13 Powerful Ranking Strategies for Local SEO for Lawyers

Local SEO for lawyers is the process of optimizing your website to rank high in the search results for specific geographic locations. The goal is to be found by people looking for your services in their local area. Local SEO (search engine optimization) is particularly beneficial to small firms. That’s because they often lack the resources to invest heavily in paid advertising.

Local SEO involves optimizing a firm’s website and local business listings to increase its visibility in search engines. When you do local SEO for lawyers, you’re targeting your clients in the geographic location where they live and work. So, let’s say you’re an attorney in New York City. It’s important to make sure your law firm’s website ranks high when someone types in “NYC criminal defense attorney.”

Local SEO for attorneys is a bit different than it is for other businesses. Lawyers tend to have more complex needs and regulations. That means more planning is necessary before they can get started with their digital marketing strategy. In this article, we will be looking at all the important aspects of local SEO for lawyers, including the best strategies. 

Do law firms need local SEO? 

The following are some of the benefits of local SEO services for law firms:

• Improved visibility: Local SEO helps businesses appear in organic (non-paid) search results. This can result in increased traffic and leads.

• More conversions and sales: Local SEO involves optimizing a business website so that it ranks higher on Google’s SERPs (search engine results pages). This can lead to more conversions and sales.

• Improved trust: Having your website on the first page of search results helps to build trust with prospective clients.  They’ll know that there’s something special about your law firm — it must be good if it ranks so high!

Local SEO ranking factors

There are certain factors that determine where your business will rank in local search results, including: 

• Relevance: When it comes to local search, relevance is everything. Relevant content is what local search users are looking for. 

• Proximity: The next important factor when it comes to local SEO for lawyers is proximity. You may have heard the saying “location, location, location” before – and that applies here too. If someone searches for a business nearby, they will expect to see businesses nearby in their results. 

• Prominence: Last but not least, prominence plays a big role in local SEO for attorneys as well. Prominence refers to how popular or visible your business is within its niche (e.g., having a lot of online reviews). When people look at Google’s search results page, they want to see businesses with high prominence. 

Local SEO for Lawyers: 13 strategies

Lawyers tend to focus on a smaller area than other types of businesses. So it’s important to make sure your website is optimized for searches within a certain radius of your office. Here are some of the best local SEO strategies for law firms:

1. Create a Google Business Profile

It’s critical that you have an active Google Business Profile. A GBP is a free tool that enables you to create an online presence for your law firm on Google Maps. The profile is displayed whenever someone searches for your business name or location. 

It allows users to find your contact information and user reviews. And it gives them directions from their current location to your office. Your profile also provides other useful information like hours of operation and what services you provide.

2. Online ratings and reviews

It’s important to have a presence on major review sites like Yelp and Google Local. These sites are great because they allow potential clients to see the feedback that you’ve received from previous clients. This is especially important if you are a small law practice. It allows you to build credibility with potential clients who might not know anything about you before contacting you. 

You can send out an email asking for reviews. Or, offer a discount on future services to clients who leave a review. Some firms also send out surveys asking for feedback on the quality of their service. 

3. Authoritative lawyer directories

Another local SEO for attorneys’ strategy is taking advantage of authoritative lawyer directories. There are directories that are specifically for lawyers, such as Avvo.com. These directories can help provide more information about your practice. They allow people interested in hiring an attorney to learn more about your experience, and any awards or honors you have received.

4. Local link-building

It helps to get inbound links from authoritative sites relevant to your practice area. The best way to do this is by leveraging the power of guest blogging. To start, find other law firms and legal professionals who would be interested in writing about topics relevant to your practice area. 

Then reach out to them and let them know that you would like their help in building up your search visibility. If they’re interested, have them write a piece for your blog or website on a topic related to their expertise or experience. 

5. Add attorney schema markup to your local SEO for attorneys’ strategy

Schema markups are code snippets that provide search engines with information about the webpage being viewed. This helps them better understand what kind of content they’re seeing on the page. And it makes it easier for them to determine its relevance within search results. By adding these markups, you can help ensure that users find your page when searching for lawyers in their area.

6. Optimize your website

It’s important to make sure that your website is optimized for local searches. The first step is to make sure you’re using the correct keywords in your page titles and meta descriptions. Meta descriptions are the short descriptions that show up on search engine results pages. It’s also a good idea to optimize your URLs with keyword-rich anchor texts. That way, people can navigate directly to the pages they want on your site. 

7. Local PPC ads 

PPC (pay-per-click) ads are a great way to reach a local audience. If you have a specific legal service you offer, then you can target your ads to people who are looking for that type of help. You can also target your ads by location. For example, if you have offices in multiple cities. You could create different ads for each city. Then have them appear when someone searches for keywords related to your services.

8. Google screened

Google allows lawyers to buy ads directly from them (either through Ads or via the Google Display Network). But, they also offer an option called Google Screened. This is a network of sites that Google has vetted as being reputable sources of legal information online. This local SEO for lawyers strategy can be a great way to market your firm.

9. Create a mobile-friendly website

The majority of people now use their smartphones for internet browsing. So it’s vital that your website is optimized for mobile devices. That way, users don’t get frustrated with poor user experiences when browsing on their phones. Mobile-friendly websites are designed specifically with the end user’s mobile device in mind. As such, they load faster and provide an optimal viewing experience that adapts based on screen size or resolution.

10. Generate high-quality content

Content marketing is a powerful way to attract clients and grow your law firm’s online presence. Your goal should be to create useful, relevant content that will help potential clients find you. You can do this by blogging about topics relevant to your practice area, creating videos or podcasts, or even writing eBooks. 

To get started with your content strategy, you need to first identify your target audience. What are their pain points? What do they want to know? And what questions do they have? Once you understand who your audience is, it’s time to start creating content that addresses their needs.

11. Social media marketing

Social media is an important part of any modern marketing strategy and it’s no different for lawyers. It can be used to promote your law firm, build relationships with colleagues, and engage with potential clients. 

The key is knowing which platforms are best for your business and how you want to use them. You can use platforms like Facebook and Twitter as a means of communication with your audience. And this can also help build trust and credibility with potential clients.

12. Leverage Google posts

Google Posts is another local SEO for lawyers strategy you should consider. Google Posts allows you to publish content directly on Google Search results pages. You don’t have to buy ads from Google Ads first (which can be expensive). This means you can reach people who are actively looking for information about your services — without paying for clicks and impressions first.

13. Have a FAQ page on your site

Having a frequently asked questions page on your website will help answer common questions people have about your practice area. This will not only make you look more professional. It will also help you gain trust with prospects searching for legal help online. You will also be creating a great user experience for people who want specific information concerning a legal issue. It will also reduce the number of calls and emails you receive from people asking questions that are already answered on your site.

How to track your local SEO for lawyers efforts

Google Analytics is a good place to start. It will show you how many people are coming from Google. And what pages they’re landing on (and where they’re going from there). You can also use Google Search Console to monitor what keywords people are searching for when they find your site. This will help you figure out which keywords are working well and which ones aren’t performing as well as expected.

How to optimize Google Business Profile for law firms

Google is the most popular search engine in the world. Therefore, it’s essential to have a Google Business Profile page if you want to rank higher in local searches. For your business listing to show up in Google Maps, enter information about your business on Yelp and other local directories. Once this is done, you can then add it to your GBP account. Fill out as much information as possible about your law firm on your GBP. 

Include your address, phone number, website URL and hours of operation. You can also add pictures of the building or office space where you work. This will help people find you when they search on Google maps. Also include keywords in your description of your law firm (for example: “personal injury attorney in NYC”). 

Local SEO services for law firms: hiring a professional agency 

Law firms represent some of the most important businesses in the world. But when it comes to SEO, they are often left behind by other businesses. This is because they usually have many cases to handle, clients to meet with, and a lot of paperwork to file.

The best way to get started with local SEO for lawyers is by hiring a professional agency. You should hire an agency that has already mastered the techniques necessary to succeed in this competitive field. Here are some reasons why you should consider hiring an agency:

1. The right agency will focus on your needs first.
2. You don’t have to waste time learning about SEO or managing it yourself.
3. An experienced agency will be able to provide you with quality leads through its network of high-ranking websites and social media profiles.

Conclusion

Local SEO for lawyers is the best way to market your law firm. If you operate in a large city, chances are that there are plenty of other lawyers who practice in the same area. You need to stand out from the crowd and be on top of search engine results.

Contact now Mediaboom to boost you local SEO!