Why law firm SEO is so important
Matching the content of a law firm website or blog to its appropriate audience is the core purpose of law firm SEO, says law firm Internet marketing expert Steve Matthews. And it's SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that allows law firms and lawyers, via their content, to extend their brand beyond existing clients to reach new audiences .
If you want to expose your firm’s content, it is not enough to simply build webpages and hope for the best. You must employ a strategy to get your chosen content in front of its target audience. In-house newsletters, email marketing, content syndication, etc. are all wonderful pieces to your marketing puzzle, but are more effective at marketing to existing clients...... If firms wish to stretch out their online branding efforts - for whatever reasoning they choose - they must expose their content to new audiences. And to that end, the search engines continue to be a the number one tool available to drive new readership.
Steve had 7 quick reasons why a law firm would employ an SEO strategy.
- The firm is looking to increase exposure for a new office in a regional market.
- Lawyer profile pages aren’t ranking for their areas of practice expertise.
- The firm is a market leader and sees a top search ranking as a ‘must have.’
- The firm wishes to increase market share for lucrative or high-margin area of practice.
- A competitive regional practice, where service pages are buried beyond the second page of search results.
- The firm has a new or innovative service offering, and seeks the first strike advantage.
- The firm is a boutique practice without geographic boundaries, and simply needs a top-10 listing to turn volume.
The impact of good law firm SEO, per Steve:
Reports have shown the top search position to receive as many as 42% of the available clicks. On the bottom side of that comparison, rankings between position #11 and #100 will share as few as 11% of the clicks available.
I talk to 3 to 5 lawyers/law firms a day. 95% of their websites and blogs are not optimized to be found on Google and the other search engines. More than anything else in marketing, those firms should focus on SEO.
They should also understand how to mount an effective adsense campaign.
Correct Michael, there can be some real low hanging fruit in buying sponsored links at Google for specific areas of the law and locales.
Couple notes on SEO though. One, more people trust organic results than sponsored links. Two, because most law firms are so weak on SEO, well done SEO on select practice areas and locales can take a firm's website or blog to the top of the search engines for oragnic results.