Why Your Law Firm Needs Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) For Lawfirm’s Online Visibility
People search for all kinds of services all the time on the Internet with search engines like Google, Bing, and others. Regardless of the service, you offer, the need to rank high on the search results page is a great way to promote your own law firm using the search engine and get more people to connect with what you do. Growth matters to your business!
We explain a few reasons why your law firm needs to improve your standing with search engines and how to make your website more friendly for customers. Some fixes are easy and some will take some time and skill.
Offer Expertise
People seeking legal services will most often begin by seeking some general legal info about whether or not they need a lawyer. The truth for most individuals is that they don’t know enough about the law to understand the law or penalties.
The solution? Create content related to some of the legal matters, like family law or personal injury, that matter to most of your clients. Answer frequently asked questions in an easy to understand way and searches will begin to learn your name and trust your ability to help them. The key is to have Google and other search engines recognize you as a local authority for a subject and rank you higher as a result.
The best way to make your content work well is to incorporate common Google keywords into your writing. Use Google’s Keyword planner and keep your content fresh and up to date.
Website Navigation and Backlinks
One of the most important parts of connecting with customers is to offer an easy to use the website. Besides speed and ease of reading, websites need to have easy navigation. One not often discussed element of ranking better on Google is backlinks.
Backlinks
Backlinks are links to your website and within your website. Google likes to know you are enough of an authority to earn a link from a website besides your own. Whether these are local directories or local legal advice, these are helpful in Google’s search ranks.
Backlinks also exist in a way on your own site. Offering links within your website is important to tell Google about how your site works. Both external and internal links can raise your Google ranks.
Ease of Use
Have you been to a website that was hard to navigate, didn’t provide any contact info, and worst of all, was difficult to use on your phone? If you want to rank high on Google, don’t do any of those things! Most people use their phone or mobile device to research information and your website needs to be built for a smaller screen. This means:
- Use icons when possible, the text is still needed to explain things, but icons for buttons takes less space
- Have a clear and obvious menu
- Include a search bar if possible. People like typing in their request
- Don’t pack navigation like links and your menu too close together. Make sure buttons are easy to touch.
- Make your website organization clear
All of these things combined will keep people on your site without simply leaving, which Google sees. Google cares about its user’s experience and will promote websites that users surf for a longer time and read more pages on.
Think Local
One of the most important elements of SEO is winning your local search. When someone searches for a “Family Law Lawyer near me” it’s critical you come up near the top. When searching for a place nearby, many people have taken the step to actually contact a lawyer and are ready to work with who they have.
To make the first step in improving your standing, have a complete Google Business profile. Head to Business.Google.com. Your Google Business listing needs some nice photos of your business, perhaps of you, your website address, phone number, hours, and that’s just a start. You can also add specific services you offer. Why? Communicating your services upfront establishes trust, and for sensitive legal matters, you need trust.
Bing and Google business listings are not on your website, but they certainly show up first for people who intend to visit in person or want to call you.
Final Thoughts
Search engine optimization is critical to growing your business and make sure people are aware of your presence when they need something. We hope this article helped to begin to learn what is needed to stand out on search results pages.
This article was originally posted at Virtual Surge.