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Example SEO Guide: Solicitors & Lawyers

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Law Firm SEO

Acquire new clients through expert SEO (& targeted advertising!)

The web is a confusing place isn’t it?

So much content, so many false claims and worst of all, so many competitors seem to be doing better than you are! Don’t you long for a day when you find the right knife to cut through the noise and have a steady stream of new client enquiries?

What is SEO?

In short, it’s the process of optimising your website and business in a way that Google can both monitor the improvement and send targeted traffic to you.

Why You Should Invest in SEO.

  • It’s incredibly cost-effective; clicks cost nothing!
  • The clients are actively looking for your services. They are buy-ready!
  • It lasts a long time, sometimes years
  • Customers / clients trust Google’s organic listings
  • It strengthens Google Map Listings, Paid Ads and other marketing
  • Most mobile searches are for local businesses
  • Almost all consumers search for local businesses online
  • 30% of searchers click on the top SEO spot on Google (Source: Smart Insights 2018 report)

3 Key Steps To Better Google Rankings and Business Growth.

Step One: Keywords.

The foundation of SEO is keyword targeting. These are the specific terms that potential clients type into Google when they’re looking for a business like yours. Even in your local area, there are likely thousands of potential clients taking to Google each month in the hunt for fairly immediate legal help.

We have a number of research tools at our disposal, to give us lots of data on what people are doing, looking for and ultimately what they want. Below are some example searches, just in the local West Yorkshire (UK) area. 

Example Keyword Traffic

This shows how many people in West Yorkshire (UK) alone, look for these specific terms

1900

Solicitor

480

Lawyer

210

Family Law

1000

Solicitor Near Me

590

Barrister

390

Conveyancing Solicitors

The number represents how many people look for your services every month, on average, throughout the year. There are peaks and troughs. To keep this in context, imagine even the lowest keyword here - Divorce Lawyer - was driving 30-50 super keen, buy-ready, clients to your website each month.

Every new client is another step on the journey to business growth, let alone all the associated keywords to this and other terms you could also rank for.

So we’ve got a plan, what now? Well, you need to “optimise your website” or, in other words, the hard work begins. You need to increase the super targeted relevance of your website to these key terms. Not just because Google says so, but because it’s what potential clients expect to see.

Here are just some things you should be looking at: 

Technical elements, such as title tags, meta tags & canonical tags.

Do some Googling or drop us an email if we’ve lost you already!

The types of pages you have, such as 1 page for each service.

Services should be defined by your customer, NOT you. If they shop for ‘legal help’, that is how you should position yourself initially. You can then take them on a learning journey, what they need might be something completely different. See ‘Step Two’ for more on this!

What’s the big statement for the business?

Does it include the very things that potential clients look for and is presented well within our website design? If no, then it’s time to change that.

Your Content.

Pictures, images, video...etc. See Step Two for more on this!

Step Two: Intent Through Content

How far do you think a potential client is in their buying journey because they engage with you? 40%? 60%? 80%? In a recent study, B2B customers were 70% of the way through their journey when they engage with sales people or contact within a business. So yes, content really is king in almost all sectors!

So we’ve established that we’re going to need a mix of “nice to have” content for those window shoppers and some hard & fast sales material to get the phone ringing. Below are some examples of each. 

'Nice to Have' Content Examples.

How To Move House.

Stamp Duty Guide.

Different Solicitor Types.

Lawyer Costs.

How Solicitors Work.

Choosing a Barrister.

'Hard & Fast' Sales Content Examples.

Our Services.

Contact Details.

Quote Forms.

Rate Cards.

Glowing Testimonials.

Guarantees & Insurance.

Step Three: Prove Your Worth

It’s all very well answering questions and being a ‘relevant’ website for Google to send specific traffic to, but to be at the top you need to embrace your vision that you ARE the best at what you do.

4 Ways To Improve Your SEO Sentiment.

1) Optimise your Google Maps pin with SEO keyword targeting, customer reviews, relevant imagery, correct contact details, posts (these are a bit like a status update), correct categorisation & much more.

2) Create relevant associations, such as trade bodies, The Law Society and any other outlets that endorse your practice.

3) Gain reviews and testimonials via a ‘verified’ platform, such as Trustpilot, reviews.co.uk or Feefo. Google Maps is another place you can do this for free, but requires a bit more developer time to connect this with your web content (which boosts your conversion).

Approach social media with caution. The best businesses and organisations are what I call ‘customer-first’. Therefore, decide if you think clients will engage with you on social media or not. Are you that kind of business? There’s no commercial or SEO benefit to an empty Facebook page or a blog that no one reads. That said, engaging content in the right place with the right content and engagement can position your business as one of the best in the industry. As an idea, you could create a help centre to help customers understand the legal world that tackles tough topics. A bit of advertising and you could start to gain traffic from help websites, such as Money Saving Experts.

Please note that the above list is purely example-based. This will vary for each business and needs a thorough strategy to be a success.

Pro Tip!

Finally, a top tip is to spend some time with your digital partners, such as us or a web agency, to establish your tracking methods. If you can identify which SEO keyword, advert or social post delivered a conversion, imagine how much more profitable your client acquisition strategy would be. We have extensive experience at this and can recommend a number of methods. It has to be simple enough to understand, but advanced enough to provide the data required.

Written by Nick Trueman

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