When someone searches for a law firm in your town, you want to be the first result that they see. Fortunately, optimizing for local results isn’t a magic process that’s generated on a whim, it follows a few calculated rules. If you’re looking to enhance your business ranking, you’re probably wondering what these rules are. Thankfully we have compiled a list of what makes a law firm ranks highly in local results.
Web Footprint
Back in the days of the phonebook, many people would look for address and contact information through those pages. Similarly, you need to develop a presence in directories on the internet that serve as databases for this information. Your NAP, as in your business name, address, and phone information should be included on this website. The greater your local footprint online, the more you’ll optimize for your town and increase search engine ranking. People need a route to communicate with businesses, and word of mouth does not work nearly as quickly as the internet.
Build Backlinks
Backlinks aren’t as vital for local search results as they are for larger queries, but they can play a role. If you’re competing with other firms in a larger city building backlinks can give you an edge over them. The key here is to have links to your website from other local sources. Consider sponsoring local events in exchange for links to your website. The more that local sources link to you, the higher you are going to appear on search engine rankings. This is going to have the added benefit of drawing customers from advertising too, so the return on investment is multifunctional.
Google My Business
Google is used to generate almost 90% of all search results, and it makes sense you want to gear your local results to this engine. To do that you will need to create a Google My Business account, with all of your NAP information. You’re able to include business hours, pictures of your business, and have your law firm be present on Google Maps. Local businesses will generally appear at the top of the page, so you absolutely must have this set up to be competitive on the regional market.
Customers are also able to leave reviews through this medium, and Google will post the average rating after a minimum of 5 reviews. Customer service is now reflected in the entirety of the internet, so it’s important to focus on your client’s experience at your firm. While not entirely oriented to SEO, having a higher rating can create a visual effect where your potential clientele will see you as a more reliable service. This theory plays into having reputable reviews on other sites where you have left your “internet footprint”.
Local Keywords
The more of your web pages that use local keywords, the more that your SEO will rank you higher as a local authority. It would be difficult to compete on a national level for a broad term like “personal injury lawyer”, but a regionally specific term such as “Lancaster personal injury lawyers” narrows your audience and reduces competition. If you’re offering multiple legal services, you can even target two different demographics simultaneously competing on two keyword markets. The more you are geared towards being a local authority, the higher you’ll be ranked in local results.
Dedicated Pages For Services
Authority has been thrown around a lot in this article, but it’s essentially a breakdown of how reliable the information you provide is. The more that you diversify your authority, the more chances customers searching various keywords will find your landing page. However, you want to keep web design in mind when you are optimizing local results. Provide information for different services on different pages. This means your site will be ranked as an authority on several subjects, as opposed to a lower authority on all of your services. It’s also far more visually appealing for clients to consume media on topics one at a time, rather than overwhelming them with information.
Increasing your local ranking can take time, so it is important to be patient and keep striving towards optimization. Remember, that others are going to be working competitively to obtain high rankings as well. You may need to change your keyword structure to drive local traffic to you more effectively. Generally, by following the above standards you’re creating the ideal environment to rank highly in search results. This will help you rank higher compared to other law firms, and increase your customer base.
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