If you’re looking for a way to increase your law firm’s reach, consider implementing search engine optimization in your digital content creation strategy. 

Search engine optimization—SEO, for short—is the process of structuring your online content, so you can appear higher in the results of search engines like Google and Bing. Think website pages and blog posts. 

One of the most important aspects of law firm SEO is content creation. When you optimize your website content for search engines, you’ll appear when users look up your services or niche. It may sound technical, but SEO content is actually quite straightforward to implement—and it’s necessary if you want your legal website to stand out from the pack. 

In this blog post, we will go over what goes into SEO for lawyers and how you can leverage the Internet to your advantage. 

Getting Started: SEO for Lawyers 

When using Google to search for things like “Thai restaurants near me” or “best shoes for pickleball,” you might often check out the results on the first page of Google and decide right then and there. You rarely go to the second or, God forbid, third page of Google. All the results on Google—and most importantly, on Google’s first page—are there because of SEO. 

While there is a designated “Sponsored” section where paid ads appear as search results, we will be focusing on organic results. In this context, “organic” means that no money was put behind the result, so it appears on the first page due to its relevance and importance to the search at hand. 

As you may be aware at this point, certain search terms (known as “keywords” or “key phrases”) are incredibly competitive. Think “Family Lawyer in Texas,” “Divorce Attorney,” or “Personal Injury Attorney Near Me.” These searches are known as high search volume keywords and they often bring up massive law firms that have a near-infinite marketing budget, so it is often very difficult to appear on page 1 for these results. 

If you’re a family or personal injury attorney, don’t get discouraged. You can still use SEO to get your name out there. 

Finding the Right Keywords 

SEO is about much more than simply writing and publishing whatever comes into your mind. It’s necessary to find a focus or niche topic that will attract potential clients to your website. To do so, you need to home in on the correct keywords. 

Keywords are the foundation of a strong SEO content strategy. Without the right keywords, you’ll basically be running blind. 

To find the right keywords, you should: 

• Focus on your specific practice area 
• Select the correct location 
• Highlight details that make you stand out 
• Be specific in your terminology 

There are many online tools you can use to come up with keywords, such as: 

• Google Keyword Planner 
• Ubersuggest 
• Ahrefs 
• Semrush 

While many of these websites offer paid services, you should be able to get a good list of keywords without having to spend any money. 

You can also do searches on your own. Pretend you’re a prospective client. What would you search for? What comes up when you search for that? Once you enter that search term, scroll to the bottom of the Google results and check out the “People also search for” section. This is a treasure trove of potential keywords. Write down the ones that seem most relevant to you and add them to your keyword list. 

High Search Volume vs Low Search Volume 

When it comes to keywords, you need to consider search volume. This refers to how often the keyword is searched within a certain timeframe. 

High search volume keywords are very popular and have high demand, making them very competitive and difficult to target. An example of a high search volume keyword could be “attorney near me” or “law firm.” Notice how general those keywords are. They don’t mention the practice area or other granular details, so the results will be all over the place, often with the biggest law firms coming out on top. 

On the other end of the spectrum are low search volume keywords. These keywords are defined by their narrow, niche scope. Think “fathers’ rights attorney in Austin” or “bilingual workers compensation attorney in Denton”. These keywords are much more specific, so the results will reflect that. 

Ensure that your keywords strike a balance between high and low search volume. Take time to find and compile keywords that are specific to your unique niche. Before long, you’ll have a robust list of keywords you can use to flesh out your website content. 

SEO Content Creation for Attorneys 

Now that you have a list of keywords, it’s time to go into the next step of SEO: content creation. The two main types of content are website/service pages and blog posts. We will break each one down in this section. 

Law Firm Website Content 

If you have a website, it’s crucial to include a handful of pages that explain who you are and the services you provide. These website pages include your Home and About Us pages as well as separate Service pages that delve into each of your specific services. 

Generally, the content that makes up your website pages should be at least 700 words long, and the content therein should be informative, robust, and useful. These pages are different from blog posts, as they will serve as an overview of what you have to offer.  

Potential clients will read your service pages when deciding if you’re the right lawyer for them. Blog posts, on the other hand, are more general and can focus on certain topics that are tangential to your practice area. Website/service pages and blog posts will attract clients to your site. 

Generally, websites should all include the following pages: 

• Home page: The first page people see when they click on your website. This page should include your firm name, your main (most important) keyword, your services, and your location. Let potential clients know what you have to offer. Include brief descriptions of the services you provide; you can delve deeper into each service in their own specific service pages. 

• About page: An “About Us” page is an excellent way to make yourself appear more personable and unique to potential clients. In this page, you can highlight your past accolades, mention why you decided to go into the practice of law, and talk briefly about your personal life or interests. If you work with a partner or assistant, you can also include details about them on this page as well. Make sure to also include a main keyword on this page. 

• Services: On your service pages, you’ll be able to dig deeper into more specific keywords and niches. Say, for example, you’re a family law attorney. Your Home and About Us pages would more than likely contain the focus keywords of “family law attorney” and “family lawyer,” but your service pages can have the focus keywords of “Divorce,” “Alimony,” “Child Custody,” etc. Each service (and keyword) should have its own page. 

• Blog listing page: While not technically a “content” page, your website’s blog listing page is where all blog posts will live. Make sure your blog posting page is organized and well laid-out so people can easily see and read your published posts. Two or three columns tend to look the best. Take a look at our blog listing page if you’d like some inspiration! 

• Contact: The contact page can be briefer than the rest of the pages we mentioned. Make sure to include all pertinent information like your phone number, email, office hours, address, and other details potential clients should know. Consider including a message form so people can easily submit questions. 

Blog Content

Blog posts, along with robust website content pages, are a necessity when it comes to SEO for attorneys. Generally, it’s recommended to publish at least one well-written, long-form (600–2000 words) blog post per month. The more informative and useful the blog post, the better it will do in the eyes of potential clients and, likewise, in Google’s eyes. 

Finding Blog Topics 

To come up with blog topics, take a look at your keywords. What are some common questions you receive when you meet a new client? What do you wish your clients knew before their initial consultation? What are some misconceptions the general public has about your profession or area of law? These are all excellent topics that will build up your positive reputation online. 

Include Keywords Within Your Blog Post 

A common SEO rule of thumb is to feature one focus keyword within your blog content. Include that keyword in the blog title and within a few of the section headers within. Also make sure the keyword appears within the content itself. 

Don’t forget to include secondary and tertiary keywords as well. These are supplemental keywords that fit alongside the main keyword. Let’s say you’re writing a blog post about alimony; a few supplemental keywords you can include in your blog post can be “spousal support,” “divorce,” “financial need,” and “financial assistance.” These terms and phrases might naturally appear as you’re writing your blog post, but it’s good to keep the concept in mind when outlining, writing, and editing your blog posts. 

Finding an Image for Your Blog Post 

Once you’re done writing your blog post, search for a relevant image to use. Websites like Pexels and Unsplash offer free, high-quality images that can be used in your blog posts. It may seem unnecessary, but an image can really tie a blog post together, so don’t forget to include one! 

Proofread Before Publishing 

Before you publish an article, make sure to read it over and check its grammar and spelling. While a typo or two can be excused, you want readers to perceive you as an expert in your field, so your writing should be top notch. If you don’t have time to edit your own work, you could ask a friend or colleague to help you out. There are also apps like Grammarly that may help, but we recommend having a human proofread your work before it goes live. 

For a more detailed look at the blog writing process, check out our ultimate blogging guide for lawyers. 

Using Google Search Console to Track Your Website's SEO Progress 

Once you've published all that website content, you need to make sure Google can actually see what you've been working on. SEO generally works hand in hand with Google. As the world’s largest and most popular search engine, Google often writes the rules when it comes to how SEO works and who benefits from it. If Google isn't aware of your website, it won't suggest your content to users who might be searching for your services. 

To ensure your website appears in search results, you need to set up a Google Search Console account for your website. Basically, you need to submit your website's sitemap to Google. Then Google will crawl your website, reading the content you've published. 

Googlebot, Google's site crawler, is incredibly sophisticated, so it can actually see your site content as a human would see it. In years past, the crawler would read the website's raw HTML code, but now it can actually see the site as it is. This sophistication allows Googlebot to see your content, as well as the website layout and overall functionality, similar to how a human user would. 

With Google Search Console, you can: 

• Analyze your site's impressions, clicks, and position on Google Search 
• Receive email alerts when Google identifies issues on your site 
• Understand how Google Search sees your pages 

This may seem highly technical, but the setup process is well laid out. If you encounter any issues, a quick Google search will bring up useful videos and tutorials to help you connect your website to Search Console. Once you're up and running on Search Console, you can keep tabs on how exactly our SEO strategy is working. If you're not receiving traffic, make some tweaks to the content on your site and submit those updated pages to be re-crawled. 

The Search Console process can be time consuming, but it's a necessary step in ensuring your content strategy is working as it should. Keep an eye out for an upcoming blog post that goes more into this topic, as well as technical SEO strategies to elevate your website's online reach. 

Other Places to Post Your SEO Content 

SEO tends to work best if you have a website where you can publish content.  If you don’t have a website, don't worry; you can use SEO on alternative platforms to boost your law firm's reach. Social media platforms are excellent choices when it comes to sharing SEO content online. Some popular sites where you can share content to reach your clients are outlined below. 

Writing Articles to Post on LinkedIn 

Like most other social media platforms, LinkedIn offers users the ability to write and share posts. These posts have a word limit of 400-500 words. Where LinkedIn stands out, however, is in its publishing platform which allows users to write and publish longform articles of up to 10,000 words in length! This LinkedIn feature also lets you add images, links, SEO titles and descriptions, and so much more. It basically includes all the features of a typical website blog. All that, along with LinkedIn’s SEO capabilities, can help your articles appear in Google searches even if you don’t have a website! 

Posting Content on Instagram and Facebook 

While the word limits on Instagram and Facebook are much lower than those of LinkedIn, you can still leverage these social media platforms to boost your SEO and overall reach. Post updates or goings-on in your profession and share your unique perspective. Since these platforms are image and video focused, you can share brief videos of yourself talking to the camera and showing your professional personality. 

If you’ve recently written a blog post or LinkedIn article on a topic, you’re passionate about, consider creating a concise version of the post in Canva and sharing that on Instagram and Facebook. Or, better yet, film a short video of yourself talking about that topic and sharing your expertise. It doesn’t have to be a big, fancy production. Many popular and successful social media users film videos parked in their cars talking directly to their smartphones.Try to make it easy on yourself so you don’t have to edit too much or spend too much time working on the video. Be natural and share what matters most to you. 

Publishing Videos on YouTube 

Another excellent avenue for content creation is YouTube. Here, you can go all out and create a highly produced video with background music and graphics, but you can also upload those simple videos we mentioned above. Short-form videos like reels and shorts have quickly become the most popular video format, so dig into that and talk about topics that speak to you. Answer common questions or provide general legal information that may ease the worries of people who might find themselves in difficult situations. 

SEO Content Creation for Attorneys: The Tip of the Iceberg 

It may seem like a lot of work (and it is), but SEO content creation is an excellent way to grow your reach and expand your client base. The information covered in this blog is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SEO content creation for attorneys. 

Organic SEO is a slow-moving process. You won’t appear on Google’s top results immediately. It will take time for Google to crawl your site and content. But once you appear as a reliable source of information, you will begin to appear as a result to those who are searching for your specific services. Keep at it, fix what might not be working, don’t get discouraged, and before long, you’ll be on that coveted first page! 

If you would like to learn more about how you can take your law firm to the next level, make sure to check out the Law Practice Management department. They have a plethora of videos and articles written by practicing attorneys providing insight, guidance, and advice in all aspects of law and in every stage of the legal profession.