Why Local SEO is Critical for Attracting Law Firm Clients in Your Area

For law firms, local search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the biggest keys to attracting potential legal clients. Traffic to your firm’s website isn’t going to offer a lot of value if it comes from people located all over the world. What you need is the ability to bring in clients in your area, and this is where local SEO shines.

But what is local SEO, and how does it work? In this article, we’ll go over everything you need to know about using this powerful marketing strategy to drive more local, organic traffic to your law firm’s website.

What is Local SEO?

Local SEO is the process of optimizing your website (and online presence as a whole) so that your company is more likely to be found by target customers in your area. Let’s say for example, that someone searches “law firms in Jacksonville” or “law firms near me” using a search engine such as Google. With an optimized local SEO strategy, you can ensure that your company is one of the first results they see.

The ultimate goal of local SEO is to ensure your business ranks higher in search results when users are searching for relevant offerings near them, particularly in Google’s “Local Pack,” which highlights the top three local businesses on the search results page. The result is increased website traffic, higher conversion rates, and a stronger local presence for your company.

Local SEO Strategies for Law firms

The benefits of local SEO are clear, but achieving a high search ranking for local traffic is often easier said than done. To succeed, law firms need to employ a combination of local SEO strategies. Strategies such as:

Optimize Your Website with Local Keywords 

One of the most straightforward ways to improve your website’s SEO is to utilize the keywords you want to target in your web content. For example, if you own a law firm in Detroit, using keywords such as “law firms in Detroit”, “law firm near Detroit” and “law firm near me” in your web pages and blog articles will help you attract more local traffic. When users search these terms, Google will see that the terms appear on your website and will be more likely to show your link to the user. 

Optimize Your Google Business Profile 

Google Business Profile is a free tool provided by Google that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google Search and Google Maps. It provides a snapshot of important business information such as the company name, address, phone number (NAP), website link, business hours, photos, and reviews. 

By claiming your Google Business Profile and ensuring that all the information on it is accurate, you can improve your chances of appearing in the “Local Pack” (the top three local business listings displayed in search results) as well as Google Maps searches. With a Google Business Profile, you can also engage with clients by responding to reviews, posting updates, and answering frequently asked questions. This helps further improve local SEO while at the same time fostering better client relationships. 

Generate Positive Reviews 

Positive reviews are a key ingredient in local SEO; the more positive reviews your business has on Google, Yelp, and other relevant platforms, the higher it’s going to appear for local searches. 

While this is one element of local SEO that businesses can’t directly control, there are several ways to encourage more positive reviews for your business. Aside from offering excellent service and meeting client expectations, you can also encourage more reviews by directly requesting them from clients, providing links to review platforms to simplify the review process, and using special promotions/loyalty programs to incentivize client feedback. 

Build Local Citations 

Local citations are simply mentions of your business’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) on various online platforms such as directories, social media sites, or local business websites. These citations signal to search engines that your business is legitimate, that it’s located where you say it is, and that it is relevant to local searches. 

Start by making sure your business is listed in reputable directories such as Yelp, Yellow Pages, Angi, and Google Business Profile. It’s also helpful to get listed in to get listed in industry-specific directories relevant to your field. For law firms, this includes legal services directories such as Lawyers.com and FindLaw. 

Leverage Local Backlinks 

Backlinks, or links from other websites that direct to your company’s website, are one factor that search engines like Google use to determine a site’s local search ranking. If a lot of other authoritative websites from companies in your area are linking to yours, then Google will see that as a sign that your website offers value and show it to more local customers. 

To generate backlinks for your site, consider partnering with local businesses to exchange backlinks. You can also collaborate on guest blogs or local community events to increase your website’s local authority and relevance in the legal industry. 

Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly 

Nearly 60% of all online searches are now conducted using mobile devices. However, just because a website looks good and functions correctly when viewed on a desktop doesn’t always mean the same will be true when it’s viewed on a mobile device. If you want to attract on-the-go prospects who are using their phones to search for law firms in their area, you need to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. 

There are a few ways to do this. Utilizing responsive design will help ensure that your website adapts to different screen sizes and offers an optimum viewing experience on every device. Minimizing large images and unnecessary code to improve page speed and simplifying navigation with clear, touch-friendly buttons and a straightforward menu structure will help as well. 

Supercharge Your Local SEO with Help from TitleTap 

Optimizing your online presence for local searches is a powerful way to bring more clients to your law firm. And at TitleTap, we specialize in helping law firms of all sizes enhance their online presence via a range of proven local SEO strategies. 

If you would like to learn more about how TitleTap can help your law firm supercharge its local SEO and attract more local clients, be sure to contact us today to schedule a free demo!