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SEO for General Practice Lawyers

Are you trying to improve the online search results of your general legal practice?

Perhaps you have searched for general practice lawyers in your area, only to notice you are not ranking highly in the search results. You may have even noticed that your competitors outperform you in the Google search results, and you want to learn why and how you can beat them.

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What is Search Engine Optimization?

First, let’s look at what search engine optimization is and how it is used to help law practices like yours rank highly.

Google wants their customers to get the best possible results and reviews each webpage to ensure they are promoting what they determine to be the best and most relevant content on any given subject.

For example, Google will review “personal injury lawyer” or “general practice lawyer,” and the website that meets most of their criteria will rank the highest, and so on. This review is referred to as a “crawl,” and it is estimated that a Google crawl occurs every four to 30 days, depending on the website.

Therefore, it is important that you meet Google’s requirements to ensure you outrank your competitors and appear at the top of the page for relevant search results.

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Why is Search Engine Optimization so Important for General Practice Lawyers?

It attracts more leads.

For starters, ranking higher in search engines like Google is a fantastic way to generate more leads, not only in the short term but also in the long term.

Law firms often spend lots of money on paid advertisements to generate more leads; at first, they can be very successful. However, as time goes by, as with all advertisements, the messaging or the target audience becomes stale, and the effectiveness of the campaign tends to drop. This results in higher customer acquisition costs and fewer leads coming through the digital door.

By ranking higher on search engines, you can begin to attract current potential clients to your law firm and many more in the future. If someone searches “general practice lawyer near me” and you are the No. 1 ranking, you will see a lot of new leads, which you can convert into new clients.

It makes your law firm’s website seem more professional.

Another benefit of creating an SEO-friendly website for your law firm, is the fact that it makes your website look much more professional.

Some of the major aspects of search engine optimization include good website design, correct content formatting, and intuitive site navigation. With all of those things in place, your law practice website will look very polished and professional, which in turn will make potential clients trust your law practice more.

A well-structured website that is well-designed, easy to navigate, with content is broken up into digestible chunks, is sure to attract more visitors and convert more of those visitors into clients.

With something as complex and detailed as general law practice, potential clients want to be sure they are working with an expert, and a high-quality SEO structure is an excellent way to make a great first impression.

It builds your reputation in the local area.

By ranking higher on Google search results locally, you will increase your reputation in the local area, which will increase the volume of inquiries your practice receives.

For example, if someone has noticed your practice on the first page of Google, they will be much more likely to remember your law firm’s name when a friend requires support in the future and therefore will recommend you instead of one of your competitors.

It builds trust with your potential clients.

Excellent SEO is a fantastic way to build a trusting relationship with potential clients.

Put yourself in your potential client’s shoes. They find themselves in a situation where they require a lawyer, possibly for the first time ever. They are likely nervous, scared, and don’t know what to look for. If you are able to mitigate some of those fears and worries by providing insightful, useful, and easy-to-read content regarding the issues they are faced with, not only will you ease their worries, but you will begin to build trust.

The more excellent content you can provide a potential client with, the more they will trust that you can help them with their current predicament.

It leads to more clients.

Finally, as you can tell from all the other benefits we have highlighted, high-quality SEO will help you gain more clients.

Not only will high-quality search engine optimization lead to more people visiting your website, but it will also ensure more of those leads convert into paying clients.

Rather than spending thousands on paid advertising campaigns or writing emails the majority of recipients will ignore, invest time in search engine marketing strategy for your law firm; you will see a significant uptick in how many people organically come to your website and become clients.

The Four Key Elements that Impact Your Performance on Search Engine Results Pages

With that said, what are the key elements that Google crawl is looking for on your website?

In simple terms, this can be broken down into four key areas, which we can look at in more detail:

1. Technical SEO
2. Keyword research
3. Website design
4. High-quality content.

Technical SEO

First, let’s focus on the technical aspect of search engine optimization. Technical SEO may sound complicated and complex, but once you gain a better understanding of the key aspects included, you will realize there are some simple steps you can take to improve your website’s technical SEO score.

Link Building

One of the main technical SEO aspects is to ensure you are utilizing reputable sources in your content.

Google loves to share content that is driven by facts and studies, and by linking to content from reputable sources, you are showing Google that you are an expert on the topic and should be treated as such. However, be careful not to link to just any website. Websites with a poor domain rating could potentially harm your SEO score. You can check website domain ratings using tools like AHREFs, to ensure you are only linking to websites with high domain authority.

Backlinks

Next, it’s time to consider adding links back to your website from reputable sources. Just as Google likes to see you link to respected locations on the web, it also wants to see those websites linking back to you. This is a digital mark of approval and shows Google that other industry leaders value your content, and it should be shown to more users.

Reach out to websites to learn how you can get them to link back to your website. It might happen organically, or you may need to write guest posts for other reputable blogs.

Loading Times

Another key element of your SEO score is how quickly each page loads. Your reader’s attention span is incredibly short, and they will quickly switch to competitors’ websites if your content takes too long to load.

Google only wants to show its users websites that load quickly and keep them engaged, so check yours and make sure there aren’t any aspects that are slowing it down.

Internal Navigation

Having a clear and concise navigation system from one page to another is also vital. This includes making certain that page URLs are clear and include your chosen keyword phrase, that there are links to other relevant pages on your website within content, and that there are no broken links to pages that are no longer active.

Keyword Research

What is a Keyword?

A keyword or keyword phrase is a term that your target audience regularly searches on Google and other search engines.

Your law firm can use that information to create content to suit that keyword phrase to help answer any queries potential clients might have.

How to Find Relevant Keywords

Finding relevant keywords and phrases is easier than you might think. Tools such as AHREFs and Google keyword research both offer you an insight into what your target audience is searching for.

Rules About Keywords

When it comes to including keywords in your articles, there are a couple of rules you need to follow. First, never try to rank for more than one keyword phrase per article. This may not have been appropriate five years ago, but now you must focus on one main keyword for each article you write.

Second, avoid “keyword stuffing.” Again, this used to work well for companies, but now Google is much savvier with content that is just stuffed with the right keywords. Instead, try to add keywords into your content where they fit naturally and organically.

Website Design

Another important factor to consider regarding your search engine optimization is your website design.

While you might not think website design would be considered as part of your search engine ranking, it actually plays a significant role, and a poorly designed website can severely impact your score and have an adverse effect on conversions.

We have already touched on the importance of clear and concise navigation and loading speeds, but you also must have a website that looks professional and engaging.

As part of the Google crawl, it analyzes how long visitors spend on your website. The longer they remain on your page, the better for your score. If visitors are heading to your website only to be put off by the design and immediately leave, that will harm your SEO score. However, if your design draws them in and tempts them to click through other pages and read content, that will have a positive impact.

High-Quality Content

Finally, all the other aspects of your SEO strategy are worthless if you are not producing high-quality content.

Without excellent content, it doesn’t matter how well your website loads or how tidy the linking is — potential clients will not come to your website.

You must create content that offers a unique insight into a chosen topic, highlighting your expertise and providing readers with the answers they are searching for. If you are simply regurgitating content that is already readily available, you will struggle to get many engaged readers, and this will harm your SEO score.

High-quality content should be at the forefront of everything you do. After that, all the other elements of SEO will play a supporting role in getting it in front of as many people as possible.

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Final thoughts on SEO for Law Firms

Now you have all the information you need to ensure that your law firm website ranks higher than your competitors’.

Performing well in the organic search results is not easy, but with the right approach, you will start to see your website creep up the Google search results over time.

If you want to take your legal SEO to the next level and get to the top of the rankings as quickly as possible, get in touch with us today. Our law firm SEO company specializes in attorney search engine optimization, and we would be more than happy to use our expertise to get your law firm website to the top of the rankings.

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Frequently Asked Questions about General Practice Law Firm SEO

Where can I find general practice law firm SEO services?

Gladiator Law Marketing has worked with many law firms just like yours to help them improve their search engine ranking. Get in touch today and learn how we can do the same for your law firm.

Is SEO for lawyers that important?

A law firm SEO strategy is essential to rank highly on Google and to ensure that more people visit your website. Without a good search engine ranking, you will rely heavily on other marketing channels like PPC and email marketing, which can be much less effective and more expensive.

How do law firm websites attract more visitors?

Legal SEO is essential for ranking higher across popular search engines. Law firm websites on the front page of search engine rankings see much more organic traffic than those on the second, third, or fourth page.

Is it easy to rank highly on search engines?

While getting a law firm’s website on the first page is certainly not easy, a powerful SEO strategy can lead to success. You will need vast experience and knowledge in local SEO or to work with a marketing agency like Gladiator Law Marketing with a proven track record of SEO success.

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