SEO Marketing for Attorneys: Tips for Law Firms

There are many benefits to have a well SEO-optimized site in your law firm marketing efforts. First off, it increases traffic from search. Google is hands down the easiest way to drive clients to a law firm:

• 96% of people seeking legal advice use a search engine. (Google Consumer Survey, Nov 2013)
• 74% of consumers visit a law firm’s website to take action. (Google Legal Services Study Sept 2013)
• 62% of legal searches are non-branded (i.e., generic: “Phoenix divorce attorney,” etc.). (FindLaw U.S. Consumer Legal Needs Survey 2014)

SEO is not a one-off activity but rather a marketing channel that should be optimized and monitored over time.  It does take a little longer to get rolling on organic search, but once it snowballs, it can have a long-lasting positive impact on lead generation and brand awareness. SEO is a must for solos and small firms that have limited budgets to market their firms.

Here are tips to properly optimize your website and avoid the same mistakes that so many lawyers make.

Short-tail vs. long-tail keywords – which one should you use?

Short tail keywords, also known as “head terms” are search phrases containing 1 to 3 words. For example, “lawyers” or “divorce lawyers” or “personal injury lawyers”. But these terms are extremely broad and because of that, it has high search volume and high competitiveness and thus, harder to rank on Google.

On the other hand, long-tail keywords are much more specific.

Examples of long-tail keywords :

• How much is a paternity test
• How can a mother lose custody of her child
• Do I need an attorney if I have a DUI in Denver?

The challenge is that you will receive fewer visitors to your website compared to using short-tail keywords. The good thing is, the visitors typing these keywords and landing on your site are searching for something specific and have a higher intent to purchase.

During your keyword research, make sure to know what users are looking for in your specific practice. Then, start creating user-focused content. By going after long-tail keywords, not only you will rank well but also answer lead’s questions to help them convert.

NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) Consistency 

NAP stands for Name, Address, Phone Number. You have to make sure that your NAP is correct – both on your website as well as on other sites such as local directories throughout the web. One tip is to have your Google My Business listing as a reference for the rest.

NAP is critical for businesses wishing to rank well within the local organic search results, because search engines take the info under consideration when determining which companies to point out for geo-targeted searches. If your NAP isn’t consistent, Google will be confused and you’ll be less likely to show up in The Map Pack.

Setting Up Your Law Firm’s Google My Business Listing

Speaking of Google my Business, another important aspect of ranking well for your practice verifying and optimizing your Google My Business listing and other listings on platforms such as Bing Places. Having a verified listing holds more weight than an unverified one, so it’s extremely important that the verification process gets completed.

Another advantage of having control over your business listings on these platforms is that you’re ready to provide accurate and up-to-date information, like hours of operation. Then, adding as many images as possible of your law firm can help it rank far better in the map pack. You can show your legal offices on the inside and outside, show your team, and you and show your firm's logo.

How one attorney gained 300% more cases a month with Revenue River

Tolison & Williams, Attorneys at Law, are a family & estate planning law firm -- a difficult job that requires a trustworthy person as you’re dealing with quite sensitive and personal areas of a person’s life.

Katie and her team were having trouble bringing in leads despite their reputation for client advocacy and track record of winning cases. This law firm saw search engine optimization (SEO) as a cost-efficient way to get in front of qualified leads. By partnering with Revenue River and its SEO team, their site was ranking well and new cases were coming in.

SEO is a real need for attorneys these days. When you rank high, you can generate dozens of new leads weekly.

The results:

• 60% of overall traffic in 2018 was organic traffic

• 84% of overall traffic in 2019 was organic traffic, that’s a 24% growth YoY
• 201%+ growth of overall traffic YoY