Get Your Law Firm Website to Stay On Top of Search Results

Thousands of attorneys and lawyers are competing for higher rankings in search engines results. According to a study conducted by SearchEngineWatch.com, websites that are on top in search engine results grab more than 36 percent of the traffic, which is missed by websites appearing lower in search engine results.

The competition for Google’s first two pages is fierce. You have to compete against your rival law firms for organic positions and with paid ads. Studies have revealed that the first position attracts around 33 percent of all traffic, the second position grabs 15 percent, and the third position gets just under 9 percent. In a nutshell, at least 75 percent of all clicks go to the first page of search results.

In addition to organic search, there are paid search results, known as Google AdWords. Google ads get about 25 percent of all clicks. When compared to organic search, paid ads are less reliable, but they offer a great opportunity for law firms that are unable to rank high in organic searches.

Many factors help you secure a higher rank on Google, but some of them are more critical than others. Here are some of the initial steps that you need to take if you want to get higher rankings in Google search results.

First, you need to make sure Google indexes your law firm website. You can confirm this by typing yourdomain.com into the Google search box. (Remember to replace “yourdomain.com” with your actual website name.) If you see your website's pages, this means Google has indexed your website and will continue to visit it to check for updates. However, if your website is not indexed, you must get it listed.

Second, Google will only display websites that are relevant to the specific keyword being searched. It is vital to ensure your web content is related to industry-specific keywords.

Third, just because your website does not show up on the first page of Google search results, it does not mean it is not showing up at all. Your website could be on page 3 or page 43. How can you get it to appear on page 1?

There are two ways be on the first page of search engine results: paid ads and organic search. When you pay to have your law firm website listed near the top, you appear as one of the first three results at the top of the Google search page. This is the fixed placement for paid results. According to research, no more than 33 percent of searchers click on paid search results.

The second type of search result is the organic result. These results are the websites or web pages that Google considers the best in a given industry or market segment. According to research, more than 90 percent of searchers click on organic results.

It is important to make sure that every part of your digital marketing strategy is aimed at improving your organic search results. Whether it is optimizing keywords, targeting your blog posts or creating profiles on social networks, your goal should be to expand and enhance your online presence. The more you optimize your website for search engine optimization (SEO), the more new clients will click on it and the higher it will rank in search engines.

Find the right keywords

A strong SEO strategy starts with identifying the most relevant keywords to incorporate into your web content. This is much more complex than simply mentioning the types of legal services your firm offers. It is critical to invest time in identifying the most relevant keywords that will position your law firm website at the top of search results. This process involves researching your business, local market, organization goals and what strategies your competitors are implementing.

Include the keywords in your content

Once you have identified the suitable keywords, you need to learn how to incorporate them into your marketing strategy. For every blog, landing page or social media post, there is a right method of incorporating keywords into your content so that the search engines can find your business. There are subtle and natural ways to include keywords into content.

Post fresh and relevant content

Google’s algorithm prefers websites that have unique content with higher search rankings. In order to make the most of your SEO strategy, you must create engaging content that will help connect your brand to the target audience. It is important to post relevant content because the algorithm can identify forced or stuffed keywords. This means you cannot stuff the keywords within content just to trick the search engines into giving you a higher ranking.

SEO strengthens your online marketing efforts

SEO is an essential component of your marketing plan. Your website design, social media posts and other digital marketing campaigns should be designed to enhance your law firm’s online presence.

Personalized marketing is one of the most talked about search ranking factors in 2018. If you are running a law firm in a competitive city, you will need to localize the content to a specific target audience while analyzing competitors. Your competition, too, will be implementing the best SEO strategies to rank higher in search rankings. A good SEO strategy will not only benefit your website’s placement in search engines but also the usability of your website. It is one thing to attract visitors to your website; it is another thing to convert that traffic effectively.