The Benefits of Hiring a Specialized SEO Company for Law Firms

If you’re reading this now, chances are you are considering SEO to expand your law firm’s online reach – or you’ve already tried, and you didn’t get the results you were hoping for. So now you’re thinking about hiring an SEO company that specializes in law firms, and you’re trying to decide if it will be worth the investment?

When done correctly, SEO can connect you with clients who need your services, but it can also be complex. SEO is not a quick fix. To get to the top of the search engine results (and stay there!) requires a serious commitment.

Today, SEO is an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. Let’s take a look at how the best SEO companies for law firms go about increasing engagement in the search results and driving more business – and why you might want to let a law firm SEO expert handle the SEO for your firm.

How does my company benefit from SEO?

The benefits of SEO for your law firm cannot be overstated. If you want to start generating new signed cases online (or get more of them), you need SEO, because chances are your competitors are investing in their digital presence. And if they are, they’re already benefiting from the transactional traffic (that is, prospects looking for a lawyer) that comes from a solid SEO strategy.

SEO, when done right, turns your website into an asset – one you own and that reliably drives new leads and signed cases every month.

Here are some of the major ways your law firm will benefit from SEO:

• Increased website traffic: SEO helps more potential clients find and visit your  law firm’s website by improving search engine rankings and visibility.

 

• More leads and cases: Quality SEO leads to better website conversion rates as more relevant traffic (key word: relevant and improved user experience) inspire more quality leads. And more quality leads means more signed cases.

 

• Enhanced reputation: Ranking well for relevant practice areas improves perception of expertise and establishes your firm’s authority in its niche. This attracts more clients with relevant cases.

 

• Greater reach: SEO helps to increase your brand’s reach, finding and engaging prospective clients exactly at the time they need your services, unlike geographical print and word-of-mouth marketing.

 

• Competitive edge: A lot of law firms engage minimal SEO. Strong organic presence will give you a leg up on competitors who fail to properly build their site to rank in the organic search results.

 

• Local edge: Local SEO for lawyers will increase your online visibility in your local area, making it easier for the people in your community to find you. Your Google Business Profile (GBP) and Local Service Ads (LSAs) are crucial elements of an effective search marketing strategy.

 

• Future viability: SEO creates high-quality content that ranks, which will continue benefiting the firm for years.  SEO optimized content, when done correctly, will help create “evergreen” content, meaning that it will bring you leads and clients long after the content is published.

Implementing effective SEO offers law firms a strategic advantage in reaching potential clients and building for growth long-term. These are benefits that can significantly impact your bottom line. Your website serves as a lead generation machine, performing month after month, and year after year.

Will hiring a specialized SEO company improve my website’s search engine rankings?

Yes, hiring experts in law firm SEO can significantly improve your website’s search rankings. Here are some of the ways working with legal SEO experts can improve your rankings:

• Deep SEO expertise: Our SEO firm focuses solely on optimizing legal sites daily, developing expertise beyond that of general marketing agencies. There are vast differences in SEO tactics among markets, and knowing the difference is a critical aspect of making a law firm site successful in the long run. Unfortunately, legal SEO is not a one size fits all thing. Keywords and search intent differ dependent on demographics, geography, type of legal service, and more.

 

• Familiarity with rankings algorithm: SEOs live and breathe algorithms and search engine result pages (SERPS). They closely monitor the rankings of sites, stay abreast of algorithm changes, and track success and failure to better understand how search engines like Google rank law firm and legal sites.

 

• Experience optimizing law firm sites: Agencies that regularly manage SEO for law firm websites gain broader insights into what works specifically for that vertical.

 

• Greater resources: SEO companies have more bandwidth to regularly create custom content, build niche links, and research competitors, market trends, and keywords to enhance rankings.

 

• Avoidance of DIY pitfalls: Law firms can avoid common self-directed SEO mistakes by letting experts trained in best practices and with years of real-world experience develop and implement their SEO strategy. This helps to keep your site free from Google penalties and content being ripped away from the SERPS. This is ever important as Google’s algorithm updates have become more targeted and specific, weeding out those who care, and those who don’t.

 

• Opportunity cost savings: SEO done right the first time will save your law firm the costs involved in allocating internal resources to learn and implement SEO yourselves. Additionally, with the rise of GBP suspensions and algorithm updates with drastic outcomes (Think going from ranking #2 one day to completely out of the SERPS the next), this helps your law firm’s website stay in the good graces of Google.

So, partnering with the right SEO company absolutely offers a better capability to boost rankings and traffic for most firms compared to managing SEO internally.  Additionally, it lets you have a bit more peace knowing that you’re not in charge of the day to day in yet another facet of your law firm. However, law firms must still oversee the relationship closely.

What factors should I consider when choosing a specialized SEO company for my law firm?

Keep these factors in mind when you are searching for an SEO company for your firm:

Proven Experience and Results

When you work with a company that specializes in SEO for law firms, (Like We Do Web!) you have the benefit of proven expertise with proven results. A legal SEO agency will have experience optimizing many legal websites, so ask them about their success managing other firms’ digital presence to get an idea of what you can expect when you invest in their services.

Technical SEO Skills

Unless you’re an SEO pro, trying to master the technical aspects of SEO for your business’s website can seem like a full-time job on its own (Insider scoop: it is). It can be as challenging as learning a new language, because in many ways, that’s exactly what SEO is. When you work with an agency, it should have a team of SEO tech experts who can do the job for you, leaving you free to do what you do best: help your clients.

Legal Client-Focused Content

You may be an expert in the law, but that doesn’t mean you are an expert at translating the law into content that connects with clients and leads to conversions. Similarly, general marketing agencies may employ talented writers, but they may lack knowledge of legal topics, legal marketing ethics rules, and the nuances of what motivates the legal consumer.

Work with a law firm SEO company that has content writers on staff who are skilled at making sure your message complies with your state’s marketing ethics rules and reaches your clients in a way they can understand and connect with.  We have over 14 years of experience creating content for lawyers, and, as Google admits, content is the most important element of SEO.

Reporting, Analytics, and Transparency

Work with a legal SEO agency offering robust monthly reporting that provides transparency into the work they have undertaken and the results they have achieved. Work with communicative account managers who understand legal culture and are invested in helping you reach your objectives.

What are the main advantages of hiring a specialized SEO company over a general one?

Do you have an SEO agency in mind, but they don’t specialize in the legal space? You may want to reconsider.

Many general SEO agencies or marketing companies are good at SEO but lack experience and expertise in the legal niche. They may struggle to understand the marketplace, create content that connects with prospective clients and leads to conversions, and follow the ethics rules that apply to legal marketing.

An SEO agency that specializes in the legal field understands the legal business, the legal consumer, and the legal search space.

Hiring an SEO company for attorneys over a general marketing agency has several advantages:

• Expertise in legal terminology: Law has its own language and terms. A specialized SEO company will understand these terms, ensuring that your website is optimized for the right keywords used by legal consumers.

 

• Understanding of the legal industry: A specialized company knows the challenges and trends in the legal industry. They know what works and what doesn’t in legal SEO, and they create strategies specifically designed for law firms.

 

• Compliance and ethics: The legal field has strict rules about advertising and client communication. An SEO company that specializes in law will make sure your online content follows these rules.

 

• Better ROI: Because they understand the legal industry, specialized companies are often better equipped to tie budget and strategy to law firms’ business goals.

 

• Tailored content creation: Legal SEO agencies can create content that resonates with potential clients and addresses their specific concerns, leading to better engagement and conversion rates.

While any agency should spend time learning your specific business, there is less ramp-up time when you work with an agency that doesn’t have to first learn the legal industry. While a general SEO company might be good at boosting online presence, the best SEO company for lawyers will do it in a way that’s right for the legal industry, increasing the chances of success while staying compliant with regulations and offering law firm SEO tips to help you avoid bad SEO.

How long does it take to see the benefits of hiring a specialized SEO company?

Now that you know the benefits of hiring a legal SEO company, you may be curious how long it will take for an agency to get results. The short answer is, it depends. It depends on how competitive your market is, the practice areas and case types you’re targeting, your past SEO efforts (and how good or bad they were), how aggressive your budget is, and even your offline marketing.

Generally, when executed correctly, hiring a dedicated law firm SEO company can begin providing noticeable tangible benefits within the first 6-12 months, though achieving maximal results may take 12-18 months of sustained effort.

In the first 1-6 months, technical site improvements, content optimization, and initial link building will positively impact on-page factors and user experience. This can lead to small rankings bumps and traffic gains, and you may start seeing an uptick in leads and cases. Within 6-12 months, as content expands, links and citations accumulate, and rankings gradually improve for targeted keywords, noticeable uplifts in organic traffic and conversions typically occur.

SEO is an ongoing process. The more time invested, the greater the return – but strategic, patient efforts bear fruit.

Setting realistic expectations and sticking with the process are the keys to success. Truly transformational, long-term elevations in domain authority, rankings, and organic lead volume can take 12-18+ months of continuous link building, content production, and optimization.

Are you ready to save time and money by hiring a law firm SEO agency?

Working with a specialized SEO company for law firms, like We Do Web, can help you reap the benefits of search engine optimization while allowing you to focus on your business and your clients. This is an investment that can continue to generate results long after your initial investment.

SEO is a long game, and if you want to get to the top of the SERPS and stay there, you will need to make a long term commitment. Our law firm SEO agency can provide and execute a strategy that will keep you one step ahead of the competition.