Local SEO For Lawyers: How To Rank
What are the top local ranking factors for Local Search Results?
Google ranks law firms based on how relevant they are to your search terms. Law firms are ranked by proximity (how close they are to you) and prominence (how well known they are).
– Relevance
In your Google Business Profile, you should choose the category most appropriate to your law firm. Don’t pick “Attorney” because it might be too broad. Pick something more specific like “Personal Injury Attorney“.
Our firm uses video and images to help clients understand what we do. We also provide detailed descriptions of our practice areas.
– Distance
Proximity is one of the main factors Google focuses on when ranking firms. This is especially true in larger more condensed markets and after the November 2021 Google proximity update.
– Prominence
Local SEO involves making sure your website appears in the three-pack. There are many things you should consider when doing this. For example, you should make sure that your site has relevant content. You should also make sure that your site is optimized correctly. Finally, you should make sure you have a strong backlink profile.
Links: Having more authoritative backlinks than the competition is, similar to how we compared the difference between votes and votes, having more backlinks than the competition helps boost your ranking. Articles: Publishing articles externally is beneficial because it provides you with an opportunity to get a link. Images: Having more images than the competition increases your chances of getting a higher rank.
Directories are similar to the yellow pages of the analog age. They are used to find businesses but also help Google categorize your business. These directories often include NAP (Name Address Phone Number) citations and dictate the specific coordinates (Latitude and Longitude) for your location.”
Reviews are very important. You want your website to be ranked higher than others when people search for keywords related to your business. Your rating should be high enough to get you ranked first for superlative-based searches.
Google My Business – Maximizing Rankings and Profits
Optimizing your business listing is important because it helps people find your business online. This guide lays out how to set up and claim your Google Business Profile. There are some common mistakes that I’d want to point out.
The largest mistake I see is not claiming the correct primary category. If you are a personal injury lawyer, your category should be Personal Injury Attorney. Likewise, if you are a criminal defense attorney, your category should be Criminal Justice Attorney. Claiming the right category puts you under the right umbrella.
Images are important because they help people understand what your product does. You should make sure to add as many photos as possible. Your competitors might be using images to trick Google into thinking they’re better than they are.
Google shows us that our competitors’ businesses have more views than ours do. We need to work harder to get people to view our business.
Their website has about 10x more views than their competitors. This means that they rank better than their competitors.
Haircuts help businesses get more customers. A haircut helps business owners get more customers.
Reviews Aren’t Only Important for Restaurants
Attorneys who take tire-kickers and settle out of court get less business because consumers know how easy it is to make money suing someone else. This means that lawyers who handle high-profile cases are more likely to win.
Best Restaurants Near Me – A consumer wants to know about the quality of a restaurant before going there. He or she also wants to be sure that he or she will receive the same service as other customers.
The firms with more reviews appear more attractive than the ones with fewer reviews. However, there is also a secondary advantage to having a high rating: You can rank in the map packs for superlative related queries, such as ‘best’ or ‘top.’ If you have a low rating, Google doesn’t consider you for these kinds of searches. In the restaurant analogy, this means that you’re less likely to be considered for searches like ‘Best Restaurants Near Me’ when your rating is lower.
Reviews affect conversions by social proof and influence search rankings.
Why You Should Reply to All Reviews
Reviews are valuable content. You should respond to them all. Your directory listings get stronger every time someone writes a review. Each review allows you to write new content for your site.
Responding to reviews makes you look human. It’s difficult to communicate empathy or establish a rapport online. Saying please and thank you work as well online as offline. Empathy and establishing a relationship goes a long way towards making your customers happy. If someone had a good experience, they might be more likely to recommend your company.
By responding to your customers’ reviews, you’re keeping yourself top-of-mind. You’re also initiating a notification to the customer who posted the review. This furthers your brand awareness and it’s important to use every simple brand advancement strategy you can.
What Are the Best Review Sites for Attorneys?
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: You need to be everywhere! Your clients should know about you. Make sure to get reviews from Google Business Profile (GBP) as well as other sites. Even if your clients are great advocates for your firm, make them focus on one place only when leaving reviews. Don’t let them spread out their reviews across different places. This may cause problems later down the road.
Facebook is the most popular social network. It’s lightweight and easy to use. There’s a high probability that you already have a Facebook account. You probably have a Gmail account as well. I recommend using Facebook because it’s the most likely to be used by your customers.
Don’t solicit reviews. You could be banned from Yelp. Yelp reviews are very important, so don’t spam. Send links to Yelp instead.
The BBB is a great site for anonymous reviews. The site is referenced by Google’s content quality guidelines. It’s a trustworthy source.
Avvo is important because it ranks well for your brand searches. You also have the option of making and receiving endorsements. If you’re having trouble getting a 10.0 rating after completing your profile, I suggest leaving peer endorsements to encourage reciprocal behavior.
Yellow Pages ranks well and displays reviews in search. It has many indexed pages and high traffic. It’s a site where I would try to get a 5-star rating review because it will help my ranking.
Google reviews are very important. Your company should be listed on the top pages of search engines. You should get five-star rating on most of those google reviews.
Aggregators
Data Aggregators are companies that collect data about businesses and then disperse it to other sites. You can choose to be listed by these companies or not.
Data Aggregators are a great way to get more exposure for your business. You should be submitting to them as much as possible. Next is the most effective because of its API. BrightLocal is the best from a cost perspective.
There’s no question that this needs to be done. You should consider using one of the tools listed below for less than $100, as your mileage may vary.
Citations are similar to links but they do not require direct linking. Citations are used by search engines to determine how authoritative a website is. A citation is considered a ranking factor.
Top citation sites include BrightLocal, Facebook, Apple Maps, Google, Bing, Foursquare, Mapquest, Yelp, Yellow Pages, SuperPages, MerchantCircle.
Legal professionals can use these tips to optimize their profiles. A complete profile is essential to get listed in legal directories. Also, make sure that all attorneys at your law firm have completed and optimized their profiles.
Don’t Let Google My Business Spammers Take What Should Be Yours
Most people try to do the right things when it comes to their GMB profiles. However, there are some spammy tactics that firms need to watch out for. For example, they shouldn’t allow fake reviews or negative reviews. Spamming is also a big issue, as well as allowing bad actors to use your name without permission.
Here’s How to Fight Google My Business Spam
Local SEO expert Joy Hawkins says that you should monitor your primary keywords in the local three-pack. You should also report any violations of Google’s terms of service.
From Joy Hawkins, Sterling Sky, “One of the most effective techniques used by lawyers to get higher rankings in the local search results is to actively monitor other businesses and report listings that violate Google’s guidelines. I’ve seen many cases where doing this resulted in an almost instant ranking increase for the business being monitored. Here are the most common types I see with attorneys:
1) Not having a physical address listed (or listing a P.O. Box or fax number). This is a biggie because you want your clients to be found when people type in your name.
Keyword stuffing is when you use a lot of words that aren’t relevant to your website or product but are used because they’re popular search terms. This practice may be used to get more traffic to your site, but it also hurts your rankings.
Fake listings are not allowed by Google. Using another firm’s office address as your own is also not allowed. Showing a photo or video of your office is enough proof to show that you’re not a fake. Multiple listings for the same company are not allowed. An attorney should have only one listing for his/her law practice.
Fake reviews are a problem, but it isn’t much you can do about them. You can report them to Google, but they won’t remove them unless you provide proof.
You should use the Google My Business forum to report competitors who are ranking high in local searches. You should also reach out to Google on Twitter and Facebook to get more information about how to improve your GMB profile.