What Every Law Firm Should Know About SEO
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If you want your law firm SEO to grow, it’s important that you know the truth.
There’s so much misinformation online about SEO.
Following any of it, even minimally, can be disastrous to your SEO rank.
But, by understanding even some of the lesser-known facts, you can set a foundation for the kind of SEO that will give your firm that much better an opportunity to prosper.
Sometimes, Law Firm SEO Can Rise More Quickly If…
You know that SEO rankings don’t just rise instantly.
SEO is a process. Often, a painstaking and time-consuming one. There is no such thing as an “SEO overnight success.”
That said, many law firms find that their SEO can rise relatively quickly if they practice a very specific niche of law. Why? Because there’s less competition. When you’re competing with fewer law firms, doing the SEO work properly can show faster results.
That said, just because you’re in a very populated and challenging market, that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck.
When we do SEO for lawyers, one of the first areas we tend to focus on is webpage content. That’s because getting that right can get the most “bang for the buck,” so to speak, when it comes to SEO ranking. Many of our clients have seen a rise in their rankings in a relatively short period of time.
That said, improving the website is just one of the ways that you can help your SEO.
Making your website faster, for example, is a great way to boost your SEO as well as your business.
However, it may take longer to show up in your ranking.
Frankly, that’s because Google wants to make sure they can trust it, that your site’s technical improvements aren’t just a “flash in the pan,” so to speak.
You’ve heard the phrase “SEO isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.” Having a website that loads faster can help you run faster in that marathon.
When It Comes to SEO, Bounce Rate Outranks Social Media, But…
Many lawyers are surprised to learn that your SEO ranking isn’t technically affected by your social media.
According to Google, your social media feeds, your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and the like, aren’t a “ranking factor” for your SEO.
That means that whether you have a lot of followers or fewer than you’d like, it won’t have an impact on your Google ranking either way.
What is a stronger SEO ranking factor than many lawyers realize is their bounce rate.
If someone clicks on your site and then clicks away quickly, that isn’t good.
It’s them saying: “this content isn’t for me.” Google takes that to mean “this content isn’t a good match for the keyword that led the user here.” So, the next time someone searches for that keyword, it’s entirely possible that you will be ranked lower for it.
Now, just because someone “bounced” off of your site quickly, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they deemed your content to be low quality (although that could be the case).
It could also be that your content was hard to read, wouldn’t load, or even graphics got in the way, the font was too tiny, or any number of other issues. The main reason for a high bounce rate, however, is that your site loads too slowly. None of those are “fatal” issues. They can all be fixed. Improve all of them, and you give your firm the best chance for your SEO ranking to go up.
Now, even though social media isn’t a ranking factor for your SEO, it can still help your SEO.
Done well, social media can drive more organic traffic to your website. It can put your content in front of more people, thus improving both your distribution as well as your opportunity for backlinks. Each of those can help your SEO in a big, big way.
SEO Never Stops, Nor Can It
Perhaps the most important thing for every attorney to know about SEO is that there is no “finish line.” It doesn’t stop. As long as you’re trying to bring clients to your firm, you’ll need SEO.
Indeed, lawyers should understand that SEO changes often. Google updates its algorithms and expectations. They always explain why and provide constant updates, but to truly succeed with SEO, law firms need to stay on top of those.
As laws change, even the most successful forms of content (blogs, videos, and the like) will need to be updated and rewritten accordingly.
The above can sound a bit intimidating, but really, it can be an opportunity. Your firm can use changes in the law, changes in Google’s algorithms, and more, to be able to create content that connects even more strongly to potential clients/users, thus driving your SEO ranking ever higher.
Help from Law Firm SEO Experts
This article has touched on just some of the fundamental truths of SEO.
Something else that lawyers should be aware of: you can’t really ignore any part of SEO.
Only engaging with the parts that come easier to you, the ones that you can fit into your own schedule, will keep your ranking down.
By having a full-service SEO and digital marketing solution, you can get your rankings up to where you want them.
That’s how we can help.
We’ve helped so many attorneys to bolster their SEO while they’re working on behalf of their clients. For a free consultation, you can reach our SEO for lawyers experts at: (888) 477-9540.
