A law firm SEO company is a digital marketing agency that helps improve a legal firm’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). This can be for search engines like Google and Bing or other online marketing channels like Facebook and LinkedIn. Doing so increases brand awareness, conversion rates, industry reputation, and organic traffic revenue.  

A study by Zahavian Law Firm Marketing found that law firms that consistently and actively publish and optimize their blogs for SEO record 400% more organic traffic than those who don’t. Additionally, organic traffic produces the second-highest conversion rates for law firms compared to other digital marketing strategies, like paid advertising.  

A law firm SEO company maximizes these benefits by understanding the unique challenges and needs of the legal industry. It also understands that typical SEO strategies do not apply to law firms, as they follow more stringent standards, guidelines, and rules. 

Specific needs and challenges of the legal industry: 

• Niche specialization: Law firms specialize in specific practice areas, which means they need to tailor their SEO and marketing efforts to target every niche keyword and audience. This requires a deep understanding of their target market and effective keyword research. 
• Complexity of legal content: Legal content can be complex and technical, making it difficult to create engaging and understandable content for the average reader while still being informative and accurate.  
• Ethical and legal considerations: Law firms are subject to strict ethical and legal guidelines and regulations governing advertising and marketing practices. They must ensure that their SEO and marketing efforts comply with these regulations to avoid potential disciplinary actions. 
• Local SEO: Many legal services are location-based, with clients often seeking lawyers in their specific region or state. Law firms need to optimize their online presence for local search to attract clients from their target geographic areas. 
• Reputation management: Online reviews and ratings can significantly impact a law firm's reputation and credibility. Law firms need to actively manage their online reputation and promptly address any negative reviews or feedback. 
• Long sales cycle: Legal services typically involve a long sales cycle, with potential clients conducting extensive research and deliberation before deciding. Law firms need to employ strategies to nurture leads over time and stay top-of-mind throughout the decision-making process. 

One such instance is when the law firm SEO company Rankings.io helped the personal injury attorney Gabriel Levin to improve his lead generation strategy. Before working with Rankings.io, Gabriel Levin implemented his own SEO strategy on his website. While it initially worked, Google soon considered his site spammy and blocked his domain. 

Rankings.io audited the client’s original site and knew that creating a new website was the best course of action. It conducted keyword research, performed outreach campaigns, and added the client to relevant listings. It also produced copy that is user-focused and optimized for search engines. 

Within two years, Gabriel Levin increased traffic by 3,440% and doubled its leads. After seven years, it reached a traffic value of $1,100,000 and increased clickthrough rate by 44% year-over-year (YoY), new website users by 21% YoY, and impressions by 133% YoY. 

Law firm SEO companies offer search engine marketing (SEM) strategies that increase a legal business’s search engine ranking. The following are the most common services: 

• Keyword Research: Identifying relevant words and phrases that potential clients use when searching for legal services online. 
• On-Page Optimization: Optimizing website elements, such as title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and content, to improve crawlability, index, and ranking. 
• Off-Page Optimization: Building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites to improve the website’s credibility and authority. 
• Local SEO: Ensuring the law firm's website appears prominently in local search results, especially for users searching for legal services within a specific geographic area. 
• Content Creation: Developing informative, engaging, and optimized content such as blog posts, articles, and FAQs to attract organic traffic and establish the law firm as an authority in its practice areas. 
• Technical SEO audit: Improving website speed, mobile-friendliness, and user experience to increase search engine rankings and provide a positive browsing experience for visitors. 

Local SEO is important for your law firm because it helps you target key clients, attract high-quality leads, rank higher on search engines, and boost client trust. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the significance of local SEO:  

• Target key clients: Each US state has different laws, so clients are more likely to search within their area. Local SEO allows law firms to accurately target customers in these areas by adding geographical keywords to their content.  
• Rank higher on search engines: SEO for legal firms is a highly competitive market, making it more expensive. However, local SEO is a less competitive market space, making it easier to rank higher and at a more affordable rate.  
• Make it easier for clients to find you: One of the key components of local SEO is to claim and update your Google Business Profile and include your name, address, and phone number (NAP data) on your website. In doing so, clients can easily find and contact your business when searching for law firms.  
• Instill trust in clients: Local SEO businesses create strategies to encourage customers to write reviews on your Google Business Profile. In doing so, potential clients can easily see how others rate your services, which can boost trust and credibility.  
• Gain high-quality leads: Typical SEO strategies target customers at a national level. But if you’re a local law firm, local SEO only targets customers in the specific geographic area you serve. As such, you avoid attracting people outside your key demographics. 

Law firm SEO services cost between $1,000 and $20,000 per month. The top 50 law firm SEO agencies on DesignRush charge an average of $119 per hour. 20.4% of law firm SEO companies on DesignRush accept a minimum of under $1,000 for a project, and 0.1% take a minimum of $50,000 per project.  

The reason that law firm SEO services vary so much is because of the following factors: 

• Project scope: A law firm with multiple branches nationwide will spend more on local and national SEO efforts than a law firm targeting only one specific location for its SEO strategies.  
• Location: Areas like New York and Chicago have a higher density of law firms, making it more competitive and expensive to optimize for these areas compared to smaller towns in the US.  
• Level of competition: Highly competitive markets require more aggressive SEO tactics, which can also be expensive.  
• Current organic traffic: A legal firm with zero organic traffic requires more content and SEO strategies, which increases the cost of the service compared to a well-established legal brand. 

Below is a breakdown of how much each law firm practice spends on average for SEO services: 

• Criminal defense 
  • Annual SEO spending: $165,000 
• Personal injury 
  • Annual SEO spending: $210,000 
• Business law 
  • Annual SEO spending: $130,000 
• Family and estate 
  • Annual SEO spending: $105,000 
• Overall law firm 
  • Annual SEO spending: $120,000 

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% 

You can choose the best SEO company for your legal firm by following these steps: 

1. Define your project scope: Do you want to focus on targeting your local clients, or are you seeking to go national? Determine your long-term business goals, SEO camping goals, budget, and timeline. 
2. Evaluate its track record: Check its list of clients, testimonies, case studies, reviews, awards, certificates, and recognitions. Look for the ones with experience in the legal industry. 
3. Assess its expertise: Read its blogs, posts, and other published content. Focus on agencies that clearly explain their strategies and show experience in your legal field. 
4. Look at its list of services: Find a law firm SEO company that provides all the services you need so you don’t have to coordinate with multiple marketing agencies simultaneously. 
5. Observe its communication strategy: See how responsive the agency is to your messages and how it answers your questions. This can give you clues on how communicative it will be after hiring. 
6. Request for client references: Speaking to the agency’s previous clients can give insight into its specific processes, management style, and work ethics. 
7. Send your request for proposal: Provide a project brief and your request for proposal (RFP) to your shortlisted agencies.  
8. Conduct an interview: Assess the agency’s culture, vision, and values and see how it interacts with your team. Remember that long-term partnerships are best for effective SEO strategies, so select an agency that aligns with your team. 
9. Choose your law firm SEO company: Select a law firm SEO agency that meets your project needs and your long-term goals. Also, prioritize those who can deliver data-driven results and have experience in your niche. 
10. Discuss contract details: Establish a term of agreement and a clear project management and communication process with your chosen agency. Also, share the necessary data, login credentials, and branding kits to help onboard the agency. 

Need help finding the right law firm SEO agency for your business needs? Contact us, and we’ll customize a list according to your project specs. Visit Marketplace for more details. 

You can ask the following questions before hiring an SEO agency for lawyers: 

Its Relevant Background 

1. Can you share case studies of your law firm SEO successes? 
2. What is your experience in my specific practice (e.g., family law, estate, bankruptcy, employment law)? 
3. Do you collaborate with websites and publications relevant to my business? Please list them down. 
4. Are you working with any of my competitors? 

Company Services and Processes 

1. What specific SEO services do you provide? What platforms do you specialize in? 
2. What tools, software, and technologies do you use? 
3. What is your process for customizing SEO strategies for my legal firm? 
4. How do you define success, and how do you measure your SEO efforts? 
5. How do you stay ahead with the industry changes and trends? How do you adjust to algorithm updates? 
6. How do you ensure that you stay on top of guidelines and best practices? (e.g., SEO White Hat practices and webmaster guidelines) 
7. How do you ensure accountability and responsibility for the content that you produce? 
8. Do you provide other services outside SEO? 

The Project 

1. Who will be working on my SEO? Who is the point person and what are their credentials? 
2. How will you distinguish my legal firm from my competitors? 
3. What are the benefits of local SEO for my business?  
4. How do I track the changes that you make on my website? 
5. How will you integrate your SEO strategies with my overall marketing? 
6. What return on investment (ROI) can I expect? How will it impact my business goals? 
7. How long before I start seeing the results? 
8. How often will you send a report?  

The top law firm SEO agencies in the US are the following: 

1. Rankings.io 
   • 4.9 stars on DesignRush (20 reviews) 
   • 5.0 stars on Google (40 reviews) 
   • Top clients: Dolman Law Group; The Levin Firm; Jacoby & Meyers Personal Injury Attorneys; Stewart J. Guss, Attorney at Law; Ronald D. Weiss Esq 
2. Funnel Boost Media 
   • 4.9 stars on DesignRush (38 reviews) 
   • 5.0 stars on Google (107 reviews) 
   • Top clients: Eaton Family Law Group, JV Law Group, Wood Sanchez Law, Wenzel Law PLLC  
3. 9Sail 
   • 4.3 stars on DesignRush (1 review) 
   • 5.0 stars on Google (24 reviews) 
   • Top clients: Jacob Berger LLC, Romano Law, Blue Nail Roofing & Sliding 
4. SmartSites 
   • 5.0 stars on DesignRush (52 reviews) 
   • 4.9 stars on Google (503 reviews) 
   • Top clients: Carradino & Papa; The Shulman Law Group; Weber, Faibyan & Associates; Romanowski Law Offices  
5. HigherVisibility 
   • 4.9 stars on DesignRush (19 reviews) 
   • 4.5 stars on Google (136 reviews) 
   • Top clients: Manfred Law, Alverson + O’Brien PC, Levinson Law Group, Stikoff Hanrahan LLP 

Scroll up and find more about these agencies and uncover additional leading law firm SEO agencies. All of them have been chosen based on successful projects, industry reputation, customer reviews, and team expertise. And if you want to further personalize your search, you can sort companies by location, budget size, hourly rates and reviews.