Attorney SEO Expert

In this text, I will explain how I can elevate lawyers to the top ranks on Google and elucidate why law firms prefer to choose me.

When I inquire with my clients about why they choose me, the most commonly provided responses include:

• Successful Outcomes
• Quality of Service
• Industry Experience

Hiring a Lawyer SEO Specialist: The Process

After conducting a "law firm SEO Specialist" search on Google, you are likely to find yourself amidst a competition among digital marketing experts. When entering the social media platforms you frequently use, sponsored ads prepared by SEO agencies for law firms will likely catch your eye. However, most of these companies may not offer much in terms of marketing strategy. This is because they fail to assist you in understanding who your potential clients are, what their needs are, and how they utilize search engines to hire lawyers.

Unfortunately, presenting oneself as a "digital marketing expert" doesn't take much time. After reviewing a few blog posts and purchasing a one-hour training session, individuals position themselves to provide advice on how lawyers can appear on the first page of Google.

It's crucial not to forget that even the best web design agencies may lack knowledge in SEO. In fact, the biggest mistake law firms often make is deeming designs appealing to the eye by website design companies sufficient. The real importance lies not in how beautiful your website is, but rather in whether it is prominently visible on search engine result pages. In short, what benefit can your website provide if it doesn't assist in acquiring new clients?

Without a serious focus on your law firm's website, link-building strategies, and Google My Business, it won't be visibly present in a Google search. This is especially true in today's landscape where organic local search has become challenging and complex. SEO practices that worked five years ago are now obsolete and can even be detrimental to your firm, providing more harm than benefit.

In today's landscape, effective law firm SEO efforts must encompass quality content, high-quality backlinks, and predominantly, local SEO. Let's face it, for a challenging keyword like "Criminal Defense Attorney," simply writing a blog and updating a title tag or meta description won't suffice. Many individuals or agencies offering SEO services mislead lawyers about what they actually do to improve search engine rankings. Worse yet, some law firm SEO experts are actually purchasing Google ads (i.e., pay-per-click, PPC, etc.) instead of focusing on organic search results and presenting it to their clients.

Of course, the SEO expert unaware of the advertising ban... 😊

While there are hundreds of ranking factors influencing your law firm website's visibility in search results, the singularly crucial factor is customer satisfaction.

The key to effective digital marketing for a law firm lies in articulating why you are exceptional to those searching and is contingent on persuasive ability. Some of the most frequently asked questions that emerge when discussing SEO with the attorneys I work with include:

• Does creating great content contribute to SEO?
• Should I have a Google My Business page for every keyword?
• Does advertising on Google help with SEO for law firms?
• Why doesn't my SEO company for my law firm share my Google Analytics data?
• Is page speed really important?
• How should I measure SEO results?
• Is local SEO just having business name, address, and phone number information?

Digital marketing can indeed be confusing. That's why there are so many self-proclaimed lawyer SEO experts. If you want to find a quality SEO expert, here are a few questions you should ask:

• Which other law firms do you provide SEO services to?
• Do you have experience in targeting specific audiences and generating organic website traffic?
• How does your keyword research process work?
• How do you optimize web pages for long-tail search terms?
• Do you offer marketing services other than SEO?
• Do you have experience in creating prominent snippets for competitive keywords?
• How will you improve our website's link profile (off-page SEO)?
• How will you help us gain more positive online reviews?
• How will you enhance the user experience of our website?
• How do you distinguish between low-quality and high-quality backlinks?

The best advertising agencies know that search engines are the most competitive space in digital marketing. Appearing on the first page for challenging keywords like "criminal defense," "serious crimes," and "family law" requires serious effort and dedication. Don't entrust your reputation to SEO agencies that engage in baseless boasting and Google ad campaigns.

Appearing on the first page of Google alone is not enough. You need to create a marketing strategy that brings potential clients to your law firm's website and converts them into paying customers. If your law firm SEO expert is not accountable for delivering results, it's time to reconsider.

For instance, if John receives your name from someone he knows and trusts, what do you think he does first? Yes, he searches for your name and wants to know how good you are at your job.

When potential clients are researching a legal question, they turn to Google for more information. In such cases, being present in search engine results is crucial for your client development.

Search engine optimization (SEO) for attorneys is significantly different from SEO for other firms and individuals.

Deciding to hire an SEO expert for your law firm is a crucial decision that can have a significant impact on your online visibility. A high-quality SEO effort can enhance your website and generate gains, while a weak and ineffective SEO strategy can harm your site and, worse, damage your professional reputation.

SEO can be an effective way to acquire new clients. However, there is a lot of misinformation about how law firm SEO and legal digital marketing, in general, are conducted.

The best way to protect yourself from inexperienced and fraudulent website vendors is to have some knowledge about how the digital world works, which may seem complex but is, in fact, quite straightforward. With the right information and questions, you can navigate away from most costly mistakes harmlessly.

Let's get started.

Lawyer SEO Experts Are Not Magicians

Before delving into how SEO is done, it's important to understand that SEO cannot completely solve all your problems. What I mean is, "You can't perform SEO on a poorly delivered service."

Establishing a good reputation and traditional client development concepts such as customer satisfaction are essential for a useful and effective SEO effort.

How Does SEO Benefit Lawyers?

Regardless of the type of marketing, including SEO, success should be measured by reaching a specific goal. In the realm of legal digital marketing, this translates to how many clients you acquire.

If you've noticed, smartphones have completely changed the way we access information. When we have a question or a need, we turn to our smartphones. Most likely, the answers to these questions will be on a search engine named Google.

Your clients want to be informed about how you can help them solve their legal issues online.

The most effective lawyers in meeting this demand for information emerge as winners.

Why is Law Firm SEO Different?

Providing legal services on the internet is not the same as selling shoes. Legal services aim to inform consumers, making this process entirely different from other purchases of goods and services. Consequently, traditional marketing techniques from other industries may not always be effective in legal marketing.

On the other hand, there are lessons to be learned from product and service businesses.

How to Hire a Lawyer SEO Expert?

If you're considering getting assistance for digital marketing, you must invest time in research and asking questions. Here are some questions to ask the potential expert you're considering hiring:

• Who owns the Domain, Hosting, and Content Management System (CMS)?

  Some digital marketing companies claim ownership of one or more of these. In reality, this might leave you starting from scratch if you decide to work with another individual or expert. Ensure you have control over all of the above.

• How will I measure the success of SEO efforts?

  The process of digital legal marketing, including SEO, can be tracked from clicks to clients. You can't pay your bills with likes, followers, or views. Be wary of vendors promising you these metrics, as they try to divert your attention from business measurements. Instead, measure the traffic originating from organic searches. Track phone calls from potential clients associated with SEO efforts. Look at directional trends in relevant organic search traffic through Search Console and Analytics. Avoid digital marketing vendors claiming their strategies are exclusive.

• Do you provide digital marketing services for any of my competitors?

  There's only one top spot for any search query. Digital marketers working with multiple firms in the same location(s) and keyword area are in a conflict of interest. Don't work with SEO experts who might help your competitors outperform you.

• Have you worked with law firms like mine before?

  SEO for law firms presents unique challenges and considerations. Avoid working with individuals who have minimal experience working with law firms in digital marketing.

Why is SEO Important for Lawyers?

Many lawyers often dismiss digital marketing in general, and specifically search engine optimization (SEO), as something unnecessary for law firms.

They may say, "My clients don't use the internet to find lawyers like me."

If you find yourself saying this, let me save you some time.

Note: The purpose of this text is not to persuade you to change your opinion.

Like most people, when consumers want information about products or services they want to use or purchase, the first place they turn to is search engines. At some point during this research, most searches are conducted using a search engine. Lawyers seeking to capture the attention of legal service consumers leverage search engine optimization (SEO).

In general, search engines operate in the following three-stage process:

• Crawling
• Indexing
• Ranking Results

In fact, as search engines have evolved, we can say that another stage has emerged:

Answering Queries.

But there are things that need to be done first in these stages.

How to Do SEO for Lawyers?

Let's assume you are a digital marketing expert or an SEO consultant for a law firm.

Your responsibility is to generate organic search traffic that attracts clients.

To achieve the best search engine optimization results for a law firm, research is crucial, often an overlooked aspect.

• What are the goals and objectives of SEO efforts for a law firm?
• Who is the audience you want to attract to your website?
• What type of queries are people entering into search engines?
• What actions do you want them to take when they reach your pages?
• Additionally, research the competitive landscape. What sets you apart from rival firms?
• Why should potential clients choose attorneys from your firm?

You might wonder how the answers to these questions relate to search engine optimization.

The answer: Everything.

You need to determine what makes you worth talking about, sharing, and following.

Crawling and Indexing

Ensuring that the pages on your law firm's website are properly crawled and indexed by search engines is crucial. This ensures that you address technical issues on your pages.

Technical SEO fixes can be considered synonymous with on-page search engine optimization. This process involves fixing things like:

• Site architecture and internal linking structure.
• HTML meta tags, including page titles, descriptions, and headers.
• Structured data markup (i.e., schema) and RSS.
• Page content.
• XML sitemap and robots.txt file.
• User experience (mobile-friendly, page load speed).

Unfortunately, many so-called lawyer SEO experts fail to grasp the importance of technical SEO. In fact, some outright dismiss it. Technical SEO holds significant importance.

There are some technical SEO issues specific to law firm websites that can hinder crawling and indexing. Whether you fix the pages yourself or hire someone to do it for you, ensure you address these technical issues first.

Ranking and Presentation of Results

Now that we have a robust technical SEO foundation, we can begin marketing the pages of your law firm. This process starts with creating pages that people would want to talk about, share, and link to, and it also involves various SEO efforts to bring these pages in front of the right audience.

Search engines use "authority" (off-page signals) to determine how your website will appear in search results. However, not all signals carry equal weight.

For instance, the quantity of high-quality links from highly relevant and authoritative sites can have a significant impact on the visibility of your pages in search engine results.

Some of the best off-page SEO practices for lawyers include:

• Creating content that people would want to stay on your website for.
• Promoting this content to people who might find it interesting.
• Conducting competitor analysis and building backlinks.
• Developing a profile on online platforms.
• Fixing broken links.
• Establishing links with a public relations focus.

Hiring a Law Firm SEO Expert

If you're considering hiring a lawyer for search engine optimization (SEO), make sure to ask them many questions about how they will improve off-page signals.

If they start talking about super-secret SEO tricks, you might want to consider talking to other individuals. The best lawyer SEO agencies will explain exactly what they do and why they do it.

They should set goals in advance for success. Additionally, they should share with you the role of social media in the SEO process.

Finally, they should understand the obligations of lawyers in marketing and advertising, including relevant legal ethics rules.

Local SEO for Lawyers

Many lawyers target local potential clients. Search engines generally prioritize local businesses in search results. In my experience, the most crucial local law firm SEO includes:

• Building local connections.
• Developing local content.
• Managing Google My Business.

Local search engine optimization is incredibly important for lawyers. In recent updates, Google has given prominence to local rankings in search engine result pages.

The best law firm SEO experts understand the value of local SEO services that bring in clients.

Our Approach to Law Firm SEO

Our approach to search engine optimization (SEO) for lawyers is straightforward:

Focus on growing meaningful organic traffic that attracts potential clients and brings in new customers.

Below is an example from one of our client's sites:

Clients trust me to achieve their business goals. Therefore, I don't overly fixate on a specific number of new pages or links. I'm here not to guarantee ranking for specific keywords within 24 hours but to increase visibility in organic search for target search queries and acquire clients.

If you're looking for an SEO service that guarantees to be in the top spot for a specific keyword within 24 hours, this is not the right place for you.

Deciding to hire an SEO expert for your law firm can have a significant impact on your online visibility. A skilled SEO consultant can enhance your site and save you a lot of time, while an irresponsible SEO consultant can harm your site and, even worse, your reputation. We strongly recommend thorough research when considering SEO consultants.

Transparency and Accountability

I provide various SEO services tailored for lawyers, leveraging my expertise in working with law firms and understanding the challenges and nuances of marketing legal practices.

Regardless of the goal or target, it's crucial to keep in mind how SEO for lawyers differs significantly from search marketing for products and other professional services. Lawyers have substantial stakes, including their professional reputation and, in some cases, their licensure. No amount of web traffic or search engine ranking is worth jeopardizing one's professional reputation or sacrificing a hard-earned license for practice.

Of course, I also offer SEO reporting. This involves developing concrete goals for my clients' campaigns and reporting progress. If you're looking for more general SEO information outside of legal marketing, I recommend checking out the following writings in my blog.