Emma Carter https://kinetictraffic.com 4m 1,117 #seo
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
How effective is local SEO in helping you attract clients to your law firm?
According to one study, around 1 in 3 people use their mobile phone to find a nearby lawyer. Once they have done this, they are more likely to schedule an appointment immediately.
Here are several more reasons why you need to implement local SEO on your website.
Obtain more online visibility and foot traffic
How will people ever contact your law firm if they don’t even know it exists?
By adopting a local SEO strategy for lawyers, you can increase your visibility and ranking on the search engine results pages. If your law firm appears at the top of the results often enough, it will generate brand awareness among searchers in the need of legal assistance. As an added bonus, the majority of these people will be living close to your place of work.
You should begin by creating or optimizing your Google Business Profile (GBP), a free service that will enable you to highlight your:
- Firm’s profile
- Lawyers’ profiles
- Location
- Contact information
- Client reviews
Once you have completed all the details, it will be easier for potential clients to find your law firm and verify its legitimacy. You should also add clear directions to your office so that searchers know exactly where to find you. In addition, you must ensure that your firm is clearly marked on Google Maps.
It is imperative that you respond to client reviews (even if they are negative) as they comprise almost 20% of Google’s local search ranking factors. Your replies will signify that you value your loyal clients while addressing any concerns or problems they may have. Positive client reviews can strengthen your local search ranking and reputation.
Furthermore, you should utilize the client feedback to improve your legal services or perhaps even add some new ones. It is vital that your law firm is up to date with the current legal requirements of your clients as this will help you retain their custom and also attract new business.
Attract more potential clients
Around half of Google searches are local in nature and most end in a conversion. For this reason, implementing local SEO will enable you to generate more consultation appointments with potential clients. It is therefore imperative that you have a GBP and an effective website as Google will show these platforms to searchers who are looking for legal services in your area.
Improve your authority and build trust with potential/actual clients
How can you convince people that your law firm is the one they should hire to resolve their problems? One way is to consistently appear at the top of the results pages. This will help generate trust and brand loyalty. Meanwhile, satisfied clients are also likely to provide positive feedback, return whenever they need legal help, and recommend you to their family and friends.
Local SEO can also pinpoint your target clients and help you create content that will cater to their needs. Specialized content can result in:
- More online traffic and leads
- A perception that your law firm leads the field in its chosen practice area
However, identifying and learning about your target audience can often take time so it may be easier if you assign this task to an SEO expert.
Tips for improving your local SEO
Besides the GBP and online reviews, you should consider implementing various other local SEO strategies.
Add relevant frequently asked questions (FAQs)
You should incorporate FAQs in order to provide helpful answers to your readers’ queries. This will also improve your ranking in the local searches. If you are creating or optimizing the FAQs, bear in mind the following advice:
- Provide answers to the most popular questions or concerns
- Focus your FAQs on your service area offers
- Make sure you update the FAQs regularly to keep the page relevant to search engines and readers
You can also optimize your FAQs even more by including local keywords. For instance, you could incorporate a question similar to this:
- How much does a divorce attorney in Quebec charge?
This query can bolster your efforts to target a long-tail keyword – “divorce attorney in Quebec.”
Create a separate page for each lawyer
If several lawyers work for your firm, you should create separate pages for each. Also, do not forget to optimize the page content with local SEO elements.
If you need to rank several lawyers on the same page, they should each have their own:
- Customized title tag
- Meta description
- Blurb that incorporates their name and geographical location
- Image with alt-text and location
Be careful when assigning keywords to your lawyer page as you do not want them to compete for the same search terms. Make sure each keyword is unique and specific by basing it on the individual lawyer’s practice. For instance, a “divorce lawyer” and a “personal injury lawyer” should have separate pages.
Use citations and directories
In the citations, you should include your firm’s:
- Name
- Address
- Contact information
- Website, and even social media links
The more often your law firm appears in the local citations, the better it will be as it helps to establish legitimacy and trust in the eyes of searchers. It also puts you in front of potential clients in need of your legal services.
Another listing opportunity is a legal directory where you can inform people about your law firm and its location.
Include a schema markup in your website
A schema markup is a set of codes that provides relevant information to the search engines. With a schema, you can bolster the click-through rate (CTR) of your website by more than half.
For local SEO, you should incorporate all the relevant details of your firm’s operations, including the business hours, physical address, contact details, and even ratings. Google crawlers will take this information and display it on the results pages.
Conclusion
When it comes to attracting new clients to your law firm, you cannot ignore the power of local SEO. This is an effective tool that will boost your online ranking and result in more appointment bookings. As a result, it is an investment that will pay off in terms of clients and fees.
Nevertheless, local SEO takes time and effort. If you want to improve your law firm’s branding, you should begin with an optimized GBP. Once you have obtained client reviews (hopefully positive), you should provide a response, even to those that are negative in nature. You should also list your law firm and its services in local citations and legal directories. Furthermore, a local SEO expert can provide insights into how you can enhance your firm’s ranking in the local searches.
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