How to Grow Your Law Firm with SEO

Lawyers are busy people. Between drawing up legal documents and representing clients, most attorneys don’t have time to worry about SEO and search rankings! This is why many lawyers outsource their SEO needs to an online marketing agency. To remain competitive, you must choose your SEO firm carefully. Not only should they be competent in their services but also honest and ethical. It’s your law firm on the line, after all.
WSI Net Advantage provides SEO services to many businesses, including lawyers. We realize that this industry is competitive, but there are small tweaks that can be made to increase visibility and traffic to your site. Today, I want to share with you the many ways that you can grow your law firm using SEO – and some you can do on your own! Not every service is worth paying for, so if you’re looking to cut costs, I’ll teach you how.
How Important is SEO for Lawyers?
Google is one of the best ways for clients to find your services. 96% of people seeking legal advice use a search engine. Many of these legal searches are non-branded – “San Jose divorce attorney” or “workers comp lawyer in San Jose.” Having an SEO strategy helps you rank for these terms so people can find your services.
Bottom line: You need SEO to help your website get seen in the search results when people search for legal services. Without an SEO strategy, it’s likely that your website will get lost in the sea, and clients that could have been yours will go to your visible competitors.
Now that you know how important SEO is to your practice, let’s discuss the things your SEO firm should be doing for you. You don’t want your law firm to get caught up with an SEO “professional” who is dishonest and unethical.
What Should Your SEO Provider Do for You?
SEO requires time, patience and diligence – it does not work overnight. Be weary of SEO firms that promise immediate first page rankings or guaranteed traffic. SEO is a process and part of a long-term strategy. If you use shortcuts or black hat tactics to get quick placement, Google will penalize your site.
Here are some of the things that your SEO agency should be doing for you.

• Following the algorithms. Your SEO firm should be on top of the latest algorithm changes and how they may impact your site. As long as you are following the best practices, your site should transition through each update with no problems.

• Customizing your strategy. Your law firm is unique, so you deserve an equally unique SEO strategy. Things that may be included in your strategy are improved engagement, better backlinks, relevant content and technical optimization.

• Optimization of your site. Getting traffic to your site is important, but what happens when a prospect visits your site? A great site should have fast loading web pages, relevant content, testimonials and trust signals. It should also be secure and responsive.

• Great communication. Your SEO agency should keep you abreast of your site’s performance. You should receive all analytic reports, such as visitors, bounce rate, conversions, etc. Even though SEO takes time, you should be seeing steady improvements with each review.

What are the Benefits of Working with an SEO Firm?
Hiring an SEO firm has endless benefits for your law firm. With more traffic coming to your site, you’ll need the extra time to work with clients! Let’s explore the benefits to hiring an SEO company for your law firm.

• Save time. Chances are, your law firm doesn’t have the time to carry out SEO on your own. An SEO agency will take this burden from you so that you can focus on your clients. Plus, SEO firms keep up with the latest algorithms so that you don’t fall behind.

• Professional expertise. When you work with a digital marketing firm like WSI Net Advantage, you’re acquiring a team of professionals. From SEO to content marketing to paid search, you have an entire team for one reasonable cost.

• Improve rankings. Your SEO team will assess your website and address technical issues that could be affecting your rankings, such as toxic backlinks, slow load times and unoptimized images.

• Better reporting. Navigating Google Analytics can be a challenge for the average person. Your SEO team will make sense of the reports and know what to do with the numbers.

• Reach your business goals. Many companies jump into SEO without having clear, concise goals in mind. Working with an SEO firm will help you define your goals and how you plan to work toward them.

• Increase revenue. As you improve your placement in the search results, your visibility will increase and so will traffic. This gives you more opportunities to earn clients and increase revenue.

• Become an authority. As you optimize content for your website and drive targeted traffic to your site, you can become a trusted authority in your industry. To achieve this, you need to write content that your audience will find useful and relevant.

Law Firm SEO You Can Do on Your Own
Your SEO firm will be happy to help with all of your SEO needs, but there are a few things you can do on your own. These things only take a few minutes and can have a profound impact on SEO.
 

• Claim and verify your local directory listings. Claim your local listings to help your law firm get more clients. To verify your listing, you’ll need to answer a few questions about your business. Some directories will send you mail to confirm your physical address.

• Encourage client testimonials. When you’re done working with a client, ask them to share their experiences with others. Let your clients know where you want the review posted, such as on Facebook or Google. Also, it helps to offer an incentive for taking the time to leave a review, such as a $5 gift card to Starbucks.

• Set up social media accounts. Social media is an extension of your website and should not replace your blog. You can set up business pages on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Add in your contact and bio information, and upload photos from your firm. You can then work with a social media account manager to manage your channels, if you choose.

SEO can be confusing territory to navigate, especially for law firms where the competition is high. WSI Net Advantage works with lawyers in all fields, and we’re happy to create a successful SEO strategy for your firm. We are always honest and ethical, and we’ll walk you through some of the things you can do on your own to boost SEO and save money. Call us today to chat (it’s friendly and free!) at 510-687-9737 or fill out our contact form and we’ll give you a call back.