Law firm SEO strategies continue to evolve as algorithms change and new technologies appear on the scene. As Google releases updates to its SEO algorithm, it increasingly focuses on user behavior and engaging and informative content. Optimizing your content is more important than ever if you want to stay at the top.
To stay competitive, law firm SEO content must adapt. At Blue Seven Content, our SEO legal writers have years of experience shifting and pivoting with every Google update. We can help you scale your way back up the search engine ladder.
Note to new readers: Try our writers for ONE page, and we bet you’ll make us your permanent content provider. Low risk, high reward.
- Overview of Law Firm SEO
- Key Benefits of SEO for Law Firms
- Increased Website Traffic
- Higher Quality Visitors
- Greater Visitor to Prospect Conversion Rate
- Opportunity to Level The Playing Field for New and Small Firms
- Increased Brand Visibility
- Increased Backlinks That Boost Page Authority
- Reach Local Prospective Clients
- Provide an Interactive and Inclusive Experience
- Social Media SEO and Law Firm Content
- What Does Law Firm SEO Content Mean With AI?
- Critical Components of Law Firm SEO
- Local SEO for Law Firms
- SEO Content vs Other Marketing Channels
- User Experience and SEO
- Engage Prospective Clients With The Help of SEO
Overview of Law Firm SEO
Lawyer SEO content drives prospective clients to your site by boosting your ranking in the search results. For example, when a person needs a good divorce lawyer, they don’t spread the news by asking all their friends. Instead, they whip out their smartphones and ask Google.
Google answers back with a list of divorce lawyers near their location. However, it’s how the search engine orders these local divorce lawyers that determines if a law firm is on page 1 or the forgotten page 3 and beyond.
With its 91% market share of the search engine world across all devices, Google makes the rules for SEO and, therefore, the contents of this blog. Their special algorithm that determines the fate of websites everywhere is as elusive as the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland and just as cryptic.
However, Google provides a peak behind the curtain with insight into their critical updates. This glimpse reveals that the quality of written content takes priority, and law firms must optimize it for SEO in order to have a fighting chance.
Key Benefits of SEO for Law Firms
More than 74% of potential clients begin their search for an attorney online. With a digital device readily available at their fingertips, consumer behavior has become increasingly dependent on internet search engine results.
Marketing statistics show that 64% of potential clients begin their search for an attorney online before scheduling a consultation. As people utilize search engines to find legal advice, the pressure is on law firms to put out well-researched, informative content. SEO for law firms must focus on the quality of their written content in order to remain competitive and relevant in Google’s rankings.
An SEO legal writer can make this task easier and allow you to benefit from these eight key benefits:
1. Increased Website Traffic
First and foremost, lawyer SEO is about driving visitors to your site. If you are a criminal defense lawyer in South Carolina and want to capture prospective clients, having as many people as possible click on your website lays the foundation to increase your conversion rate (i.e., the percentage of people who call or fill out your contact form after visiting you law firm website).
2. Higher Quality Visitors
Here’s where SEO and written law firm SEO content truly show their colors. General SEO encompasses everything from web page loading speed to PPC (pay-per-click). Paid advertising may shoot your firm to the top of Google, but you may be paying for hundreds of unqualified visitors before finding a true lead.
Lawyer SEO content is written with focus and strategy, attracting true and quality leads. For example, if your firm offers services to injured oil rig workers but does not represent workers’ compensation claims, your SEO content strategy needs to be optimized to capture searches for your particular niche.
If your written content is generalized and lacks research, a PPC campaign may be a waste.
3. Greater Visitor to Prospect Conversion Rate
When your written law firm content is engaging, meaningful, and highly informative, it drives visitors to stay on the page and take action.
Perhaps a visitor lands on a blog that answers some of their legal questions about DUI penalties. The blog then strategically drives them to click an internal link to a DUI defense lawyer landing page, where they read an informative and persuasive argument for retaining representation. They then take further action by using the chat box to book a consultation. The quality of your written content drives engagement.
4. Opportunity to Level The Playing Field for New and Small Firms
Whether your firm is big or small, new or in practice for a century, fresh and informative content consistently yields the best organic SEO results. Standing out from the crowd and engaging your prospective clients with your content gives you a leg up on your competition. If larger firms are not putting the same effort into their content, then you have the opportunity to surpass them in rankings.
5. Increased Brand Visibility
Brand visibility concerns the recognition of a law firm against its competitors. In the world of digital marketing, when written law firm content is thoroughly researched, it promotes trust and credibility. People use Google to find specific information, often spending hours searching for hard-to-find facts. When your law firm content consistently yields the information needed, it increases your brand visibility.
6. Increased Backlinks That Boost Page Authority
Authority is a term used to describe the importance given to a page in the search results. While authority is measured by a variety of elements, backlinks are one of the most important. A backlink is when another website uses your page as a source of information. When your content contains up-to-date, useful information, it increases your backlinks and boosts page authority.
7. Reach Local Prospective Clients
According to Google, the search engine will “always estimate the general area that you’re searching from.” Suppose a person types, “Should I file for bankruptcy?” in the search bar. Webpages that contain their location-specific information will rank higher. Law firm content must include location keywords to maximize their search engine rankings.
8. Provide an Interactive and Inclusive Experience
One of the most uniquely human aspects of writing is the ability to engage, entertain, and inspire a reader. Your law firm content is a way to communicate with your prospects. Well-written blogs and practice pages can distinguish your law firm in a highly competitive industry.
Posting regular, informative blogs on a wide range of topics can help you create an interactive and inclusive experience. According to the American Bar Association, 34% of law firms have gained clients through their blog.
Social Media SEO and Law Firm Content
Social Media has jumped to the front of the line in recent years as an increasing number of potential clients use this tool to discover law firms. As such, more and more law firms consider this channel in their legal marketing content strategy.
As many as 84% of law firms have reported generating leads through organic social media traffic. An estimated 33% of firms use Facebook, and 16% use Twitter. A closer look at legal marketing budgets shows that social media and SEO tied at a 17% share of allocations.
Law firms can implement social media into their content strategy. Social media SEO allows firms to not only optimize their presence on the platforms but complement and boost other SEO content as well. SEO keywords can be applied to social media posts and optimized by platform. Doing this can increase your firm’s visibility and engagement, traffic, and authority.
What Does Law Firm SEO Content Mean With AI?
Within the last year, Google has continued in its quest to embrace AI. Google has transitioned away from its experimental Search Generative Experience (SGE) model to roll out AI Overviews.
As this new model gains traction, it may impact your law firm SEO content and rankings.
What Are AI Overviews?
AI Overviews (AIO) are designed to quickly provide answers by broadly summarizing a selection of sources pulled from across the internet. Links accompanying these snapshots allow users to view the sources and dive deeper if they want to learn more. Google’s goal for AIO is to provide better results and reduce the time it takes for users to find what they are looking for.
AIO is powered by Google’s generative AI model, Gemini. This technology allows Google to break down complex queries and information into simplified results. It also aims to directly and indirectly answer questions.
For example, if you were to search for “what are the benefits of garlic” in Google, a regular search would show multiple websites containing various articles and studies. You would need to click on each web page and scroll through the articles to learn more about the topic you searched for.
AIO attempts to take that step out of the equation by providing a summary of all the health benefits of garlic and their effect on the body. Google also rounds out its answer by providing information on the vitamins found in garlic and some of its drawbacks. Source links appear throughout and next to the overview.
Each AIO snapshot provides a disclaimer stating that “Generative AI is experimental,” so users understand that not all results may be 100% accurate.
How Do AI Overviews Affect Content Strategy?
AIO aims to generate answers to Google searches by compiling relevant information from multiple sources. These highly visible results attract more attention and may affect SEO by decreasing unpaid traffic and lowering engagement rates.
At this point, “Google’s systems automatically determine which links appear” in AI Overviews, so there are no direct content strategy recommendations to rank within the AIO section. However, this does not mean you should abandon your current SEO best practices.
Clear, concise content that is easy to crawl will still help you rank higher in search results. Long-tail keywords and high-quality, well-researched law firm SEO content should continue to be your top priority. AIO is a way for Google to weed out those who cut corners by publishing poorly written content or websites that reuse the same links across multiple pages.
How AI is Affecting Legal Content
In addition to AI Overviews, Google is using AI to analyze data trends and check the quality of links. As stated above, SEO is an all-encompassing strategy that involves elements like page loading speed, mobile-friendliness, user behavior, and local relevance.
AI can detect the usefulness of a page by the behavior of its visitors. If your blog offers unique and specific information, it will attract visitors and keep them engaged. AI can track that behavior and reward your page with higher search rankings.
In addition, AI’s data analysis will be able to detect the strongest keywords and phrases. By tracking how users word their queries and what subsequent pages they engage with, AI can develop a deeper understanding of search behavior and what keywords are the most relevant.
AI analytics will be faster than the algorithms of the past. Content writers will be driven to be more vigorous about updating existing content, checking links, statistical data, and updating keyword phrases. There will also be greater pressure for new content to hit every mark.
Critical Components of Law Firm SEO
Search engine optimization involves developing complex relationships between several critical components, including technical SEO, on-site SEO, off-site SEO, and meaningful content. However, some elements are given more weight than others.
Since the inner workings of SEO tend to be complex, let’s compare them to the components of a tiered specialty cake to simplify:
- Technical and on-site SEO act as the overall design and structure of the cake
- Off-site SEO resembles the reputation of your baker and their level of recognition
- Written content functions as the quality of the cake itself
It doesn’t matter how beautiful that Quinceañera cake is with 3-tiers, Tiffany Blue fondant, and realistic sugar glass accents. If the cake is dry and bland, no one will eat it. The same is true of law firm content.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO involves various aspects of your website’s design, development, and content management system. Your website should be configured so Google can explore and index your site (crawl and indexing). The loading speeds for each page of your website should be optimized for all devices. A mobile-first approach and excellent user experience are essential for the health of your rankings.
On-Site SEO
On-site or on-page SEO concerns the structure of your website (i.e., how your pages are linked and categorized, individually optimizing pages).
Optimizing your various practice pages and sub-practice pages involves:
- Meta descriptions: Bite-sized descriptions that are compelling and informative
- Keyword phrases: What words are your target audience typing into the query?
- Strong calls to action (CTA): Tell your prospects the next step to take
- URLs: Simple, descriptive URLs
- Page titles: Keyword phrases in the titles and headings of your page matter
- User experience: A visitor on your site should be able to find the information they need quickly and logically
One of the biggest measures of the user experience is the click-through rate (CTR). When a person searches for a legal topic or question, the CTR describes the percentage of users who click on a search engine result.
According to a study on organic CTR:
- Keyword phrases between 10-15 words received 1.76 times more clicks than a single keyword
- Positive titles have a 4% higher click-through rate
- Practice pages and blogs with similar keywords in the page and URL have a 45% higher CTR
Organic CTR can help determine the usefulness of a page and how it may be optimized for stronger SEO results.
Off-Site SEO
Off-site SEO concerns the authority of a website in the digital world. Authority building and link building is the practice of establishing expertise and trust on a specific topic for a webpage. Content, explained more below, should be highly informative and accurate.
When other websites use your page as a source, creating backlinks, it demonstrates the quality of your content. The more backlinks your website generates, the greater authority your law firm earns.
Written SEO Content
Written law firm SEO content will make or break your online presence. A skilled SEO legal writer will be able to provide high-quality content optimized for the best search engine results.
While Google does not give the specifics for their search algorithm, they do explain the importance of EEAT, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Google specifies that these factors do not directly affect rankings, but are afforded more weight for search quality.
For law firms:
- Experience: Make sure your SEO legal writer establishes your experience practicing law. If you have been practicing personal injury law for over 20 years, let your prospects know.
- Expertise: This can be a touch tricky for law firms when balancing ethical restrictions. However, adding any awards and board certifications can demonstrate your knowledge and skills.
- Authoritativeness: We have already discussed above how the quality of written content increases authoritativeness through backlinks. Basically, authority translates to being the go-to source of information on a particular subject.
- Trustworthiness: Considered the most important component of Google’s quality guidelines, trustworthiness is established through content writing by the accuracy of the information provided.
Content written with the user in mind is paramount to EEAT. As professionals, it can be tempting to use legal jargon, overexplain the complexities of a particular law, or unintentionally give legal advice.
An SEO legal writer knows the best legal content is clear and direct. Presenting one point per sentence is an excellent way to eliminate unnecessary language. When your homepage, practice pages, and blogs are smartly written and well-researched, Google rewards the effort with higher rankings.
Local SEO for Law Firms
According to data, SEO is placing a greater emphasis on location. Taking their cue from user behavior, Google noted that “near me” searches have grown by more than 100% worldwide. According to a recent customer survey:
- Google is the most trusted platform for local business reviews
- More than 98% of users read online reviews for local businesses
- 87% of users researched local businesses in the last reporting year
Location-specific keywords are necessary to attract potential clients, regardless of your firm’s size. For example, your firm may operate in several locations. Optimizing practice pages for each location can capitalize on your market share. Google Business and Google Maps can find you with location-specific keywords, giving your firm a greater chance of appearing high on the search results in your area.
SEO Content vs Other Marketing Channels
Expensive SEO tools like PPC (pay-per-click) advertising may shoot your firm to the first page with “sponsored” slots. However, if the content is poorly written or lacks the information the visitor is looking for, they will click off your page within seconds.
In web traffic analysis, the bounce rate describes the percentage of people who click on your website and leave without taking further action. Various marketing tools, including paid advertisements, social media, and guest posts are wasted if the content is not intelligently written and well-researched. If your pages have a high bounce rate, potential clients are being driven to your site but are not getting the answers they need.
Better Together
Law firms benefit most when SEO content writing and marketing tools work together. Here are 4 ways they can integrate:
- Insight into your visitors and prospects: Data from PPC campaigns and social media analytics can tell you which visitors are the most engaged and which pages are garnering their attention. This allows you to structure SEO content with targeted focus.
- Keyword testing: While both PPC and SEO content strategies work with keywords, PPC results can show you which keyword phrases perform the best. This information can be fed back into your SEO content to improve and refresh old posts and create new content. Then, posting fresh, new content on social media continues to build brand awareness.
- Max SEO: You may have noticed the search engine results page (SERP) getting crowded. Now, the first page of Google introduces AI-generated answers (AIO) at the top, followed by PPC ads, Google business profiles/Maps, and Google snippets. Organic SEO is getting pushed much further down. By utilizing every tool available, your law firm can increase online visibility.
- Content direction: Social media, including LinkedIn and Facebook, fosters direct engagement. Potential and current clients may reach out with questions. You can turn those questions into targeted blogs that have that specific information. Results from PPC campaigns can measure how well the blogs perform. If results are low but the topic is popular on social media, it may be a matter of adjusting your headings or keywords to achieve your SEO goal.
SEO for law firms is more of a recipe than a one-note flavor. To find your practice in the top position on Google, you must integrate all aspects. PPC and other paid advertisements can bring you visitors, but cannot make them stay. Social media can help you engage with prospects, but not drive them to your law firm website.
Quality content, thoroughly researched content, and meaningful and well-written content have consistently proven itself as the backbone of a successful SEO strategy.
User Experience and SEO
Google’s changing SEO algorithms have turned their sites to user behavior. In the past, SEO metrics rewarded keyword density and external links. However, sometimes poorly written content was given a higher SERP ranking due to cramming an absurd amount of keywords and irrelevant links on a page.
In response, Google has turned its attention to bounce rates and CTRs. If a page has a high bounce rate, Google can determine that there is something about that page that isn’t engaging. This could mean the information was too generic, the loading speed was too slow, or the content was poorly written. On the other hand, a high CTR tells Google that this page is exactly what people are looking for.
According to Google data:
- Google Snippets has the highest CTR at 42.9%
- More than 68% of SERP clicks are one of the top three organic search results
- The top organic search position receives 19 times more clicks than the top PPC result
Google’s initiative, H/C4 (helpful content update), is rewarding readability, accuracy, social sharing, and engagement. What that means for law firm SEO content is that recycling the same generic blogs may not yield the results you want.
Engage Prospective Clients With The Help of SEO
To build relationships with your potential clients and thrive in the rankings, you must engage with your audience, clients, and local community to see what people want to know. Look at news stories, reach out on social media, and jot down questions your clients have asked that are not answered on your website.
If you do not want to take this on yourself, contact an SEO legal writer today. Blue Seven Content specializes in law firm SEO content. Our writers are educated human beings with life experience, intuition, and originality. When you need content that fosters a sense of community and inspires action, contact us now or call (843) 580-3158.