This month’s Ask an SEO question comes from Heather, who asks:
“Do you find that, sometimes, even your best formula to rank doesn’t make sense? I advise employment lawyers on how to write. However, I find the “formula” doesn’t seem to work. Have you found you can’t even to get it to work? Loaded question, but I hope you know what I mean.”
Great question, Heather, and it’s not as loaded as it originally sounds. It’s an easy one to resolve when you don’t overthink it.
When you use the same approach for law firm SEO or any niche SEO, you’re creating the same experience for the search engines.
Search engines need the best experience – not the same. That’s why using similar strategies doesn’t work.
Look how each law firm is unique and use that as a strength.
Identify who in the practice can become part of the brand (including any partners with media potential), what their specialties are, and how to approach each law firm’s strategy differently.
The answer below also applies to ecommerce, service providers like your clients, and publishers, so this post benefits all readers.
But I will stick to lawyers since that is the example our inquirer mentioned. If someone wants ecommerce or another topic, feel free to submit it, and I’ll be happy to respond.
Why SEO Formulas Fall Short For Law Firms
The reason the same SEO formula does not work, even if they’re the same type of lawyers is because each firm is unique.
Unique in this sense is having licensed attorneys nationally and providing full coverage.
Some could be multi-location vs. single location in a city or state, and others can be a boutique law shop specializing in one niche. Each will have different needs and different abilities, so the formula has to change.
If you’re not creating original and unique strategies for each and every law firm client, you’re not giving search engines like Google a reason to show them. That is why the formula doesn’t work, and your clients are at a disadvantage.
Larger law firms have extra people to talk to the media; they can go out and litigate and get backlinks from the cases.
Firms with multiple locations have more Google Business Profile opportunities and more abilities to do community work and gain exposure.
They’ll also need individual location pages vs. a single location, providing them with more localized content for city-based queries. And firms that have won cases that go viral in their space may get media attention.
This results in an increase in branded searches and backlinks, which leads to easier SEO for competitive terms.
The clientele is also different. If the employment firm handles small business or personal injury vs. enterprise corporations and big four accounting, the language levels and terminology need to change because you’re writing for people using different jargon and language levels.
If it is an NGO vs. for-profit, there are other phrases and rules they need to follow. This means the writing levels, types of sourcing, and information they’re providing have to be different as the clientele and type of audience they want are different.
Going for huge corporate accounts means having content for the assistants that meet their needs when they research, and the executives where you have summaries that make sense as to why they’re searching for a law firm.
They have a general counsel that will review your casework and look for something completely different.
If it’s a small business, it’s easier to adjust to a single page that talks to the owner and builds their confidence. Same niche, different target audience, different site experience need a unique strategy.
Here are some of the ways I’d tweak the SEO strategy for law firms, if I only worked in one specific niche. Then, I’d implement unique strategies on top of it based on attracting their specific target clients, not in general.
Build Digital PR And Trust
I’m not talking about link building here; I’m talking about building a brand. When the lawyers and partners are known entities, it carries over and can help build brand trust.
Larger cities like New York, Chicago, or Dallas have more opportunities than smaller towns, but each region has media opportunities.
Build a list of media companies, bloggers, and community resources, including city and town-run government forums, and see who talks about employment and employment law.
Now, look at the topics they cover. It could be anything from discrimination to hiring, job loss and layoffs, or employee and employer rights.
These are hot topics year-round and opportunities to get your clients featured. Once they go through media training, get them on TV, in columns as experts, and on stage at community forums as experts.
This results in natural backlinks when done correctly, and it leads to people searching for them by name and brand, which may signal to the search engines there is something to it.
If your client wins a case that is relevant to the topic the journalist covers, feature it as a recent blog post or PR article so the journalist has extra incentive to use it as a subject matter expert.
Once your client is a known entity and the leader in their area, their profile on the law firm’s website will become a place that attracts links, maybe a knowledge panel, and there may be markup available to help with this.
Enhance Visibility With Schema
You’ll want an organization schema with legal service (it also applies to local businesses) and area served. For single locations, cover their city, state, or where they’re licensed and provide services.
If multi-location, deploy service area schema on each location page. And don’t forget there is attorney schema, too.
Because you work with employment law firms, you may want to add references to this page on Wiki data or the matching one on Wikipedia from the additional type to build relevance to the type of legal services offered.
Optimize Google Business Profile
If they have physical locations, create Business Profile pages and do your best to get customers to leave reviews and feedback.
You want to fill out all pages just like normal, and if clients want to know if you want them to say anything, emphasize specific tasks and common situations you resolved for them.
And if others have asked questions about their law firms, your clients can answer questions based on their experiences.
Make sure to fill out all the services offered and fields. The more you give the search engine accurate and updated information, the better it can do to show your clients.
Develop Distinctive Copy
The content should not be the same strategy for each client even if they have the same types of customers.
You, as an SEO, need to create a completely unique content plan and ensure that others are not doing the same thing.
Google only needs one resource, so the same strategy for two similar law firms means only one can win, or neither will if both are the same because a third firm is going to be unique and take over.
It is easy to develop strategies for a unique experience.
Have the law firms publish their success stories as informational guides and in the reading and writing level of the customer.
Both will have unique brands and voices, and use those to cater to their potential customers.
Do not have them say what they did for their clients; have them talk about the issue the client had and the steps taken to resolve it.
By sharing the issue that was being faced and using the words their customers use, the law firm is speaking their client’s language.
This helps create a resource that potential leads will find when they’re searching for solutions to their current situation.
By providing a resource that includes common misconceptions, pitfalls to avoid, and the ways the happy client reached a solution, the law firm is building trust and can generate a lead when the person finishes reading.
Ensure Testimonial Relevance
One of the largest oversights I see with law firm SEO and conversion optimization is outdated and irrelevant testimonials.
This can also be a unique copy and a trust builder. Make sure all testimonials are:
- Matched to the theme or topic of the page they are on and not sitewide.
- Are from similar customers to the clients the firm wants by name, company size, and job type.
- Explain the success of the specific legal situation that matches the call to action so the potential client knows you have experience resolving legal issues for their needs.
- Each one is up-to-date and accurate. You don’t want potential clients to think your law firm hasn’t won a case in years or isn’t familiar with current employment law best practices.
The bottom line is that you cannot use the same strategy for each practice as each is unique, and search engines only need one of the same experiences.
All of your law firm clients will need title tags, schema, and content, but the PR work, copy on the pages, and authority building have to be original and play to their strengths so the pages meet the needs of their future clients.
If you’re not creating original and unique strategies for each and every law firm client, you’re not giving search engines like Google a reason to show them.
That is why the same SEO formula doesn’t work when applied to multiple clients. I hope this helps.
More resources:
- 6 SEO Content Writing Tips For Law Firms
- An Introduction To SEO Strategy For A Digital Presence
- Law Firm SEO: The Complete Guide
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
