As users continue to search online for local legal services, ranking higher in local search engine results is essential for firms to grow and attract a local client base.
This guide will teach you all about local SEO for solicitors and law firms – what it is, why it’s important, and the simple steps you can take to start ranking higher in local search results.
By following the strategies outlined in this blog, you’ll be well on your way to dominating those all-important “near me” search results!
What Is Local SEO For Lawyers?
Local SEO is the practice of ranking a website higher in local search engine results. Google provides ‘local’ search engine result pages for relevant queries, particularly those searches which include ‘near me’ keywords.
This can be done through various means, including improving website content, conducting keyword research and optimising your website to appear higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
As law firm website owners, it is important to understand local SEO and how it can help your business. This blog will cover the basics of local SEO and provide tips on how to achieve better rankings for your law firm.
In addition, this blog will include both quick wins and tips which require time, investment and more advanced SEO techniques. This will demand some technical know-how.
By following these tips, you will be on your way to local SEO success.
Why Is Local SEO For Lawyers So Important?
Local search engine optimisation is more important than ever for law firms. With local online search results beginning to take a more prominent role in ranking, law firms must take local SEO seriously if they want to remain competitive.
By optimising their website for local online search results, law firms can create a presence near where their clients live or work. This can help improve organic traffic from searches carried out by local customers.
Additionally, the Google Vicinity Update in 2021 gave more weight to local search results, which means law firms with a healthy local presence are even more likely to rank well.
97% of search engine users look for businesses, such as law practices, online.
With the help of a robust local SEO strategy, you can achieve increased prominence in searches, increased traffic and enquiries and maximise business generated online through your website.
Easy – Quick Wins For Local SEO Results For Your Law Firm
In 2019, 37% of legal clients found their lawyers through the internet.
Local SEO plays a significant role in clients finding your firm online and recommending it to others. Optimising your local SEO involves answering queries focused on your location.
You need to optimise your firm’s website to answer local enquiries, create a presence across local directories and focus on legal web pages relevant to your locality.
The following section lists the ‘quick wins’ needed to boost your local SEO – these should be easy to carry out by anyone with a basic level of digital marketing experience.
Fix Your NAP-W Data
The NAP- W data for your law firm is its name, address, phone number and website URL. This needs to be accurate and consistent across all online directories, including your firm’s Google Business Profile.
Your Law firm’s NAP is an important ranking factor and is achieved through making sure your business listings are correct and consistent for each of your office locations forming your online local identities.
Claim & Optimise Your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile (GBP) helps improve engagement and allows you to reach a broader audience through maps and location searches. Creating and optimising your GBP will increase your discoverability and help manage your reputation online through replying to reviews.
Your Google Business Profile allows prospective customers to get in touch with you directly through the messaging feature making it easier for them while improving your impressions on Google Maps and search results.
Finally, it is important to ensure your firm is listed under the correct business category. This would make sure that your firm appears organically in the search results page when particular terms are typed in.
Don’t Forget Bing Places, Apple Maps & Yell
It is widely known that Google dominates internet searches.
However, Bing Maps are used as default on all Windows 10 devices, whereas Apple Maps are default on all iPhones and Apple computers. These search engines together account for 40% of all map searches.
This makes it important to list your business and have a presence on these online search maps alongside your Google My Business profile.
Grow Your Local Citations
Citations are references to your business on the internet. These often mention your business name, phone number, address or your website link on other websites.
The number of citations you have tells Google how trustworthy and legitimate your law firm is and gets your firm’s listing in front of more potential clients searching up relevant terms. In order to quickly build citations, you can sign up to Bright Local free of cost.
In order to maximise effectiveness, citations containing your NAP details must match your listings indexed with Google.
Medium – Local SEO Techniques For Law Firms Which Take Time
A key tip in implementing effective SEO for your law firm is to understand that location or your proximity to the searcher is significant in influencing the results potential clients might see on their results page.
The steps below will help you optimise your location and achieve trustworthiness and authority to appear at the top of these searches.
Ask Your Clients For Reviews
Local SEO is one of the most important factors for law firms, as it helps them stand out from their competition. By asking your clients for reviews, you can boost your firm’s visibility and ranking on search engines.
Keep in mind that good reviews will help improve a firm’s website ranking, as well as attract potential clients. You can also promote reviews on social media and other online platforms to increase client awareness.
Make sure you have a review form on your website so that clients can rate and review your services. You should also have reviews enabled on your Google My Business Profile and encourage existing clients to leave your firm reviews on Review Solicitors. Additionally, you can use automated email follow-ups to solicit reviews from past clients.
Review signals amount to about 17% of local SEO ranking factors. Good reviews for your business will also attract a higher number of new clients. This will provide a necessary social proof in order to pull prospective clients to your law firm.
Create Location Pages For Your Website
Location pages are web pages designed specifically in order to target particular keywords in a certain area. These pages indicate which towns you have a physical office in or the areas you serve clients.
Location pages will help boost your SEO as they give Google context of where you operate. Providing as much local information as possible (services provided, location of office, local parking, areas covered) will help give your page further context and visibility.
Create Showcase Pages For Your Lawyers
By keyword optimisation and the use of multimedia content, you can create pages that are both user-friendly and informative.
Not only will this help you attract potential clients, but it will also showcase your lawyers in an interesting and professional way.
Make sure each of these pages include important SEO elements such as your NAP details and positive reviews left by your customers.
Submit Your Firm To Niche Legal Directories
If you are a law firm that takes time to do things the right way, then you should definitely submit your firm to niche legal directories.
Legal directories help build your website’s authority and trust. They are a good source for citations as well as backlinks for your site. Directories use geolocation determining technology to make it easier for prospective clients to find you.
Some examples of local directories that you could get listed on are, Nolo, Super Lawyers, HG.org, FindLaw and Lawyers.com.
Advanced – You May Need More Time & Some Technical Help With These Techniques
Law firm owners who invest in local SEO techniques stand to reap a lot of benefits in the long run. Once you have completed the directions stated above, it is time to take your local SEO a step further and make sure your firm appears above your competitors on search pages.
By implementing Schema, carrying out keyword research and using local PR strategies, you will be able to generate traffic, leads and an improved click- through rate for your site, all while attracting new potential clients.
Use Local Schema Markup
Schema.org is a tool that helps search engines understand your content better and determine what your site’s pages are about. A schema markup improves the way in which your page is presented and helps users navigate your website with ease.
Using Schema, you can increase your firm’s exposure and improve on your click- through rate by around 58%.
How can your law firm implement schema to your web page? By adding the micro data to your HTML. This may need some technical assistance from a web developer or technical SEO specialist.
Add Keyword-Researched FAQs To Service Pages On your Website
By adding keyword-researched FAQs to your service pages, you can help increase traffic and conversions on your website.
FAQ content can also capture ‘Position 0’ rankings for question queries into Google search engine results pages (SERPs). This means that law firm website visitors will be directed straight to the relevant FAQs from search engine results pages, rather than landing on unrelated pages on your website.
To get started with creating your FAQ page for your website, you can follow these steps:
- Answer commonly asked questions so that potential clients are able to quickly resolve their worries or queries
- Make sure to use correct keywords in your questions and descriptions
- Keep your website design simple and easy to navigate
- Update your page on a regular basis to stay relevant to prospective searches and optimise your SEO accordingly
Ask Your Partnerships or Sponsorships for Local Links
Law firms can build their reputation while contributing to the area they serve in through building partnerships with organisations close to them.
You could invest in the community and grow your presence through the following sponsorship opportunities, scholarships for schools, youth sport teams and sponsoring local events.
Link building through these organisation’s websites (backlinks), you can demonstrate your site’s authority and its significance in your area for both the search engine and potential customers.
Get Local PR Coverage
While healthy SEO practices can help boost your company’s PR strategy, getting mentions or being cited in the right publications can also help elevate your site on search result pages.
A combination of a good SEO and PR strategy helps create credible links and build a reputable online presence. It also improves your brand awareness amongst your local community and attracts new clients. Lastly, it allows for you to build authority and trust with both the search engine as well as existing and potential clients.