basis. An attorney SEO specialist also creates a customized list for you on premium search engines, so your site is viewed by as many individuals as possible. The bottom line: you can expect more clients inquiring about your services when you hire an attorney SEO expert from day one.
The Internet has become a major source of marketing and a major source of potential clients for lawyers. Lawyer SEO professionals understand how important links are to a lawyer’s marketing campaign, and they make sure those links are optimized. A highly optimized link gets a lot of traffic, which translates to more potential clients.
Start with a competitor analysis
Before you hire an attorney SEO specialist, the first thing he or she will do is analyze your competition. If other lawyers are performing the same type of work as yours, you need to structure your site to be attractive and optimize it to be noticed by search engines. Search engines look at the content on a web page and the keywords used to describe it. Your lawyer SEO specialist should be able to tell you what keywords are best for your field and what keywords are likely to draw in new clients. If you are not an experienced SEO marketer yourself, it might take some time and patience to learn the best SEO strategies, but you will soon learn the importance of search engine optimization for lawyers.
Core pieces of an attorney SEO strategy
For an attorney SEO strategy to be effective, several factors have to be taken into account:
- Building search engine positioning and ranking
- Building link popularity and quality
- Creating and improving web content
- Obtaining targeted leads
- Analyzing results and making changes where necessary
These strategies are all interrelated and depend upon each other for the best SEO service for law firms to be offered.
Build the law firm website first
The most important factor for attorney search engine optimization is building your law firm website. Although the internet is a vast place, it can be difficult to compete with websites owned by larger, well-established law firms. These firms have years of experience marketing their websites and can often use their clout to get higher rankings in the search engines. They have money and are willing to spend it on advertising to increase their presence on the internet. If you have limited experience in this area, or do not wish to take this approach, you should discuss your options with a law firm’s webmaster.
Using pay per click ads
Many attorneys have decided to take a different approach by optimizing their own sites and using pay per click (PPC) advertising to help attract new clients and improve their bottom line. Although PPC advertising does not guarantee success, many attorneys report great results and a good ROI. This form of optimization is not advised for new or small law firms, as these sites lack credibility with the general public, so you will not want to publish flier advertisements on them.
Lawyer-specific SEO tools
There are also a number of “lawyer-specific” tools that can be used for attorney SEO, such as keyword lists and attorney keyword lists. These lists can be useful if you are trying to create a niche market for your lawyer, and they are also useful for helping you optimize your site if you already have a firm offering legal services. Lawyer SEO tools can help you find your own specific keywords, which can help you reach more potential clients and generate more traffic to your law firm’s website. Once you understand the importance of lawyer SEO, you will be able to maximize your firm’s investment in internet marketing.
FAQ
What does an attorney SEO specialist do?
An attorney SEO specialist builds, maintains, updates, and checks your legal directory daily, manages and lists your firm’s profile on a frequent basis, and creates a customized list on premium search engines so your site reaches as many individuals as possible.
Why is competitor analysis the first step in attorney SEO?
Competitor analysis is the first step because other lawyers may be doing the same type of work. The specialist needs to structure your site attractively and optimize it so search engines notice it, and identify the keywords best for your field and most likely to draw in new clients.
Is pay per click advertising a good fit for new or small law firms?
PPC is not advised for new or small law firms because these sites lack credibility with the general public, so flier advertisements on them are not recommended. Many attorneys do report good results and ROI from PPC, but it works better for established practices.