SEO for Divorce Lawyers - Expert Tips 2024 To Rank #1

Key Insights

• Local SEO helps divorce lawyers attract clients in their immediate area, improving visibility in local search results.
• Optimizing your Google Business Profile and building local citations are crucial for ranking in the Google Map Pack.
• Managing and responding to client reviews is essential for maintaining a positive online reputation and influencing client decisions.
• On-page and technical SEO strategies ensure that your website is user-friendly and ranks well in search results.
• Automating SEO tasks and monitoring performance can save time and improve the efficiency of your SEO strategy.

Building a Strong SEO Strategy for Divorce Lawyers in 2024

Did you know there are 58,087 divorce lawyers in the U.S.? With the divorce rate rising, divorce lawyers have many potential clients seeking legal services. However, as you can see, the competition is high, and divorce lawyers need to ensure that they stand out from their competitors and win potential clients by appearing at the top of search results. A successful SEO strategy for divorce lawyers in 2024 should include the following aspects:

• Researching business- and location-specific keywords for all search intents.
• Building a fully optimized and user-friendly website to enhance user experience and SEO performance.
• Optimizing for local SEO to rank for localized search queries and attract potential clients from your immediate area.
• Creating a high-value content library to attract potential clients through informational content with strong Calls to Action.
• Automating essential SEO tasks for effective time and resource management.
• Monitoring and measuring success effectively for informed decision-making.

What Is Local SEO for Divorce Lawyers?

Before you can win a case for a client, you need to win the client! Most people seeking legal advice are in immediate need of a lawyer near them. Proximity to the searcher is one of the main ranking factors when it comes to local SEO. This means that when a potential client searches for “divorce lawyer near me,” your office will appear in the search results if it is located nearby. However, Lucas, Josh, and Robert are also divorce lawyers nearby, competing with you. Local SEO activities help you stand out from the competition by sending signals to the search engine that show you are the best divorce lawyer for the client. Instead of simply focusing on non-location-specific traffic to your website, local SEO ensures that you specifically rank high in the map-pack.

Why Is Local SEO for Divorce Lawyers Important?

As a divorce lawyer, your expertise likely lies in legal matters, not marketing or increasing online visibility. Thus, the role and importance of local SEO for your law firm may not be immediately obvious. However, in this competitive landscape, you need a solid strategy to position yourself above your competitors. Compared to traditional marketing efforts such as print advertising or even Google Ads, optimizing your online presence with local SEO tactics can be a cost-effective marketing strategy. Showing up in local search queries, especially ranking in the map-pack, can be decisive in the number of clients you attract. Additionally, local SEO goes hand in hand with online reputation management, specifically review management. The number of reviews, your overall rating, and your efforts to respond timely to reviews are decisive factors in your ranking. Reviews are also crucial for clients when deciding to choose you as their divorce lawyer. Understandably, potential clients would be hesitant to trust a lawyer without a proven “track record.”

Local SEO Guide for Divorce Lawyers

The following local SEO tasks will help you to rank higher for local search queries such as “divorce lawyer near me” or “divorce lawyer in [City]”. If applied correctly and monitored frequently, your Google Business profile will gradually rise to the top of the Google map-pack and consequently reach more potential clients.

Local Keywords for Divorce Lawyers

First things first. You need to know what potential clients are searching for when they need a divorce lawyer. There are two important pathways you need to take. The first is general keyword research on divorce-related keywords to attract potential clients to your website. The second is focusing on localized keywords to ensure that people who are ready to consult a divorce lawyer (in immediate need, so to speak) are directly presented with you or your law firm. To conduct keyword research, use a keyword research tool and start with general topics. For localized keywords, enter seed keywords such as:

• Divorce lawyer in [City]
• Divorce attorney in [City]
• Family law firm in [City]
• Divorce lawyer near me

You will receive many keyword suggestions related to your seed keyword. Create a list of keywords and choose those with the highest volume but the lowest keyword difficulty. Especially when creating content for your website, avoid targeting highly competitive keywords if your website doesn’t have a high domain ranking. For now, focus on the low-hanging fruit.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

This is probably the most important step in terms of local SEO! Your Google Business Profile will be one of the first things a potential client sees in the Google map-pack. You need to ensure that your profile not only ranks high but also stands out!

• NAP Details: Fill in your name, address, phone number, website link, and social media accounts (if applicable). Ensure that these details are consistent with your website and other directories.
• Select the Correct Business Category: Are you a single entity? Choose “Divorce Lawyer” or “Family Lawyer” as your primary category. If you are part (or owner) of a law firm, select “Law Firm” as the primary category and “Divorce Lawyer,” “Personal Injury Lawyer,” etc., as secondary categories.
• Images: Add high-quality images of your office, the surrounding area, the front door, and you or your team. Ensure that your images comply with Google’s policy and meet the requirements.
• Google Posts: Schedule daily Google posts with useful updates, announcements, or information for potential clients. Share images with an encouraging caption and set a Call to Action that leads to a dedicated webpage (e.g., your contact form) or encourages potential clients to call you.
• Reviews: Create a personalized link that you can send via email to past clients, asking them to leave a review on your Google Business Profile.

Learn more about how to higher the engagement of your Google Business Profile!

Build Local Citations in Legal Directories

You want to be found on as many legal directories as possible. A citation is any mention of your business name, address, and phone number on the web. Citations are commonly found in directories. Therefore, sign up with suitable legal directories and ensure NAP consistency (consistent business information across the entire web). Citations not only increase your online visibility by being present but also signal to search engines that you have an active and legitimate business. This can consequently boost your ranking in the map-pack!

Collect Reviews From Past Clients

Reviews should be one of your highest priorities! With the mentioned Google Business Profile review link, you can encourage past clients to leave a review. If you have an Obenan subscription, you can create an email campaign and generate a QR code that you can print on invoices, flyers, and brochures or display on a sign at your office door. This makes it even easier to collect reviews. Encourage your reception employees to continuously ask clients to leave a review. Furthermore, with Obenan, you can redirect negative feedback to a private survey, giving you more control over your overall rating and online reputation. The survey ensures that you still receive negative feedback for service improvements, but it won’t be published online, thus not affecting your online reputation or rating!

Build (Local) Backlinks

Many directories will already give you a free backlink to your website! This is another reason why collecting citations is so important. However, you should also aim for backlinks in legal magazines, reach out to journalists in your niche, or get published in local (online) newspapers. Backlinks signal to search engines that your business is creating content or offering services that others want to reference in their own content. Consequently, your business will gain more authority in the eyes of Google and other search engines.

On-Page SEO Guide for Divorce Lawyers

Your website needs to be user-friendly and optimized for the search engines in order to be placed correctly with matching search queries from potential clients. A correct website structure goes hand-in-hand with technical SEO elements that, if applied correctly, let your website rank higher in the search results and ensure a high conversion rate and lower bounce rate of clients.

Website Structure

Even divorce lawyers need an SEO-friendly and, more importantly, user-friendly website. With the correct structure, you ensure that your website can be correctly read by search engines and easily navigated by users, reducing the bounce rate.

• Correct Heading Structure: Start with H1 for the overall title of your page, followed by subsections (H2) and, if necessary, further divisions (H3, H4).
• Title Tag and Meta Description: Give your page a good title tag and meta description using your main keyword. Try to use a localized keyword in your title tag for the homepage, such as “Divorce Lawyer in Manhattan, NYC.” The meta description should be a brief description of the webpage and should include your keyword. The title tag should be no longer than 60 characters, and the meta description should be a maximum of 160 characters long.
• Optimizing Images: Give your images meaningful names before uploading them. Image names like “fhj2882.jpg” are useless for search engines. Use a relevant keyword from your research as the file name. Additionally, search engines cannot "see" your images, so you must include a descriptive alt-text that describes your image as if you were explaining it to a blind person. Incorporate your keyword naturally into the image description.

Technical SEO for Divorce Lawyers

Technical SEO strategies are essential for creating a mobile-friendly and user-friendly website. Make sure you have set up Google Search Console, as it is a crucial tool for technical SEO.

• Loading Speed: Ensure a quick loading speed for your website.
• Image Compression: Compress your images to reduce their size, making them load faster and take up less space.
• XML Sitemap: Create an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console so your pages can be indexed efficiently.
• Robots.txt: Utilize robots.txt to block certain pages from being crawled (e.g., backend pages, admin login pages).
• URL Structure: Set a correct URL structure (e.g., all blog articles should fall under the blog page: www.divorcelawyer.com/blog/[specific-blog]).
• Maximize Crawl Budget: Maximize your crawl budget by removing duplicate pages, fixing or redirecting broken links, ensuring that your CSS and JavaScript files are crawlable, and removing unnecessary or outdated content from your website.

Strong Informational Content for Divorce Lawyers That Will Draw In Clients

Strong content filled with suitable information and strategic implementation of keywords will not only draw in clients but also ensure that the search engine understands your business and can match it with relevant search queries.

Build a Blog Page

Clients in need of a divorce lawyer often know they need legal assistance but may not know exactly what they need or why. They probably have many questions. Many clients may not directly search for a divorce lawyer online but will first type in questions in Google, such as “costs of a divorce” or “divorce process.” These are the touchpoints where you can introduce yourself as a possible help. Create a blog page with clear and concise informational content that answers these questions. Conduct keyword research on the topics and find out what your target audience is searching for.

FAQs on Every Page

By including FAQs on every page of your website, you can rank for the question boxes on Google (called “People also ask”) and for your researched keywords. Additionally, these FAQs are a great way to provide potential clients with more information without overloading the page with text. Ensure that the FAQs are displayed in a drop-down format.

Case Studies

Potential clients want to know what awaits them and how you can help them. While every case is unique, case studies can reassure potential clients and showcase your expertise, work, and results. Include (anonymous) case studies or, at the very least, provide customer testimonials on your website! Social proof is a vital part of the decision-making process, so use it to your advantage!

Recycle Content for Social Media

From blogs and FAQs to case studies, transform your content into short pieces for social media. Present your team, showcase your work, and convince potential clients why you are the perfect legal help for the challenging topic of divorce. Potential clients want a personal connection, especially since a lawyer must be someone they can trust! By showing personality, a proven track record, and strong work ethics online, you can convince potential clients to choose you over your competitors.

Learn here 8 Instagram hacks to gain new organic followers for your law firm.

Save Time and Resources by Automating Essential SEO Tasks

Local SEO requires consistency and accuracy, as well as staying on top of developments and changes. To succeed, you need to either invest time and resources or choose a more accessible, often more effective, approach: using local SEO tools to your advantage and automating essential tasks!

• Automatic Synchronization of Your Listings: No more time and effort spent keeping your listings up-to-date and logging into every platform repeatedly when using Obenan’s Listing Technology. We keep your listings synchronized and ensure NAP consistency at all times. If you need to change your business details, we ensure it is updated automatically across all directories. Additionally, we make sure you are listed on every suitable directory, making time-consuming searches and registrations obsolete!
• Use a Review Management Software: Replying to every single review within an hour can be stressful, yet it is crucial for local SEO! With review management software, you can train your AI assistant to reply on your behalf in your law firm’s tone of voice!
• Automatic Google Posts: Google posts are essential because they are a valuable tool for engagement and can draw in new clients. However, taking the time to post daily can be challenging. Let’s be honest: after two weeks, you may let it slide! The answer is an automatic posting tool like Obenan’s. With only a one-time upload of images, you can have a post for every day in rotation! Our mature AI creates engaging SEO-friendly captions with a smart Call to Action!

Monitor and Measure Your Online Performance

Monitoring and measuring the results of your (local) SEO efforts is crucial to determine where you still need adjustments and deeper focus. With the help of Obenan and external data reporting, you can gain a deep understanding of how your online visibility has increased or decreased and how well your efforts have affected conversions.

• Emotion AI: With our Obenan Tool called Emotion AI, you can analyze the sentiment of all your customer reviews and receive a 5-step action plan on how to improve your service. We transform complex data into easy-to-understand reports that provide insight into your clients' experiences.
• Google Business Profile: How many potential clients viewed your Google Business Profile, and how many requested directions or visited your website? The data from your Google Business Profile is crucial for understanding your performance. In your Obenan dashboard, you have a neat overview of all Google stats and the performance of your keywords.
• GA4 (Google Analytics 4): With Google Analytics, you can measure website traffic and determine the demographic data of your visitors. You can monitor where your visitors are coming from (e.g., through direct search, referral, or even direct traffic). You will also see where your website visitors are located. Learn how to set up GA4 for your law firm.
• Google Search Console: This free tool from Google allows you to gain insights into how many organic clicks your pages received and which keywords generated clicks. You will also see how many impressions your content received on the SERPs and the Click Through Rate, giving you an indication of whether you need to adjust your title tag and meta description to encourage more clients to click through to your website.
• Keyword Research Tool: With the reporting tab of your keyword research tool, you can monitor the performance of your content. Examine which keywords have improved your rankings and which still need work due to no growth or a decline in rankings.

Summary

The field of local SEO can be challenging for divorce lawyers, but with the right SEO strategy and the support of local SEO tools, you can master the art of ranking for local search queries—and that without extensive knowledge. By focusing on local keyword research, optimizing your Google Business Profile, and building strong local citations, you can significantly improve your visibility in search engine results. Managing and responding to client reviews is crucial for maintaining a positive online reputation and increasing your chances of being chosen by potential clients. Additionally, implementing on-page and technical SEO strategies ensures that your website is user-friendly and ranks well in search results. Automating essential SEO tasks and monitoring your online performance can save time and resources while maximizing the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.