Podcast Ep. 65: SEO Strategies for Large Law Firms

In this podcast, Guy Alvarez discusses a few things large law firms should be considering when it comes to SEO. Listen in to discover how Google has changed the shape of SEO, how tactics vary in the legal industry, and new SEO strategies large firms should use to rank higher on search engines.

Podcast Show Notes

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How Google has changed SEO

In the past, you typically see ads at the top of your search results page with the organic results below. However, now Google is doing more to capture the searcher’s intent and provide an answer directly on the results page without the searchers having to click through to a site. We’re starting to see rich snippets that provide the answers to frequently asked questions at the top of the search results page. These snippets are typically from websites that are ranking on page one or two. You’ll also now see the map pack and related news which weren’t on the search engine results page before. Due to these changes, it’s now more important than ever to organically rank higher on Google. SEO is changing at a rapid pace and old tactics are no longer enough.

SEO in the legal industry

HubSpot recently conducted a study that analyzed average click-through-rates by industry. The average CTR in the legal industry is 1.35%, the lowest out of all industries. From this, we already know that it’s challenging for law firms to get users to click through to their websites and find their content. In an Advanced Web Ranking study, it was found that the number one organic position on Google has a CTR of 29.87%.

The keywords with the highest buyer intent in the legal industry are the words “best+keyword” or “keyword+reviews”. Law firms are competing against publishers and review sites when it comes to SEO which is why it’s harder to rank organically for the keywords your searcher is looking for.

7 SEO Strategies for Large Law Firms

1. Make sure you consider purchasing ads on Google. It doesn’t hurt for your law firm to spend some money around key practice areas so that you show up at the top of the search results page.
2. Try to appear on review sites. Make sure you’re ranking highly on a variety of lawyer review sites that get a large amount of traffic.
3. Anticipate what your clients or prospective clients are asking when it comes to each practice area. Consider the different types of questions or topics searchers are typing into Google.
4. Write content around the questions and topics your clients are looking for so that this content ranks highly on search engines.
5. Develop long-tail practice area pages. The goal is for these pages to rank for more sophisticated and specific types of keywords.
6. Create local landing pages – even if your law firm is national or international. When people search for services, they often search for “keyword+near me”. For this reason, you want to make sure you rank for the regions and cities that are important to your law firm.
7. Conduct keyword research that is focused around your firm’s practices and the types of work that you perform rather than general keyword research.

Takeaway

If you want to have a really successful SEO strategy you must consider technical SEO, user intent, and how your content ties in with what your prospects and clients are searching for. Many law firms do not have a strong SEO strategy that combines all three of these considerations. In order to rank higher on search engines, you must think like your client.