Get Your Law Firm to Rank Higher With This Local SEO Checklist

How can a small local law firm on a limited budget compete with the larger firms that have unlimited cash to invest in marketing?

The reality is that smaller firms will never be able to compete on who has the biggest marketing budget. But they can stand out from the crowd with local Search engine optimization (SEO).

By following this local SEO checklist, you can make sure your law firm is doing everything it can to generate traffic to your website.

Are you not showing up for local searches?

You can change this by ticking off everything on our local SEO checklist. Let’s take a look at the local SEO checklist!

1. Researching Keywords

The first stage of building your SEO strategy is to establish which keywords and phrases people search for find local law firms.

This may require some extensive research and analysis of the kinds of terms people type into Google and other search engines.

After brainstorming keywords and phrases with clients, colleagues, friends, and family, you’re ready to enter your list of keywords into Google’s Keyword Planner.

This only provides Ad information. However, you can also safely assume that keywords with high Ad completion are likely to have high SEO ranking too.

2. Using Keywords

Once you’ve discovered which keywords people search for in your local area, you can optimize your website with this in mind.

For instance, a law firm may optimize a blog post on legal advice on estate planning with “personal injury lawyer”. But if the keyword search most commonly used by online users is actually, “personal injury attorney”, then they could be losing clients.

Another way to take advantage of keywords is to include the location of your law firm. This way, when people type in “personal injury lawyer Salt Lake City” they’ll be directed to this lawyer.

3. Title Tags

Many law firms and other small businesses undervalue the role title tags play in driving traffic to your company website.

Title tags are the text that appears on the SERPs, as well as, on the internet browser tab.

The title tag provides the online user with a brief understanding of what the link will direct to.

But online users are not the only one reading title tags. Google and other search engines use the text to determine your ranking on SERPs.

The best title tags are kept to a minimum of 55 characters. And don’t forget to include the name of your law firm.

4. Always Include NAP Info

If there are three characters that stick in your head after reading this article, it should be the NAP.

N stands for name, A for address, and P for a phone number.

Google algorithm can pick up your NAP from your website. It uses this information, based on the quality and consistency, to determine your site’s ranking on SERPs.

5. Reviews From Clients

Did you know that more than 92 percent of people read reviews of businesses online?

You may be even more surprised to know that for 60 percent of people make a judgment about a local company based on the star rating given by other reviewers.

This means that every local law firm has to concentrate on acquiring positive reviews from clients.

This also serves to improve your SEO ranking. The greater number of positive reviews you receive, the more likely these reviews will be picked up by search engines. Thus, boosting your overall ranking on SERPs.

To find out how clients are reviewing your law firm, check out Google My Business, Facebook, and Yelp.

6. Optimize Pictures

You may think that SEO has nothing to do with how you use images and pictures. But you’d be wrong.

While it’s true that search engines don’t engage with images like we do. That’s why you need to include keywords and phrases for search engines to pick up.

By doing this, you make sure you don’t waste an opportunity to improve your SEO ranking.

7. Anchor Texts

Anchor texts are words, phrases or even whole sentences. Online users can click on these to be directed to another page.

You should use hyperlinks to send users to other relevant online pages. For instance, if you use the words, “legal contract” to hyperlink to another page. Search engines and online users will assume you’re linking to a relevant page.

This is also a great way to show visitors to your website other relevant content on your site.

8. User-Friendly Website

Did you know that over 60 percent of online searches are made with smartphones?

This means if your company website has a poor smartphone usability, users will quickly get frustrated and leave.

But this also has further implications for SEO. Since 2015, Google has been penalizing websites that are no smartphone friendly. This means if you’re site doesn’t work for users on the go, then this will damage your overall SEO rank.

9. Link Building

As far as Google’s algorithm is concerned, a link to your website is a sign of trust and authority.

For example, if Forbes, the Financial Times and the New York Times, all link to a single website, Google will recognize this as a reliable and trustworthy site.

But the good news is that you don’t have to sit around until these online giants discover you.

Youn can link your website to the same websites to convince those sites to link back to you. This is known as link building.

This is certainly not enough in itself for attracting the attention of the major online publishers. But alongside raising brand awareness and other marketing techniques, it can increase your SEO rankings.