SEO is still alive and well. Millions of sites use this technique to increase quality traffic to their websites. Lawyers and attorneys tend not to be tech experts, so they often seek out the help of an SEO expert to help them understand how to use this to their advantage.
In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the essentials of SEO and how you can use the power of SEO to help promote your local attorney or law firm’s website.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Another terms often used in this context is “search engine marketing.” Search engine marketing is just the act of using keywords and SEO techniques to actively market a site or gain quality views and engagement through the use of search engine optimization techniques.
If you have a law firm that you want to use SEO with, below are 11 tips that will help you reach your marketing goals.
Think like the searcher
One of the biggest mistakes website owners make is that they think like the site owner, rather than the searcher. To appeal to searchers, you need to think as they do. Ask yourself what terms or keywords your most relevant visitors would use to find your content, products, or services. Then include these words in your copy at the right places.
Use valuable but competitive keywords
Address the problems of your clients and potential clients by offering legal solutions for common legal issues and problems. The proper use of valuable keywords that will be matched up with searches as well as the use of competitive keywords will help improve your results. You can do keyword research to discover new keywords that your competition is not using as often so that you can get most of the traffic from these keywords.
Focus on geographic marketing
People need local attorneys, lawyers, and law firms in their town or district in case they need representation in their local court. If you focus on getting targeted traffic in your area, you’ll be more likely to get traffic from your geographic area. Use the name of your city and town such as Toms River, New Jersey to get the attention of your local clientele.
Follow all legal practices, ethics, and standards
It is important that you follow all legal practices, ethics, and standards of your state and local legislation and legal standards that are backed by credible agencies such as the New Jersey Bar Association or the American Bar Association. This makes your website more credible when you can back up your content from the licensed legal agencies that determine how the legal profession is carried out in your state.
Avoid keyword stuffing or other Black Hat techniques
Keyword stuffing is considered a “Black Hat” technique that is punished by Google. It involves the overuse of certain keywords to get views while ignoring the quality or content of the article or information. The most important thing is to create high-quality content while using short and long-tailed keywords to bring in targeted traffic.
Use social media and other platforms to complement your SEO content
More legal sites are choosing to become more active on social media these days, and it has paid off in a big way. The statistics about social media show the importance of having a strong social media presence
Include keywords in alt tags, titles, and meta data
One trick with SEO is to use your primary keywords in your alt tags, titles, or metadata. This helps the search engines find you faster and adds to the natural results of your SEO efforts. Meta descriptions can also help by helping the search engines find the people who want what you offer. If you don’t know how to do these things, you may want to find a freelance SEO expert to help.
Link appropriately to credible authority sources
Linking out to the highest quality sources is also important. Make sure all of your links work and that they are relevant to your content. Also, work on creating content that is mobile-friendly on your website and your blog. You can use this mobile-friendly test to see if your site is ready for mobile users.
List and describe your core practice areas
Legal sites are best used to help visitors understand what you do as well as to address legal topics. Make sure and include some short but descriptive sections that tell visitors how you can help them and focus on your areas of legal expertise, the number of cases you’ve won, and other statistics.
Create a topic-focused blog
Blogs are the new Holy Graille of website promotion. By having a blog that complements your other content that is topic-focused, you will create a loyal following that will come back for more each time you create a post. If you create videos or podcasts (see section below), you can create even more hype for your website by including the media within your blogs. Start with a catchy title and then use the same keywords in the first paragraph and the last paragraph of your blog post, for starters. Make sure your use of keywords is relevant to the topic and that it holds value for your readers.
For law firms, you may want to focus your blog posts on a variety of different legal topics such as types of crimes, state statutes for crimes in your state of residence, and how to find a good attorney, for example. Get topics from customer emails or questions, social media posts, and your own experience to build credibility on your blog and website.
Consider doing videos or a podcast
Videos and podcasts can add a whole new aspect to your content. When people see a visual or hear an informative podcast about your legal practices or law firm, they trust you more. Law firms and other business sites that come out with media to complement their other content have a higher return on their investment and increased customer engagement.
Other Resources
We hope these eleven tips will help you promote your site using natural SEO for your law firm’s website or blog and that you’ll be inspired to think of your ideas to help improve your branding online. If you need a bit more inspiration, here’s another site you can check out on tips for SEO for lawyers.