Getting your law firm noticed in local search results is becoming progressively more important. Almost 40% of all search queries conducted every month have some kind of local purpose (ie: state or city name, zip code, neighborhood, and so forth.). There are particular strategies and variables that are important in helping your law firm website perform nicely for local queries.
1. Categorize Your Practice Correctly
Selecting the appropriate categories for your firm in local listings is especially important. Quite a few firms do not devote enough time taking into consideration which category labels to use. They discount this as a trivial step. When your potential clients are not looking up a specific firm by name, they first seek out lawyers by category. If you don’t associate your firm with the category they’re looking for, you won’t be found.
2. The Necessity of Links and Citiations
Hyperlinks From Other Sites: Hyperlinks are the currency of the internet. A hyperlink to your website is like a vote for your site in the eyes of the search engines like google. All else being equal, a law firm site that has additional hyperlinks from local and related sites will acquire more visibility in local search results.
Citations: Citations are references to your law practice name, address, and telephone number on other web sites. These references do not have to incorporate a link to your web site. A good illustration of a citation might be an online attorney directory where your business is shown, but not linked to. Yet another would be a local yellow pages website.
3. The Listed Title Of Your Law Practice
Your law firm title (ie: the name of your law firm) is an especially significant factor for ranking well in the local search engines. You want your title to be consistent across the listings as well as having it contain pertinent keywords to your firm’s practice. Having consistency helps your practice establish trust in the eyes of search engines. Incorporating appropriate terms in the title helps your practice receive better positioning when individuals perform searches. For instance, The Law Offices of Joe Smith, located in Chicago, could create a title called Law Offices of Joe Smith | Chicago Personal Injury Law Firm. Just keep it consistent and uncomplicated. Don’t attempt to stuff too many search phrases into your title.
