Search engine optimization (SEO) is a marketing term that describes your website's ability to show up in other peoples internet searches. SEO increases your online visibility and allows you to gain the attention of potential clients.

Since law firms are a competitive market, being visible on search engines is very important. The first place most people look is the internet, and with so much online competition, building a great SEO strategy can be an uphill task for any law firm.

However, there are proven strategies and tips that you can apply when marketing your law firm using search engines to drive organic traffic. At the same time, there are some common mistakes to avoid if you want to achieve your goals faster. With these few tips, boosting your law firm’s SEO efforts will be less daunting, and you’re bound to see results.

1. Localize your keywords

One common mistake many businesses make when incorporating an SEO strategy is focusing on unspecific and broad keywords. The thought of having to rank high for a keyword such as “best lawyer” or “best law firm” can be exciting, but this is not specific enough to give you the amount of local traffic—searches from people in your city—that you would be able to take advantage of for your business.

So, rather than optimizing your website for such broad keywords, try localizing your keywords by incorporating your target audience's location. For example, build on keywords like Toronto mortgage lawyer or best insurance lawyer in Boston.

2. Improve your technical SEO

Increasing your search engine visibility is largely dependent on how good your technical SEO is. Many law firms aren’t properly equipped to manage the technical aspects of their SEO strategy, which covers the technical architecture of your website and its ability to be properly indexed by search engines, amongst other factors.

Outsourcing this to a technical SEO professional like the lawyer SEO by dNOVO Group can help you uncover and resolve technical issues such as no HTTPS, duplicate content, poor site analytics, and weak site security. 

3. Write quality website content

It is not enough to just scatter your intended keywords across different parts of your website for search engine visibility. The content of the site must itself have value to potential clients or anyone else who may come across it. This means accurate, relevant, insightful, and keyword-focused content that promotes your business niche as a law firm to rank better and generate the traffic you're looking for.

This content creation strategy should apply to all the main pages of your website and blog posts.

4. Include detailed business contact information

Imagine having tons of traffic on your website but having no clear path to turn them from browsers to clients. Missing or ambiguous contact information makes it a lot harder for potential clients to reach you and inquire about your legal services.

It's therefore important to ensure that your website includes a clear contact page with all the necessary information on how to find you—even including an embedded Google map.

5. Improve your image optimization

Poor image optimization is responsible for businesses losing out on traffic from image search results. Perform a detailed audit of all your website’s image files to ensure there are no optimization problems.

Issues like large file sizes, no alt text, or bad URL structure on images can affect your website’s performance and lead to poor user experience.

6. Avoid keyword stuffing

Once you’ve decided on the right keywords and started incorporating them in your law firm’s website content, you should be careful not to overdo it. Many businesses are guilty of stuffing their website with too many keywords. This makes the site overly optimized for searches in ways that readers immediately recognize as being written for search, not for people.  

Remember, search engines like Google have a smart algorithm that can detect when you begin to spam your website with keywords. It takes some delicacy to use your keywords in a natural way that won’t appear uncomfortable for readers or trigger spam alerts from search engine bots.

7. Make your website mobile-friendly

It’s 2022, and millions of internet users view websites using their mobile phones—this is a trend that will continue to grow in popularity in the coming years. While most websites are built for desktops, failing to optimize your website for mobile search can cause your law firm to lose out on a lot of traffic.

A proper website should have fast loading times, be easy to navigate, and have a user-friendly interface no matter what device a user is searching or accessing it from.

8. Respond to negative client reviews

No matter how good a service you provide, there will always be detractors, a few people who with negative things to say. If you’re one of many businesses that have negative customer reviews on Google or other third-party sites, you'll need to keep on top of the situation by responding to unsatisfied clients.

One common practice that actually does more reputation damage than good is ignoring negative reviews. It is important to always respond to dissatisfied customers as this creates a sense of value and builds trust with your potential clients.

Flag spam and inaccurate reviews to ensure they are removed to prevent them from misleading other people.

9. Always include backlinks

To improve your search engine rankings, you can incorporate a good link building strategy. It’s not enough to rely on your website or local directories to help your law firm rank highly in search results. High-quality backlinks are equally necessary.

There are many approaches to achieving this, but the goal is to get other websites to link to yours. One method is to write guest posts for colleagues' sites or those of major organizations and communities. Often, site owners will contact each other to trade backlinks. And, of course, if you publish an insightful or high-profile blog post, this is likely to attract others to link to your article. 

10. Ensure you have consistent NAPW data

NAPW refers to “Name, Address, Phone number, and Website.” In effect, NAPW are the most important pieces of information on your site and online listings. Unfortunately, many businesses make the mistake of having inconsistencies in this data across multiple listings.

If your law firm has changed any information like its address or phone number, it is important to create a new listing and update existing ones. Having inconsistent NAPW data drastically affects your local SEO rankings.

In conclusion, getting your SEO strategy right for your law firm will definitely take some time—and a lot of trial and error—but as long as you’re consistent and follow the above tips, you should be able to reach your objectives.

More articles https://www.wicz.com/story/46116819/ukraine-crisis-brings-new-attention-to-marcellus-shale-for-jobs-and-economic-security