You should hire a law firm SEO agency because it has the technical knowledge to understand the complexities and standards of the legal industry. At the same time, it has the SEM expertise to increase a law firm’s clientele, reputation and credibility, online visibility, and profitability.
1. Leverage industry expertise
According to a study by the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, 17% of people search the Internet for legal advice. Second on the list is consulting a lawyer (16%), a family member (13%), a friend (11%), and police (7%).
The same study also found that search engines are people's #1 online sources, followed by websites and online forums.
A law firm SEO company ensures you capture these potential clients and strengthen your online presence by leveraging on-page, off-page, and technical SEO tactics and outreach campaigns. Moreover, it understands the unique challenges, regulations, and trends within the legal industry, allowing it to tailor their SEO strategies effectively.
For instance, law firm SEO companies understand that law firms are held to a higher legal standard and must follow the rules and guidelines set by the American Bar Association. One of these rules is that law firms can advertise but cannot solicit their services.
SmartSites’s work with Corradino & Papa LLC illustrates this very well. Corradino & Papa LLC is a personal injury law firm that wanted to increase traffic and conversion by optimizing its website for search engines.
To achieve this, SmartSites first understood that the client followed different parameters from other businesses, as it was under the legal industry. So, it produced informative and accurate content and wrote disclaimers for each page on the website to follow the industry’s guidelines. Next, it created location pages to capture geo-specific traffic, optimized blog posts and service pages and allocated PPC spending to relevant search terms.
As a result, Corradino & Papa LLC increased total site traffic by 87% and organic search traffic by 96%.
2. Establish credibility
Up to 70% of clients are willing to travel far to get legal counsel with a better reputation. Additionally, 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust referrals from friends and family. This shows that a law firm's credibility can make or break it.
However, conventional SEO strategies for reputation building are not applicable to law firms. For instance, law firms cannot publicly disclose their client’s names without authorization. Moreover, it cannot publicly discuss cases due to attorney-client privilege and laws that protect special victims.
A law firm SEO company is well-versed in these limitations and legal procedures. As such, it follows the proper steps and laws before producing content. Moreover, it develops other tactics to help improve a law firm’s credibility, such as outreach campaigns to trustworthy journals and media outlets. It also provides public relations services to help you manage public perception of your brand and the negative reviews and feedback in branded searches.
3. Increase clientele
Attorneys report that generating new clients is the third most difficult part of their job. However, law firm SEO companies can help make the job easier by placing your business at the front and center of your client’s searches.
The firm can connect with individuals actively seeking legal services by targeting relevant keywords and optimizing content. Furthermore, retaining a prominent online presence through ongoing SEO efforts, like enhancing your Google Business Profile, encourages repeat business and referrals.
70% of law firms say that their website helped them land new cases. A study by the American Bar Association states that 35% of law firms retain clients through their websites and 29% through their blogs.
One example is when Nifty Marketing helped Joshua Goldstein Esq with its SEO. Joshua Goldstein Esq was an established immigration law firm in Boston but decided to relocate to Los Angeles. It faced major competition here as Los Angeles was a center for undocumented immigrants.
Nifty Marketing conducted market and competition research to understand the Los Angeles immigration law firm market. It also studied the client’s business in Boston to gather historical data on its target audience, unique selling proposition, and relevant keywords. Then, it built a website from scratch, producing content and pages targeting the Los Angeles market.
Additionally, Nifty Marketing developed a customer review process and link-building campaign. This included creating a Lawyer Scholarship program that encouraged universities with high domain authority to link to the client’s new Los Angeles website.
Lastly, Nifty Marketing advised Joshua Goldstein Esq to copy the location of its top competitors to gain more visibility.
As a result, Joshua Goldstein increased:
- Local organic traffic by 1,560%
- Form completions by 450%
- Phone calls by 267%
- Leads by 717%
4. Improve profitability
A study found that law firms with marketing tactics, including SEO, are more profitable than those without.
In addition to bringing new clients to the business, law firms help maximize a legal brand’s return on investment (ROI) by implementing conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategies and creating data-driven SEO campaigns that maximize profitability. This includes A/B testing call-to-action (CTA) buttons and landing pages to understand which design and writing compels target audiences to convert into clients.
Additionally, it measures key metrics like website traffic, bounce rate, keyword rankings, and conversion rates to assess the effectiveness of its SEO strategies. After, it adjusts strategies to optimize performance and increase profitability over time.
One instance is when the personal injury firm Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm worked with the SEO agency Grow Law Firm. Before partnering with Grow Law Firm, Jocab D. Fuchsberg Law Firm’s cost per client acquisition continuously increased. Moreover, it had difficulty generating leads and conversions in the highly competitive New York market.
Grow Law Firm revamped Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm’s website, added case studies and client reviews, and developed conversion funnels that guided clients to contact the law firm. It optimized the blog posts, created a robust backlink portfolio, and reorganized the services pages. Lastly, it tracked customer data from each marketing campaign and channel to further optimize its conversion and SEO strategies.
As a result, the client:
- Increased qualified leads by 108%
- Increased organic traffic by 45%
- Increased calls by 166%
- Reduced cost per lead by 56%
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