The Law Firm SEO Steps Attorneys Should be Taking

Designing Your Website for Law Firm Search Engine Optimization

Beyond having a website design that is sleek, fast, and easy for potential clients to use, you’ll want to make sure your site uses the right keywords. Your website content and meta description should use relevant keywords to signal to Google that you match the legal needs being searched. This is one of the many initial priorities to earn high rankings that lead to an increase in engagement and website authority.

Finding Attorney SEO Keywords

Start generating a list of keywords by considering your main areas of practice and the situations they apply. As explained in this rankings guide, be sure to account for people who are searching for specific needs, using “ready to hire” terms such as “family lawyer in Houston.” And those who are searching for more general information that might lead them to your law firm such as “what to do after a DUI.” We also recommend visiting law firm websites that rank at the top of searches for your practice areas. Looking at the titles and headers they use will give you a good idea of which keywords are popular for your niche. You can then test your list by using keyword tools such as Google Trends or an SEO service to verify the strength of your keywords.

Using the Keywords for Law Firm SEO Marketing

Once you’ve determined your keywords, begin developing website pages to match. Start by making individual pages for each area your law firm covers, as well as FAQ’s, testimonials, and "About Us” pages. Use your keywords to guide the title of these pages. Also, include keywords in the headings and the content. The goal here is to be specific and consistent with your keyword use so Google can determine what each page offers.

Optimizing Your Meta Tags and Descriptions

It’s important to optimize tags and descriptions on the backend of your website, as Google will also scan these areas to determine if your law firm matches a search. The four most effective tags and descriptions to use for attorney SEO are titles, headers, image alt texts, and meta descriptions. You should format each of these to include the specific keyword for the page they represent or appear on. Also make sure each is the appropriate length and depth for its purpose. For example, a title tag is what Google displays as the hyperlinked name of your page in the search results. So, to optimize the tag you should keep it short enough to be displayed in full (less than 60 characters), make it unique to the practice area or page it represents, and use the page’s keyword at the beginning of the title. You can read more about optimizing tags and descriptions here on Moz.

Creating Content and Backlinks for Law Firm Search Engine Optimizations

Google has stated that the top two things it looks for to determine site rankings are content and backlinks (other websites linking to yours). The nice thing about this measuring system is that you can work on optimizing both of these elements at the same time. Creating helpful legal content is not only a great way to use keywords, but is the basis of earning quality backlinks.

Crafting the Content on a Law Firm Website

Content comes in many forms. Blogs posts, FAQ’s, testimonials, videos, and images are all worth considering for law firm SEO purposes, though blogs are favored for earning backlinks. All content needs to be useful to the reader as well as optimized for a search engine to find. So, if you are writing a blog post, your first goal should be to provide valuable advice or information to any future clients or website visitors. Your second goal is to include keywords in the title, header, and in the copy to boost your SEO rankings. Just remember that the competition can be stiff when it comes to law firm blogs. You’ll need to invest time in writing quality, long, in-depth content if you want it to stand out and rank high.

Earning Quality Backlinks

Once you have solid SEO content, then you are ready to start generating quality backlinks. A backlink is successfully earned when other websites reference your’s as an authority on a subject. These links are very important to Google, as each link that points to your site from a respectable source testifies to your credibility. However, links from less-reputed, spammy sites can actually decrease your rank by association. To ensure your links are of-quality, we suggest first reaching out to your contacts and connections. For example, you can ask a client to feature your logo under “represented by” on their website, or reach out to your alma maters to see if they have a blog or publication you can contribute to and use to link back to your firm. Get your backlinks, but make sure they aren’t hurting you by associating you to sketchy sites or, worse, breaking Google’s regulations.

Claiming and Reclaiming Links for Attorney SEO

You can also find or “reclaim” backlinks that should already exist but are missing or broken. These occur when other websites mention you, but don’t properly link back to your page. Services like our free SEO audit are able to locate missing links for you. You can then resolve the issue by contacting the other party and asking them to update the link. While this might seem like a tricky process, most people will be happy to help you. Fixing a broken link is mutually beneficial. You earn backlinks, while the website linking to you ensures they are up-to-date and sending their readers to the right place.

Getting Started with Law Firm SEO

While there are many factors that go into law firm SEO, the return on investment is certainly worth it. Here at TuiSpace we can help you begin your SEO journey with focus and efficiency by performing a free SEO audit on your website. From keyword research to content creation, our specialized SEO services are here to help you in every stage of the process beyond.