Law Firm SEO Helps Increase Rankings, Visibility and Revenue

Law firm SEO is the strong foundation for a lawyer’s online presence. Everything in today’s digital marketing world orbits your website, and your website should match what people are looking for. Our dedicated Search Engine Optimization strategy and implementation will result in a website that can be easily found on Google, and is ready to convert new clients.
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You can get an instant, free SEO analysis here, read our client testimonials, or contact us to schedule a time to meet.

What is SEO?

SEO is the continuous practice of making your website more attractive and accessible to search engines so that they can understand your content better, and over time rank it higher when people search for relevant keywords or phrases.

SEO involves a combination of techniques, such as keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, and content creation, that work together to improve the overall relevance, quality, and authority of a website. The ultimate goal of SEO is to drive more “high-intent” organic traffic to a website, increase its visibility, and ultimately, generate more clients.

On-Page SEO

What is “On-page” SEO? On-page SEO is the practice of improving the website content and experience for Users, while simultaneously improving the technical factors of a website for search engines.

Everest Legal Marketing takes a comprehensive approach to On-page optimization for a law firm website by improving everything on your site including Title tags of each page and blog post, Meta description optimization, Alt tagging images, content length, topical content, internal linking, external links and everything in between. Starting with content audits when we assess your needs and requirements to competitive analysis outlining opportunities, we collaborate at each step of the process.

Every project presents its own goals, audience and definition of success. Our approach to law firm SEO begins with a time-tested process that discovers opportunities, and addresses the unexpected.

Off-Page SEO

What is “Off-page” SEO? Off-page SEO refers to tactics that are implemented off of a website, to help improve that website’s rankings & visibility on search engines.

Off-page SEO factors help to build the authority of your website and specific practice pages so you can be found for the search phrases that produce leads and revenue. We pride ourselves as a team of experienced professionals working together. Our goal is to develop your law firm’s website not only to rank higher in search engines, but to genuinely deliver the best possible experience to your users and compel them to contact you. We believe that a close collaboration is the foundation for an outstanding result.

Search Engine Optimization Involves:

Keyword Research
We first discover how people are searching & develop a content strategy to drive qualified traffic, and more importantly, exceed goals.
Content Development
We work with a hand-picked crew of legal writers that we've curated for over a decade to write accurate, compelling content.
SEO Strategy
On & off site elements are addressed and optimized to maximize your visibility and ensure the best possible rankings & results.
Tracking & Adapting
We track your website's ranking progress, traffic, and Google Business Profile and adapt as competition and algorithms change.

Unique Difficulties for Attorney SEO

SEO for attorneys can range from mildly competitive, to outright insane depending on your practice and geography. This is one of the difficulties law firms experience when first approaching SEO. EVERYTHING that happens on and off your website can be critical because agencies like Everest Legal Marketing are ensuring that every possible option that will move the needle for a client is taken care of.

You will be competing against some of the brightest and most competitive lawyer SEO agencies, because those are often the only ones who are successful in this industry.

Dangerous Decisions Regarding SEO for Lawyers

Who you hire for your SEO is one of the most critical decisions you will make, because every decision made about your website has an impact on your SEO result. From the website builder (CMS) you use, to the website hosting, to the URL structure, to the load speed, to the content, to the backlinks, to the anchor text on the backlinks… all of this and more has an impact on your result. Some more than others, but everything influences how Google perceives your website.

Here are some common pitfalls we see when law firms engage with the wrong partners:

Commitment to a long term contract. Many SEO vendors require a 6-12 month contract, justifying this because results from SEO takes time. However, in most cases progress can be proven within about 90 days of SEO engagement. Everest Legal Marketing offers a month-to-month agreement with all our clients.
Hiring an SEO consultant who doesn’t specialize in law firms. Attorney SEO is extremely unique and highly competitive. It takes consistent effort, and knowledge of what is worth prioritizing. Most generalized SEO agencies don’t have this level of expertise and it’s hard for lawyers to know who’s who.
Your website designer says “they do” SEO. Many website designers also offer SEO service as an add-on. For a few hundred dollars per month, they say they’re optimizing your website. We consistently encounter clients who fall prey to this tactic, and then uncover that nothing has ever been done… Or worse, the tactics implemented were actually harming the effort.
Hiring a friend or family member. This is such a common problem when helping small law firms and solo attorneys, that we wrote an article about it here.

Backlinks: Acquiring & Earning Links From Relevant Sources

One of the biggest misnomers in attorney SEO is that writing good content will automatically earn links from other websites. If you believe this, you’ll be very disappointed. In our experience, content on a law firm’s website is typically not “exciting” enough for what the average blogger or website wants to link to – unless it’s specifically relevant to their article from a legal standpoint. Also, how is a blogger or writer going to find your content to link to if it’s on page 4 of Google?

So how do you get high quality, highly relevant links to your content?

There are a number of ways to get backlinks to your website, and different categories of websites you’d want to get links from.

Legal Directories: Legal Directories are the most common and logical link for a lawyer to get. These are often free, but sometimes paid. Read our study of the best legal directories to claim.
Business Citation Websites: Citation websites help people find you, help Google confirm the name, address and phone number of your firm, help with local map pack rankings, and these sites often disseminate info to other websites.
Guest Blogging: Although Google doesn’t hold guest posts on the same alter they once used to, off-site articles on websites that rank well in search can help expand your reach to new audiences.
Editorial Links: Getting links and mentions from news websites and informative, relevant articles can be highly effective. Relationships with reporters, or using a free service like HARO can be very beneficial.
Local Organizations & Associations: Many organizations offer a profile and/or link to their member’s websites when they sign up. Local Bar associations, donors to non-profits, chamber of commerce websites and others all might provide a link to your website.

There’s not one type of backlink that should be the only source of links to your website. Link diversity, domain authority, contextual relevancy, follow vs no-follow links and other factors all have an impact on your website’s ranking capability.

Do Lawyers Need SEO?

Lawyers need SEO if they want to be found by people who haven’t been referred, don’t know them by name, and want the most cost effective form of marketing for a law firm.

According to Capterra, about 70% of law firms generated new cases through their website.
RankPay reports that 94% of users skip over PPC ads and go right to organic results.
According to a downloadable study conducted by HubSpot, 1,200 marketers reported that SEO generates more leads than any other marketing source.

Many attorneys may scoff and say something like “I’ve practice for 30 years without paying for marketing“, and while that may be true, referrals and past clients are only a click away to a competitor. Having an effective website is being found when people who don’t know you can find you when they absolutely need a lawyer NOW – SEO is the most efficient marketing for this scenario.

Why Attorneys Prefer SEO Over Other Marketing Channels

Here are some of the reasons our clients say they prefer SEO over other forms of advertising:

With SEO, you own the marketing & client development mechanism. Imagine if you only relied on Yelp for leads, and then Yelp shut down or people stopped using it?
SEO can be a VERY long term ROI. An investment in SEO can yield returns for several years. Results from PPC are dead the moment you close your wallet.
Once your website gains authority, you can fairly easily add practice areas and open new lines of revenue (generally speaking).
A highly visible, well optimized law firm website is an asset that can add real value to your law firm and helps when attracting new talent to your team.

SEO targets people who are already in need of a lawyer, they just need to find & choose one. This makes SEO a more effective form of marketing than traditional advertising methods that often target a general audience. By optimizing your website for relevant keywords and phrases, we can attract visitors who are more likely to convert into clients.

We Help Law Firms With Search Engine Optimization Throughout the US

Everest Legal Marketing is a law firm SEO company that has helped law firms in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, NYC, Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Diego, Orange County, Washington, Illinois, Oklahoma and throughout the US with better visibility in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Contact us today to schedule a consultation.