Law firm website SEO isn’t only about boosting the number of visitors that come to your website. It has more to do with getting the types of visitors to your site that actually want what it is you have to offer in terms of your particular field of legal expertise and your geographical location. Search engine optimization targeted to your local region has to do with getting the visitors to your law offices specifically through your website. You want those people who are actually in need of legal services in your region of the world. After all, what’s the use of getting clients in Vancouver if your office is based in New York?
Local search engine optimization is made up of a few main techniques. First, make sure you list your law firm and website in any local business listings you can find online. This includes business listing and map services. Make sure to include the main keywords you’re targeting in your online marketing campaign in your listing so that the search engines are aware of the main focus of your website and the legal services your firm offers. The most important thing you need to focus on in your online marketing campaign is getting to the top of the search results pages for your particular keywords. By the top, one refers to the first page if not the first two or three results. The highest number of clicks goes through the top spot and then exponentially lower for each subsequent position. That’s why it’s so important to get to the top using strategic keyword targeted SEO.
Your online marketing needs to be strategic and to do so, it’s important to understand and embrace that the market, even the legal market, has gone online. People aren’t searching for legal services using phone directories anymore. They’re going on a computer or on a smartphone and doing a quick search online for the legal services they’re looking for where they’re located. Almost eighty percent of the average American income is actually spent within fifty miles of a person’s home. That means that local search engine optimization can result in a huge boost for your law firm.
Including your law firm in local online directories and describing your firm’s location explicitly on your website will greatly improve your search engine results as well. If you choose to omit or avoid mention of your location for your firm, you will be competing for practice area-related firm name’s only. This is a problem because there are hundreds if not thousands of law firms around the country with the exact same practice areas as you. Differentiating yourself can be difficult and time-consuming. Simply by listing the location of your office and the areas you serve, you’ll suddenly be competing in a much small pool of law firms–those in your area.
The key is to think like the end user. If you think people will often write “Sacramento Divorce Attorney” in the search box, simply calling yourself a divorce attorney and having your location in a contact page is not enough. Important titles on the webpage should specify both location and practice in order to show up in those specific searches.