Whether you have an established family law website or are starting one from scratch, you'll need a firm understanding of SEO for family law to see organic traffic flow to your website. If you're not seeing organic traffic, that means people are headed to your competitors instead of you, and you're missing out on cases.
Law firm SEO for family law involves combining techniques to increase your chances of ranking highly on search engines for specific terms and inquiries. The higher you rank on popular search engines like Google or Bing, the more traffic you'll bring to your website. More visitors to your family law firm's website result in more attention from prospective clients.
This extensive guide will discuss family law SEO strategy fundamentals and how you can incorporate them into your law firm's website. We'll also delve into technical SEO tactics that can improve your search rankings and finish with a discussion on analyzing the performance of your SEO results. We've got a lot to discuss, so let's get started!
Best Ways to Improve Your Family Law SEO Strategy
We've compiled seven of the best time-tested practices that deliver results when family law firms use them in their SEO strategies.
It's essential to note that results from SEO don't happen overnight. Think of SEO as an investment in your law firm's future; if you put in the work now, it will pay dividends over the months and years to come.
Over time, you'll see higher search engine rankings, bringing more family law clients to your firm.
Invest in Local SEO for Family Law Attorneys
Begin your efforts by focusing on local SEO. Local SEO involves optimizing your family law firm to rank highly when users search for legal services in your area.
Why is local SEO so important for obtaining qualified leads? Let's look at the stats:
- Nearly 50% of all Google searches are seeking local information
- Approximately 72% of consumers who perform a local search visit a business within five miles
- Almost 100% of users discover a local company online
Search engines like Google incorporate the user's location into results for specific searches, such as "family law practice" or "family lawyers." If the user performs the search in Las Vegas, Google will provide a list of family lawyers in and around Las Vegas.
To ensure your law firm ranks in the user's search, you'll want to notify Google of your firm's location with local SEO. In a city the size of Las Vegas, many law firms are likely competing against you. That's okay; you can still rank highly even in a competitive market. Expand your market reach by developing additional content focusing on nearby Las Vegas cities, such as Henderson, Summerlin, or Pahrump.
While your search volume for surrounding cities may not be as high as for the metropolitan core, you'll find that you attract more qualified leads. In fact, in some cases, you may double or triple the number of clients who find you — just by targeting an audience slightly outside your actual location.
There are three factors that Google considers when determining how a law firm will rank in a local search:
- Relevance
- Distance
- Prominence
Ideally, you'll want to ensure your law firm incorporates all three factors to rank highly on Google searches.
To do so, it's best to include content and landing pages on your family law website that reflect your service area and cover relevant topics for family law. The more information you can provide pertinent to your surrounding area, the more likely you are to rank well in organic search.
For example, you might include landing pages targeting your core city for each legal service you provide, plus additional landing pages for nearby towns or communities.
You can also include pages specific to your state or city, such as "Child Support Laws in Nevada" or "Divorce Statistics in Las Vegas." The more localized content you include, the more likely that Google will see you as a law firm that can help a customer looking for a family attorney in their area.
Regularly Perform Family Law Attorney Competitor Research
When optimizing your web pages for local SEO, you'll want to examine your competitors' websites to understand their marketing strategies. Checking out your competitors is an essential part of market research you can't afford to ignore. Once you know their tactics, you can use them to build a content marketing strategy that counters their efforts.
It's essential to remember that your competitors aren't necessarily the law firm down the street. You're competing against the law firms that rank for your keywords — and they may not even be active in your area.
To begin your search, perform a query on Google for the keywords you need to rank for. For instance, you might type "divorce lawyer in Houston" or "child support attorney in Shreveport."
Once you obtain your results, examine the websites that rank highest. Don't simply visit the initial page from your search results; look at their various landing pages and blogs. Identify the topics they discuss, the length of their content, and the keywords that appear within the web pages.
You should note the features that you find appealing on these websites. For instance, maybe one website has lots of testimonials from prior clients or offers informative guides about common family law topics, such as divorce or child support.
Incorporate these features into your strategy, but be mindful not to copy them. Bring your creativity into the mix, and identify ways to improve upon their efforts on your web page.
Set Up a Google My Business Page
If you don't yet have a Google Business Profile, you'll want to create one immediately. Your Google Business Profile (formerly known as Google My Business or GMB) informs users of your law firm's existence, including its name, the types of legal services you provide, and your contact details. It will also indicate your opening hours and your physical address.
Someone close by who needs legal services will likely see your firm listed high in their search results.
You'll need to set up an account to create a Google Business Profile. Your account will allow you to manage your profile and optimize it for SEO within search results and on Google Maps. It's completely free, so there's little reason not to take advantage of this critical SEO tool.
Once you create your Google Business Profile, your past and future clients can leave reviews about the services they have received from your law firm.
Google incorporates customer reviews when ranking your business on Google Maps. The more positive reviews your clients leave, the better your chances are for ranking highly on local searches.
What Is Google Map Pack for Family Lawyers?
The Google Map Pack is another essential tool that firms should deploy in their family law SEO strategies. To use it, you'll need a Google Business Profile optimized for your location and legal services.
Ensure that your profile accurately reflects your legal services and includes relevant keywords for your law firm. It's also helpful to have images from your business. For example, you may include a few pictures of your law firm's attorneys and your business itself.
Whenever someone searches for family law services in your area, your law firm should appear in their rankings. Your goal is to appear in the Google local 3-pack, a listing of the top three relevant law firms near the user's location.
If you're a new firm with no current reviews, it may take longer to crack into the top three. However, asking your clients to leave reviews will improve your listing.
Once you break into the local 3-pack, you'll receive more potential clients and qualified leads who locate you through Google Maps and organic searches.
Online Directories Improve Your Family Law SEO
Online directories are another essential factor for family law SEO. Legal directories list your law firm's name, including your contact information and the legal services you provide.
These listings are a great way to enhance your authority and credibility with Google since they are a second source confirming your law firm's existence, services, and location. They are also vital for building links that increase your website's credibility.
Google incorporates your family law firm's listings on online directories when determining where to place you on its search engine ranking. If you're listed in multiple directories, you'll improve your chances of ranking highly in organic search engine results.
It's essential that you include your law firm only in legitimate directories. Some directories are simply spam sites, which can result in your website losing domain authority. Do your research before deciding to list your business.
Review Sites
Besides online directories, you should also set up a profile for your business on popular review sites. When your clients leave a review, it's additional social proof that adds a layer of credibility to your law firm.
To get traction on review sites, ask prior clients if they'd be willing to leave a review of their experience with you. As you garner more reviews over time, it will improve the search engine ranking for your business and encourage people who are on the fence about your law firm to take the next step.
Important Family and Divorce Lawyers Online Directories
Here are a few credible online directories that can help you in your link-building strategy.
Avvo
Avvo is an online directory of law firms. Users can search through Avvo to find qualified attorneys in specific practice areas nearby.
Justia
Justia is another online directory for law firms that provides helpful informational articles on legal topics. Listing your law firm on Justia will allow potential clients to locate you quickly.
HG.org
HG.org is a legal resource and online directory for individuals seeking legal assistance. Users can search by practice type and location to find experienced family law attorneys.
Engage in Family Law Attorneys Review Management
Since reviews play such a key role in your family law SEO strategy, it's essential to encourage your clients to leave reviews with Google. While you can ask your clients in person to leave a review for you after you finish with their case, you should also follow up with an automated email that directs them exactly where to post their thoughts.
Statistics show that 68% of consumers will leave a review for you if you simply ask. Given the importance of social proof and search engine optimization, there's no reason not to incorporate reviews into your marketing strategy.
Build a Family Law Firm Reputation With Google EAT
Google EAT is an acronym that stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. It's one of the many factors that Google uses to decide where your page ranks among your competitors.
To improve your law firm's chances of ranking highly, you'll want to develop relevant content that establishes your expertise in family law. It should address the user's search intent clearly and accurately.
As a family lawyer, you already have the expertise necessary to create authoritative content. You just need to harness it into your SEO efforts.
Create a Powerful Website
Another critical factor that impacts your rankings on popular search engines is your website. You'll want a robust website that promotes your legal services clearly and is easily navigable by your visitors.
The best family law websites will include a list of your practice areas like this:
You should also outline why potential clients can benefit from your legal services.
You'll notice that the site includes multiple mentions of the law firm's location, which improves its local SEO with Google and other search engines.
Your website is one of the first things potential clients will use to decide whether to choose you or a competitor as their attorney. You'll want to ensure they get a great impression of your family law firm from the start!
Blogging
Legal blogging involves writing articles about topics relevant to your audience's needs. As a family lawyer, you probably encounter many questions from your clients that you can address through blogging.
This is one of the most crucial tools in your search engine optimization efforts. In fact, a family law practice that publishes 11 or more articles monthly attracts almost three times more traffic than its non-blogging peers.
If blogging sounds intimidating, or you don't have the time to spare for content creation, consider outsourcing your efforts to a qualified SEO company like Grow Law Firm.
Types of Content for Family Lawyers
You should regularly engage in content creation that demonstrates your knowledge and addresses questions potential clients are likely to ask.
For example, you might consider writing a blog about the divorce process in your area and covering specifics about child support or alimony. Other potential issues you might cover include prenuptial agreements, child custody, and high-net-worth divorces.
Since family law and divorce are touchy subjects that can get very emotional, it's essential to consider the reader's feelings when you compose your articles. You don't want to be too objective or drift into legalese, which can be off-putting to someone going through a tough time.
On-Page SEO for Family and Divorce Law Firms
On-page SEO involves a combination of factors that can positively impact your firm's appearance in the search results. Keywords, content, and page-loading speed all impact your on-page SEO.
To properly incorporate on-page SEO, you'll want to use keywords relevant to your practice and long-tail terms that attract users with more specific intentions.
Your content should revolve entirely around family law and its related issues. If you drift too far away from these topics and cover issues unrelated to your practice, search engines may penalize you in the rankings. For example, including an article about training puppies on your law firm's website would be detrimental to your credibility as an attorney.
Finally, page speed is important. Users are more likely to leave if your website doesn't load within a second or two. Search engines notice when a page has too much going on to load properly, and they'll lower your rankings if it's an ongoing problem.
Build a Strong Family Law Attorney Foundation With Backlinks
Building backlinks is vital for improving your search engine rankings. Backlinks are links to your website or its content from websites unrelated to your law firm. You'll create your first backlinks by listing your family law firm in online directories and on your Google Business Profile.
However, there are other opportunities for link-building. You can perform a search on Google for mentions of your legal practice. If you find results from other websites, send a note to the site's administrator and ask them to include a link from the mention of your practice to your firm's website.
A good law firm SEO company like Grow Law Firm can help you establish more backlinks to your site that improve its trustworthiness, resulting in higher search rankings.
Engage in Guest Posting to Improve Your Divorce Lawyer SEO
Guest posting is a great way to build backlinks naturally and organically. Essentially, you'll provide content for another website as a guest poster. In turn, the website administrator will publish your content, including a backlink to your website as the post's author.
Guest posting on high-ranking blogs or websites can boost your domain authority and establish further credibility for you as a divorce or family lawyer.
Technical SEO for Family Law Firms
Think of technical SEO as your website's car engine: It's not visible to the casual visitor, but it keeps your website in tip-top condition for search engine optimization.
While numerous techniques incorporate technical SEO, we've identified three of the most critical. These tactics are less complex than other technical SEO tools but still deliver results. Someone inexperienced with technical SEO can pick them up without much instruction.
Improve Your Website Speed
Think back to the last time you clicked on a website only to wait for it to load (which seemed to take years). If you were patient, you might have given it the needed time. If not, you likely returned to your search results to find a website that loaded more quickly.
You don't want your website's visitors to encounter this issue. You'll lose traffic (and potential clients). You can improve your loading speed by optimizing your website's code and compressing images.
Optimize Your Site for Mobile
Nowadays, over 60% of online searches start on a mobile phone. To ensure that your potential clients can find your website via their smartphones, you must optimize it for mobile viewing.
On a mobile phone, websites typically take on a vertical appearance on a much smaller interface than a laptop or desktop provides. To account for these visual differences, ensure your website appears properly on mobile devices.
Schema for Family Law Firms
Another technical SEO technique that can improve your website's rankings is schema markup. Schema markup is a code that describes your website in a way that search engines can understand.
When properly incorporated into your website, schema markup can increase your click-through rates and your rankings on your family law website.
One of the best ways law firms can use schema is through FAQs. With FAQs, you identify questions that your clients typically have and provide an answer to them. In turn, the search engines incorporate these inquiries into their responses.
Measure Your Family Law SEO Results and Adapt
With all your work creating your website and implementing a solid SEO strategy, you'll want to see some reward for your efforts. One of the best ways to do so is through website analytics.
Analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, provide you with pertinent information about traffic to your website. You'll learn how many people click on the pages of your website and how long they spend there before moving on.
Another important measurement is your actual leads. Over time, your SEO efforts should result in more traffic where you want it most — in your office.
Create a Powerful Family Law Firm SEO Strategy With Grow Law Firm
Implementing a solid SEO strategy isn't for the faint at heart. Building a website, creating content, and deploying technical and SEO tactics that increase your search rankings will require lots of footwork.
It's possible to handle everything independently, but you risk adversely impacting the service you provide to your clients. A strong SEO strategy takes months to implement, which can detract from more important tasks.
Instead of taking on an additional project you may not be able to keep up with, consider handing the task to an expert family law and divorce marketing agency: Grow Law Firm. We'll get your website up and running and implement the best practices for family law SEO, ensuring you see the results you want.
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