Tips to help your Personal Injury Firm’s SEO

SEO for Lawyers- What You Need to Know 

It is a digital day and age we live in, so much of the population using the internet, social media, and online resources to find much of the day-to-day information they need. When an urgent matter arises and they need expert support and information, people are even more likely to seek out advice online. If it’s difficult at times to locate a business and access the information they are seeking then that business is losing out on a significant number of potential customers. Showing up on internet search result pages and being among the first listings people see is critical for business growth. 

Ranking online with good search engine optimization (SEO) is critical, now more than ever, even for specialty services like legal teams and law firms. As highlighted by a recent HubSpot piece SEO works to improve a website’s content so it is easier to search and find content. The searches are based on keyword research as well as content grading that helps with the ranking of the site’s visibility. It is not a quick trick either as SEO efforts can take months to see full result on. It is very much a long-haul game and something that takes time, energy, effort, and money. This guide takes a look at key points that can help make SEO for lawyers simpler and easier. These tips will help ensure a good starting point for any law firms looking for a boost to their online results and interaction with people in the local community and online.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) works by driving new and repeat visitors to a particular website. For a lawyer this can be their personal website or page or the main website for their entire law firm. SEO boost internet traffic by increasing the level or ranging that your page appears on major search engine pages- including Google, Bing, and others.

Studies have shown that most people do not scroll past the first page of search results and often only look at the first 1-4 results. So, the higher your legal page can rank the more likely you are to get seen by people searching for legal advice and assistance.  Once visitors click on the link, they will be directed to your website where they can learn more regarding services available, to ask questions, gather information, and contact you for assistance.

The big challenge that comes with implementing smart SEO practices for local law firms is finding the best way to get ranked high on the results page without using shady practices like spamming or buying ranking results. There is no shortage of vendors who may offer their paid services and who try to promise high rankings and good customer interaction, there is no magic process or formula that guarantees good search results or that can make visitors engage.

Fortunately, there are many ways lawyers can work to improve their chances of getting a first page ranking on search result pages. Those who can understand basic concepts regarding SEO and website management, will put forth content that is of value to online users and get those clicks and interactions you need.

Factors that impact SEO rankings for lawyers can be classified into three basic categories:

Content

Content is king when it comes to online search results as that is what the search engine uses to look for keywords and what the ranking results are largely based off of. Online, content can include written words on the website as well as images, links, videos, and other bits of data and information included on the site. Ensuring the use of high-quality content can dramatically improve user experience and will significantly boost a website’s search engine rankings.  A legal website with good information that helps visitors will rank higher than a site with a few pages of random fluff content because customers will be more likely to revisit and engage.

Backlinks and Citations

A well-ranked website is also one that shows experience and professionalism in the industry. A website that pulls from recognized legal experts, government websites, peer-reviewed sites, and similar authority sources can usually enjoy higher rankings in search results. The customer view, perceived authority, and overall credibility that a legal team has when compared to other law firms can be improved by what other groups and organizations they are associated . The more sources you can use and the more connections you can make to legal experts and venues the better. This is influenced by linking back to these sources, essentially saying that they are known experts and a particular legal team considers their information essential. 

Technical SEO

Like all things online, SEO services focus on lawyers will involve some degree of technical focus. Technical SEO is all about the inner workings of the website itself, how keywords are used, the way they are laid out, and how many keywords are contained within the site itself. The user experience plays a major role with the search engine results as part of what they check is to see how many other people are visiting and how long they are staying on the website and engaging with the content. Thongs such as page loading speed, title tags, headers, pay layout, links and image quality, and site structure overall are things to consider when building out a legal website.

Why is SEO for lawyers necessary?

Any law firm that is seriously considering SEO overhaul and that is looking to grow their business, must start from the ground up. A solid foundation is critical in order to achieve true lasting success online. Markets are competitive to begin with in the legal industry but online the competition is stiffer than ever. The best website is the one people remember for the right reasons and that give them the help and guidance they are looking for without wasting their time. 

Research has shown that when more attention is paid to improving law firm SEO, the more successful that layer and law firm can be overall. Based on the 2019 Legal Trends Report, nearly 20 precent of people needing legal advice of some kind looked for a lawyer via online search. This is second behind face-to-face talks with law firms and ranks higher than any other method discussed in the survey. 

Mastering SEO For Lawyers and Law Firms

Mastering SEO for any website can be complicated process at the start. But for legal teams it can be a delicate balance between providing accurate information and touching on delicate topics without being boring and dry and uninteresting. Building a good online presence requires the following key points be considered carefully during the planning phase as well as the general upkeep and maintenance phases of website management .

• Content- If you do not have good content on your site, visitors will not stay long and will be unlikely to reach out to you for help and more information. Visitors are likely to spend a minute or less deciding if your site is worth their time so quality content is essential in today’s competitive market.
• Keywords- Knowing what terms your visitors are looking for when they are online can help you direct them to your website. Keywords focused on your services and what you can do for your clients will help you appear high on the search results when people look for those particular terms.
• Backlinks- While it might seem counter-intuitive to have links that take visitors away from your website, sometimes it is necessary. Linking to authority site such as scientific and legal journals and other authority sites can help ensure visitors you know what you are talking about.
• Authority- The information provided on a website must be of high quality and provide value for the visitors coming to your page. Highlighting skills ad experience that set you up as an authority and expert in the legal field can help build a rapport with visitors and new clients right from the start.
• Spams- No one likes spam, especially when they are trying to find help and information on a serious legal topic or concern that they have. Never use spammy methods to try and trick search engines to rank you higher as it will always backfire in the end and can lead to your site being black-listed.
• Networking- The competition can be fierce at times in the legal field but that does not mean that in some situations networking and collaborations are bad. If you can work with another law firm in a way that helps you both gain more internet attention and rankings then it is something worth considering.
• Services- When creating your online content and building out your website, be sure to focus on the services that are available with your team. Visitors are likely looking for specific services or needs so the sooner you can let them know that you can assist them the sooner they can start to engage with you.
• Reputation- Word of mouth and industry reputation are still vital for lawyers today as it can be very hard to overcome bad publicity and poor results from the past. Protect your reputation and build an online presence that sets you up as a leader and an expert that can be trusted in times of great need.
• Reviews- Having client reviews and ratings on your website can go a long way in boosting SEO results and also provides a way for visitors to connect. It helps paint your legal team as experts who know what they are doing and who also care about their individual clients and cases.
• Community- Being involved in a local community will always be important, even for online presence and SEO rankings. The more you engage with the people around you, more likely they are to check out your website, recommend you to friends or family, and come to you for help or advice.
• Social- Along with a solid website, lawyers need to also look at social media and other online platforms where they can promote themselves and connect with clients. A strong social media showing can help drive more traffic to the website and gives visitors more reasons to interact and engage. 
• Tag/Link- A strong website and good search engine rankings can benefit from proper use of tags and links within the website. Using keyword tags, meta titles, and similar metrics with photos, videos and non-textual aspects of the website can really help boost results and improving customer response.
• Readability- The way information is laid out and presented on the website can also impact search results. If your website is too hard to read and navigate, people will not stay long and that lack of engagement will lower ratings and affect where your site shows up on search page results.
• Mobility- It is also important to remember that not everyone is sitting behind a bulky desktop or even a laptop when searching online. Websites today must be built so they are easy to view and us when looking at them from smart phones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

These key features can all be implemented to improve your legal team’s rankings online. Not all of them have to be present but the more of these tips you can implement and the more of them you keep in mind as you build your website, the better your chances are of getting that prized page one result!

Understanding the three pillars of SEO

While these points are all well and good when it comes to improving lawyer rankings for SEO listings, it can be a lot to keep track of. So, to simplify things, there are three main focal points for SEO that lawyers need to consider. As highlighted by Digital Marketing Suite, knowledge of how to implement and use SEO practices is critical to keeping a brand or company in a positive light among customers. It is not a set it and forget it kind of thing. There are constant changes and adjustments that have to be made. The metrics of basic SEO changes frequently in small ways, however, the key principles do not as the three main processes and ideas stay the same and are the foundation of strong SEO practices for law firms and any other business trying to secure a spot online. These three key pillars of effective SEO processing and utilization are as follows:

• Technical Optimization: essentially the process of implementation activities on a lawyers official site that are intended to expand SEO reach and impact, but are not related to content and rather occur behind the scenes with tags, titles, and coding.
• On-Page Optimization: this is the meat of the website and is designed in order to ensure the content on the website is relevant and delivers a great user experience and a clear optimization of keywords that are most commonly searched by visitors.
• Off-Page Optimization: this critical part of optimization focuses in on the act of enhancing search engine rankings through activities off the main page and include backlinks, interviews, and third-party sources which help to improve the page’s reputation.

How do search engines actually work?

Search engines have become such a major part of our lives that there are many people today who do not remember a time before Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines existed. These powerful tools shape our online experience in powerful ways. They are used when people have a question that they need answers to, or they are searching online for information to help them with a problem or concern. The process itself is complicated but to make the most of search results, a few basic concepts need to be understood. There are three steps involved with search engine result generation. They include: 

• crawling, which is the discovery stage there the search engine scans the content on a website or webpage to see what keywords and terms it finds. 
• indexing, which is the filing stage where the top websites found for the given keyword search are gathered and compared to form the top ranked lists.  
• ranking, which is the retrieval stage where the results are posted and shown to the viewer and shows the best sites for their query and search terms.

Keeping the basic process in mind as you work can help ensure you build a website that puts your law firm in the best possible light and that makes it easier for visitors to find you and engage with you.

Final thoughts on why is SEO important for marketing

SEO is a important component of digital marketing and online advertising because people are online every day, making searches, looking for information and completing trillions of queries every year. Digital traffic and searches are quickly outpacing more traditional forms of consumer and business interactions. More people than ever before are using the internet for serious personal, business, and company matters. The internet is not just for cat videos, fun social media posts, and talking with friends and family. It is a tool that people are using more often than ever before, even for serious legal needs. Making the most of advanced SEO for lawyers and law firms can have a huge impact on current and future growth so take that first step today and get started for yourself!