2024 Local SEO Strategies Every Lawyer Needs to Know

Key Insights

• Local SEO is crucial for law firms that serve clients in specific geographic areas, ensuring visibility in local search results.
• Keyword research is essential to identify the terms potential clients use when searching for legal services, improving search engine rankings.
• Optimizing your Google Business Profile and building local citations are key components of local SEO for law firms.
• Review management and responding to reviews promptly are vital for maintaining a positive online reputation and boosting local SEO.
• High-quality backlinks from reputable sources enhance a law firm’s website authority and search engine rankings.
• On-page SEO and technical SEO will ensure that your website is user-friendly and sends the right signals to the search engine so it can pair it with the right search queries.

What Is SEO for Law Firms?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and even law firms need to have a robust SEO strategy to stay ahead of the competition online. A well-crafted SEO strategy helps your law firm rank higher in search results, making it easier for potential clients to find you.

For example, let’s imagine Lisa is in need of a family lawyer. Her first step is to go on Google and search for the term "family lawyer." Lisa will likely only look at the first few search results. To ensure your law firm appears in these top results, you need a comprehensive SEO strategy that includes keyword research, on-page optimization, and backlink building. By leveraging these tactics, your law firm will gradually rise up the search rankings, increasing visibility and client inquiries.

What Is Local SEO for Law Firms?

While general SEO focuses on attracting non-location-specific website traffic and aims to push your site to the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages), local SEO targets potential clients in your geographic area who are actively searching for legal assistance. This is especially critical for law firms with physical offices that serve local clients.

Returning to our example of Lisa, when she searches for a family lawyer, she might use search queries like "family lawyer in NYC" or "best family lawyer NYC." Local SEO ensures your law firm appears in the Google Map Pack, which showcases the top local results for specific searches.

Local SEO involves not only on-page SEO but also optimizing your Google Business Profile, building local citations in relevant legal directories, and actively generating and responding to customer reviews. These steps are essential for ranking high in the Google Map Pack and attracting clients from your local area.

Why Local SEO Is Important for Law Firms

Depending on your law firm’s expertise and area of service, local SEO may be more crucial than general SEO. If your firm primarily serves clients in your immediate area, it's vital to reach them when they are actively searching for legal assistance. For instance, if Lisa is looking for a family lawyer in NYC but your firm is based in Houston, she is not your target audience. Conversely, if your firm is located in NYC, it’s imperative that your law firm appears in search results when Lisa enters her query.

For law firms offering online legal services, it’s also essential to optimize for relevant keywords beyond geographic limitations. In this case, you would target keywords like “online attorney” or “virtual legal services” to attract clients regardless of their location. Balancing local SEO with broader SEO strategies ensures you capture both local and remote clients effectively.

Grow Your Law Firm With Our (Local) SEO Guide

Growing your law firm in today’s competitive market requires a strong online presence, and having a good SEO strategy is key to making that happen. Whether you’re focused on attracting local clients or expanding your reach with online legal services, both traditional and local SEO can help your law firm get noticed. Our (Local) SEO guide is here to give you the tools and knowledge you need to boost your visibility, drive more traffic to your website, and turn visitors into clients.

The following steps will guide you through setting your law firm up for online success:

1. Keyword Research for Lawyers
2. On-Page SEO for Law Firms
3. Technical SEO for Law Firms
4. Google Business Profile Optimization for Law Firms
5. Review Management for Law Firms
6. Legal Directory Citations for Law Firms
7. NAP Consistency Across the Web
8. Local Landing Pages to Maximize Local Visibility
9. Backlinks for Lawyers

Keyword Research for Lawyers

Effective SEO starts with thorough keyword research to identify the terms that potential clients use when searching for legal services. By strategically incorporating these keywords into your website’s title tags, meta descriptions, content, and headings, you signal to search engines the relevance and authority of your site, improving its rankings. For local SEO, this often means focusing on geographically specific keywords that attract clients in your area.

Seed Keywords

Start by brainstorming key themes related to your law firm. These are your seed keywords, which you can further explore using a keyword research tool to find related terms that potential clients might search for.

If you are a family lawyer, suitable seed keywords might include:

• Family lawyer in [city/area]
• Family law firm in [city/area]
• Divorce lawyer in [city/area]
• Custody attorney in [city/area]

For broader keyword research, you could also consider adding “online,” “country X,” or similar terms instead of specifying a city or area. This allows you to capture a wider audience if your services are not confined to a single location.

Use a Keyword Research Tool

To identify which keywords have the highest potential, use a keyword research tool to analyze search volume and keyword difficulty. You want to target keywords with a high search volume and relatively low competition (keyword difficulty) to maximize your chances of attracting new clients.

Focusing on these "low-hanging fruit" keywords ensures you get the best return on your SEO efforts, helping your law firm rise in the search rankings and attract more clients.

On-Page SEO for Law Firms

Your website serves as an online business card, and it can be decisive in how potential clients perceive your law firm’s credibility and trustworthiness. On-page SEO ensures that your website is not only attractive to visitors but also easily read and indexed by search engines.

Key on-page SEO tasks include:

• Optimizing Images: Ensure that images on your site have relevant file names and descriptive alt text to improve search engine understanding and accessibility.
• Header Structure: Use a clear and correct header structure (H1, H2, H3, H4) to organize your content and make it easier for search engines to understand.
• Easy Navigation: Design your website for easy navigation, ensuring visitors can find important information like contact details or service offerings with minimal effort.
• Clear Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Include prominent CTAs that guide visitors to take the next step, such as contacting your firm or scheduling a consultation.
• Localized Content: Create local pages with your business name, address, phone number, and a Google Maps integration to help local clients find and contact you easily.
• Keyword Optimization: Integrate relevant keywords naturally into your headings, meta descriptions, title tags, and content, avoiding keyword stuffing, which can be counterproductive.
• Team and Specialties: Showcase your entire team and their areas of specialization to build trust with potential clients.
• FAQs: Include a FAQ section to address common client questions, improving user experience and potentially reducing bounce rates.

A well-optimized website not only improves your search engine rankings but also enhances user experience, making it more likely that visitors will convert into clients. If your website is not appealing, your visitors will get frustrated quickly and bounce.

Technical SEO for Law Firms

Technical SEO involves optimizing the backend aspects of your website to enhance its performance, user experience, and search engine visibility. This includes improving site speed, ensuring mobile responsiveness, and maintaining a secure HTTPS connection.

Additional technical SEO tasks include optimizing your site’s structure, URL hierarchy, and implementing structured data for rich snippets. Structured data helps search engines understand your content better, allowing them to present key information—such as your law firm’s name, address, services, or client reviews—directly in search results as rich snippets.

By focusing on these technical elements, law firms can significantly improve their website’s search engine rankings and user experience, making it easier for potential clients to find and engage with their services. Although technical SEO can be complex, working closely with your web developer or website host’s customer service can help you implement the necessary changes effectively.

Google Business Profile Optimization for Law Firms

Your Google Business Profile is crucial for local SEO. Optimizing this profile ensures your law firm is prominently displayed in local search results, particularly in the Google Map Pack.

To optimize your Google Business Profile, follow these steps:

• NAP Details: Accurately fill in your law firm’s name, address, phone number, and website link. Include social media accounts and a detailed business description.
• Categories: Select the appropriate primary and secondary categories for your law firm. For example, "Law Firm" as the primary category and "Family Lawyer" or "Personal Injury Lawyer" as secondary categories.
• Images: Upload high-quality images of your law firm’s logo, office, exterior, and team to make your profile more engaging.
• Google Posts: Regularly schedule Google Posts to showcase your team, highlight cases (where permissible), and share news or updates. Each post can include a compelling caption, a call to action, and a link to a relevant page on your website.

A well-maintained Google Business Profile not only enhances your visibility in local searches but also provides potential clients with the information they need to choose your law firm over a competitor. An empty profile is not very trustworthy and will most likely not convert any clients!

Learn more on how to organically increase your Google Business Profile visitors!

Review Management for Law Firms

Review velocity and responding to reviews are critical ranking factors for local SEO. Potential clients are unlikely to trust a law firm with poor reviews or no reviews at all. Positive reviews from past clients are crucial in building trust and credibility.

Encourage your clients to leave reviews on Google or other legal directories. The more positive reviews you accumulate, the stronger your online reputation becomes. However, managing reviews effectively is also important for maintaining control over your online reputation.

With an Obenan subscription, you can create campaigns that redirect negative reviews to a private survey, ensuring only positive feedback is published online. This allows you to address negative feedback internally and use it to improve your services without impacting your public reputation.

Responding to Reviews

Responding to every review—positive or negative—within an hour signals to Google and potential clients that your firm is active and values client feedback. While responding promptly can be challenging, it is essential for maintaining a positive online presence.

Obenan’s mature AI can analyze and respond to reviews automatically, using your law firm’s tone of voice. This not only increases your engagement but also improves your online visibility. Additionally, timely and courteous responses to negative reviews can lead to problem resolution and may even encourage clients to update their reviews.

Learn more about our Review Management Tool!

Legal Directory Citations for Law Firms

Citations in legal directories offer multiple benefits for law firms. Not only do citations increase your visibility by signaling to search engines that your business is active and legitimate, but they also increase the likelihood of being found by potential clients on various platforms.

If a potential client searches for legal assistance within a legal directory and your firm is not listed, you miss out on an opportunity to attract new clients. Furthermore, these listings can drive additional traffic to your website and, in some cases, provide valuable backlinks that enhance your site’s authority.

NAP Consistency Across the Web

Maintaining consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) information across your website, Google Business Profile, and various legal directories is crucial. Inconsistent NAP details can confuse potential clients and negatively impact your local SEO rankings.

Obenan’s Listing Management Tool automatically synchronizes your business details across all directories, ensuring NAP consistency and saving you the hassle of manually updating each listing. This consistency is vital for maintaining your law firm’s visibility and search engine rankings.

Learn more about our Listing Technology!

Local Landing Pages to Maximize Local Visibility

Creating local landing pages on your website can significantly boost your local SEO efforts. These pages should include your business name, address, phone number, and an embedded Google Map showing your location.

Local landing pages make it easy for clients to find and contact you, while also helping search engines understand your location and rank your site for relevant local queries. By integrating these pages into your site, you improve your chances of attracting clients from your geographic area.

Backlinks for Lawyers

Backlinks are essential for (local) SEO as they signal to search engines that your website’s content is valuable and credible. There are two types of backlinks: Do-Follow links, which pass SEO value to your site, and No-Follow links, which do not.

While both types of backlinks are beneficial, Do-Follow links are particularly valuable for improving your site’s authority and rankings.

To acquire high-quality backlinks, consider:

• Reaching out to local magazines and online publications
• Getting featured in law-related magazines or media outlets
• Publishing case studies and legal research
• Collaborating with other law firms or legal professionals
• Sending out press releases to relevant outlets
• Securing citations in legal directories that link back to your website

Note: Buying backlinks in bulk is against Google’s guidelines and can result in penalties that harm your rankings. Focus on acquiring natural backlinks from reputable sources to enhance your site’s authority and SEO performance.

Obenan - Affordable SEO for Law Firms

With Obenan, you can effortlessly manage all the crucial local SEO activities necessary to increase your law firm’s online visibility. We serve as your personal marketing assistant, handling everything from personalized keyword research to automating review management and synchronizing your business listings to ensure NAP consistency.

Let us take care of the heavy lifting so you can focus on providing top-notch legal services.

Recap

SEO and Local SEO are essential for law firms to improve online visibility and attract clients. Local SEO focuses on optimizing your presence for searches in your geographic area, making it crucial for firms with physical offices. Key strategies include keyword research, on-page and technical SEO, optimizing your Google Business Profile, and managing reviews. Maintaining NAP consistency across all platforms and acquiring high-quality backlinks are also vital. Obenan offers tools to help law firms efficiently manage these SEO tasks and enhance their online presence.