August 6, 2019 Importance of SEO for Law Firms

Top attorney search engine optimization (SEO) expert posts new law firm SEO guide.

August 6, 2019

I have been advising law firm on SEO designs both for Local and General Searches for over a decade. The importance of SEO for law firms is quintessential in today’s business model, as a large number of consumers are switching to using online tools to find what they are looking for quickly. On top of this, mobile devices are overtaking traffic for Local Searches in particular. Did you know, 96% of people looking for legal services use a search engine to find a lawyer or law firm. Statistics reflect that the term “lawyer” is used 70% more than the word “attorney”. This brings us to our first order of business “KEYWORDS”.

One of the most important ranking factors according to Google Search is keywords on a given page related to its search. Appropriate use of keywords is of the essence when it comes to lead generation throughout your site. This results in too many SEO advisors to make the brazen mistake of excessively using keywords on a page which result in a negative impact on your site’s traffic because it will cause your site showing up on general searches as well. Keywords is simply a starting point in your SEO efforts and there is a barrage of other impacting elements which are more than overshadowed by the excessive use of keywords.

Homepage optimizing is directly related to you having the right use of keywords and site content layout. The content you are projecting must deal with your area of expertise and not contain too many general terms used by an average search engine users. The correct use and placement of keywords will nearly guarantee you to rank higher in searches over your competitor law firms. For instance, an average search engine user will use terms like “lawyers in(city, state), “attorneys in(city, state)”. The term “lawyer” is used 40% more than the term “attorney”. Keeping in view of this statistic, you should give more consideration to using the term “lawyer”, instead of an “attorney”.

With the advent of 3G and beyond technologies on mobile devices, you must ensure that your website is designed to perform well on both IOS and android devices mobile devices. It is imperative that your site is just as visible and easy to navigate on mobile devices as it would be on a desktop computer or a laptop screen. There are several sites you can visit to view the performance of your site such as Google’s PageSpeed Insights. In early 2018 Google’s webmaster has announced that page speed will be among the top-ranking methods for all websites going forward.

Content is rated among the most important ranking factors by Google Search strategists. There is a lot more to using just keywords on various pages in order to maximize visibility on the web. Content of your website must be updated religiously in order to keep your target audience engaged with your website. The content must be comprehensive and concise with details relevant only to your target audience and using unnecessary details and long write-ups about material irrelevant is sure to result in lower ranking among your competition.   Avoid using flash as it can complicate the site’s functionality and could result in a host of other issues.

Your SEO must have local focus primarily hence your phone number, city and state must appear near the heading to secure improved visibility. A good percentage of people run their searches based on area code or zip code. Phone numbers must appear in the header and must always be in text form rather than in image format. Your target with these details is to appear on Google maps-3 package in local searches.

Most commonly searched profession-related items for local searches include, “Doctors near me”, “lawyers near me”, “doctors in”, or “lawyers in”. As an attorney or a law firm, your focus must remain on local clients and you want your site to appear among the top in local searches. This makes the appropriate use of the city, state, and phone number on your homepage critical. Use your city name, state and phone number in abundance on your homepage in order to listed among the top services in your area. Statistics show that 50% of local searches made on mobile devices result in a visit to a physical address within a 24 hour period so your content must-have for local focus.

Try to have a Live Chat Window added to your site but make sure it clearly states business hours clearly. A lot of sites make a grave mistake of having a chat window and nobody there to respond to queries. Link the chat window to your “contact us” page during non-business hours. Live Chat will also increases the chance of a visitor in your office within 2 days.

Advertise your social media presence through your site. You must show that you greater online presence beyond your website. This will help you with your ranking in Google searches as well. A Facebook page and Whatsapp number are sure to assist you in generating and securing your leads. It is crucial that your Social Media presence is responsive and it is updated regularly with relevant information about your area of expertise.

Putting SEO in the perspective field of law practice, you must acknowledge that doctors and lawyers are the top-ranked searches when it comes to the professional service industry. It is imperative that you monitor your site’s performance using tools like Google Analytics embed or displayed on your site so you remain current on the performance of your site. Fresh and more topical content is guaranteed to keep you among the top-ranked sites among your competitors and always remain current on the latest tools being used to ensure better site ranking. SEO is not a one-time effort in better presenting your site to the world but a constant fruitful labor of applying creativity and technology to your online presence.

To learn more about attorney SEO visit https://www.lawfirmseo.com.

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