Bankruptcy Attorney Marketing: Key SEO Strategies for 2024

Gone are the days of searching the Yellow Pages for a lawyer. And when you consider that total bankruptcy filings rose 13% in 2023, it’s more important than ever to build an SEO strategy as part of your online bankruptcy attorney marketing. Optimizing your search engine results is key to establishing expertise and authority online, which will impress both Google and potential clients.

Why Should Bankruptcy Lawyers Bother with SEO?

A solid SEO strategy is a pillar of effective bankruptcy law firm marketing. Ranking high on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) establishes authority in the legal space, increases brand awareness, and ultimately results in new clients. It’s a surefire way to drive traffic to your firm’s website.

6 Marketing Strategies for Bankruptcy Attorneys

Follow these bankruptcy attorney marketing strategies to rank high on Google with effective SEO.

1. Keyword Research

SEO experts choose strong keywords based on volume, relevance, and difficulty. Volume is the amount of people searching for a phrase—the higher the volume, the higher the potential for traffic. Relevance refers to how relevant a keyword or phrase is to your business. For example, “consumer bankruptcy lawyer” may be more relevant to your practice than “corporate bankruptcy lawyer” if your law firm primarily assists individual clients with personal financial matters rather than businesses facing insolvency issues. Finally, the difficulty is based on the competition for a phrase or keyword. The more competition, the harder it is to rank.

It’s important to go beyond the basic search term of “bankruptcy lawyer” when building out your keyword strategy. Most online searches will include specific terms like “how to file for bankruptcy” or “Chapter 11 bankruptcy.” If you don’t rank for terms generally related to bankruptcy, you’re missing out on potential clients. Consider using keyword search tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or Semrush to pull ideas, search volumes, and other metrics to narrow down your marketing strategy for bankruptcy attorneys.

2. Local SEO

Most online searchers are likely attaching a geographical position to their queries for bankruptcy attorneys, which is why it’s important to put some focus on local SEO. Attach keywords to search terms that will rank you high for your local area, such as “Illinois bankruptcy law firm,” “Chicago bankruptcy attorney,” or “how to file for bankruptcy in Chicago.” 

You also have the opportunity to rank twice on the first page of Google, taking your bankruptcy attorney marketing to the next level. Of course,  you can optimize your website for organic search results. But you can also rank in the “map pack” of search results by creating a Google Business Profile that will appear when people search for local bankruptcy attorneys. Set up your free business profile, fill out the required fields, and keep it updated with current contact details, business hours, and services to maximize visibility and attract more clients. And remember—reviews boost your ranking!

3. Bankruptcy Law Blogs

Once you’ve established keywords to focus on, it’s important to create a content strategy. It’s unlikely that your website homepage will serve to target many keywords, so this is where landing pages and blog posts are effective. If you want to rank for terms like “how to file for bankruptcy” or “what is Chapter 11 bankruptcy,”  you need to create content that highlights them. 

Create landing pages for all your services and address common questions or topics with blog posts. You want to give a relevant and useful impression to both Google and potential clients. 

Don’t have the time to write blog posts? Check out TitleTap’s content marketing library, which includes pre-written blog posts and videos that can be branded with your logo and contact information to help you attract clients and answer common questions in your market. 

4. Link-Building

One of the most effective ways to rank on Google as part of your bankruptcy law firm advertising is with backlinks, which are clickable links from one website to another. They establish an online authority and assist Google in understanding your site’s purpose and value. 

Having high-quality backlinks is necessary for ranking on the first page of search results. One tactic you can use for acquiring such links is to reference the top 10 pages in Google for your keyword. Enter the URLs into a tool like Ahrefs Site Explorer and check the backlinks report. Look for links you can easily replicate within your own website. 

5. Google Search Generative Experience

The future of SEO is more ethical, conversational, and user-centric. Developments include Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE), which integrates generative AI-powered results into Google search engine queries. It’s a more conversational approach to queries with a snapshot that includes relevant links and additional prompts around the topic. It’s only available right now to a limited audience in the US, but you can prepare to optimize for SGE in a couple of ways. 

First, use direct language when creating your keyword-focused content. SGE snapshots reference full sections of text, so keep your content organized with lists and bullet points for the AI to recognize. Second, focus on establishing niche authority. Referenced sites in the snapshot are more topically focused, so it’s important to give an expert impression. Addressing potential changes in SEO as part of your bankruptcy attorney marketing can keep you ahead of the competition.

6. SERP Ranking Factors

When Google searches for quality results to display on its search engine results pages, it uses a guideline known as E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Incorporating these principles into your bankruptcy attorney marketing can assist in meeting Google’s standards for relevance. Utilize the following strategies to maintain high rankings on SERPs. 

• Experience: Include reviews from clients. Searchers are often looking for what other people have to say about a brand or business instead of what the business says about itself. 
• Expertise: Include proof of licenses, professional associations, and degrees to prove to Google that your law firm has the knowledge necessary to offer services legally and effectively.
• Authoritativeness: This principle depends on others recognizing you as an expert. It’s also based on the number and quality of third-party websites that link to or cite your web pages. Use a tool like Moz Link Explorer to search your own links and those of competitors for insight into how you can replicate their results. 
• Trustworthiness: Even though listed last, Google considers trustworthiness a critical factor in determining the quality and reliability of a website. Ensuring your content is accurate, transparent, and free from conflicts of interest will help demonstrate your trustworthiness to both users and Google’s algorithms. 

Get Your Best SEO Results with TitleTap

Utilizing the best SEO strategies for bankruptcy lawyer marketing requires specialized knowledge of both SEO and the legal industry itself. Successful search engine optimization results in high page rankings, establishing your law firm as credible and authoritative in the eyes of potential clients, ultimately driving more traffic to your website. 

Turn to TitleTap for your legal industry SEO and content marketing needs to further boost your online presence. The bonus: you get to focus on delivering superior legal services while we take care of optimizing your website for search engines and driving more traffic to your site.