Criminal defense lawyers are in a somewhat unique relationship with their clients. People come to them who have been accused of some kind of wrongdoing and there will be a penalty if they are found guilty. People accused of crimes may have a tremendous amount to lose, including their reputations, their livelihoods, their freedoms, or their even their lives.
Dealing with criminal charges can be a scary and stressful time. People are looking for help. They want to feel better about solving a problem. A criminal defense law firm needs to have website content with an SEO focus that lets people know their situation is understood and help is available. When accused people feel a little safer and more at ease after reading criminal defense website content, they are more likely to become clients of the law firm publishing the content.
Criminal Defense Law Firm SEO Content – Why it Matters
Clients in need of a criminal defense lawyer may be even more discerning than clients shopping for other types of legal services. Criminal accusations are often serious business with pretty high stakes. It’s probably safe to say most people facing criminal charges want the best legal defense they can get.
And where might people turn to begin looking for legal help? They are more than likely going to start with a Google search. Maybe they want more information about the law they are accused of violating. Maybe they want to find attorneys who practice a particular type of criminal law.
Once a user hits enter, Google will do the rest. Google processes and prioritizes search results by looking for certain clues that help it determine the relevance and reliability of the massive amounts of data it accesses.
Google has put out some guidelines to help content creators produce the kind of content the search engine is looking for when deciding how to prioritize all of the results that may be relevant to a search query. Google wants content to be helpful, reliable, and written for people, not search engines.
Content that checks more of Google’s boxes gets boosted higher in search results. And as we all know, the lower the search results content appears, the less likely anyone – let alone potential clients – will see it. Really good content can die of loneliness merely because it doesn’t contain the language telling Google just how good it is.
Criminal defense SEO content is content written to provide Google with the information it needs to match a criminal defense firm’s content with a search query within the geographic area the law firm serves. The closest content matches Google deems trustworthy will get the top search positions. Content demonstrating experience, expertise, and authority tells Google it is a reliable source that will be helpful to a user which results in a rankings boost.
When criminal defense attorney content comprehensively covers a topic, Google will interpret the content depth as an indication of authority. Criminal defense website content has to address the overall practice area (criminal defense) and each particular focus of practice, such as DUI defense or aggravated assault defense.
Blog content can then be used to explore very detailed issues and to notify readers of recent developments such as changes in the laws. The more specific and targeted content is, the more likely it will be selected as the best match to a search query because it will contain exactly what the user is looking for.
Practice Area Page for Criminal Defense Law Firms
The foundation for criminal defense SEO content is a thorough and well-optimized practice area page that introduces a criminal defense firm and outlines the criminal matters the firm can help clients with.
Users looking for a criminal defense attorney in Chicago might type in ‘Criminal Defense Lawyer Chicago.’ A criminal defense law firm in Chicago that wants to reach potential clients will have a general practice area page entitled ‘Chicago Criminal Defense Lawyer.’
The general practice page serves as a central piece of content and links to more detailed or supporting internal content building what’s known as a topic cluster. Topic clusters demonstrate topic authority, which is a positive ranking factor Google is looking for.
A criminal defense attorney page may highlight the experience of the firm and any special qualifications the attorneys have. It may try to answer some common questions asked by clients and educate readers about the laws. It should introduce each type of criminal matter the firm handles and link to a more detailed practice page for each type of representation.
If a Chicago criminal defense law firm focuses on white-collar crimes, it needs a practice area page that provides some information about white-collar crimes and their defense and introduces the types of white-collar crime the firm handles. If the firm defends wire fraud, racketeering, and embezzlement allegations, it should have separate practice area pages for each type of crime.
Supporting practice area pages with consistently published blog content keeps a criminal defense law firm on Google’s radar with new information and gives potential clients multiple routes for finding a path to the firm’s website.
Location-Specific Criminal Defense Law Firm Pages
Creating location-specific pages can help criminal defense website content become more relevant for searches originating in specific cities or regions. Google gets location information from a user’s IP address. If it locates content with similar location information, the relevance of the content is increased.
A criminal defense law firm in New York City would have a practice area page for ‘New York Criminal Defense Lawyer’ – as would a lot of other criminal defense law firms in NYC. That’s a lot of ranking competition.
Location-specific pages might target one or more of the five boroughs with ‘Queens Criminal Defense Attorney’ or ‘Staten Island Criminal Defense Lawyer’ in order to match the location information of a user with an IP address from those locations. Targeting locations will also be a more relevant match for a user specifically looking for an attorney in the named location.
Get Your Criminal Defense Legal SEO Content Started Today
The Internet is a crowded place and becoming more so all the time. The competition to get user attention can be dizzying. Yet the Internet is where people go to find the things they are looking for. How can a criminal defense law firm get noticed by search engines and potential clients?
Law firms get more criminal defense clients with carefully crafted criminal defense SEO content written by the Blue Seven Content Team. Blue Seven generated legal content is well-researched, original, and accurate. Our writers prioritize quality and connecting law firms with the people they are trying to reach. If you want to consistently attract more clients, your content must be strategically optimized. The legal content writers at Blue Seven Content can help.