What is SEO for Law Firms and Why Does It Matter?

As a solicitor, you may have heard the term “SEO for law firms” being bandied about before without really understanding what it means.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, which is the practice of optimising your website so that it appears higher in search engine results pages.

Long gone are the days when law firms relied upon print directories and word-of-mouth recommendations to generate leads. In today’s digital age, potential clients are much more likely to search for a solicitor via Google than in any other way.

Let’s take a closer look at what SEO is, and why it’s crucial to your law firm’s success.

SEO = Search Engine Optimisation

SEO is all about optimising your website for search engine use – and when we say search engine, we largely mean Google.

Google is a tool, and its success is dependent upon its ability to find what its users are looking for, whether that’s a product, a service or an answer to a question. Therefore, it has a very precise algorithm that it uses to determine which websites appear at the top of its results pages.

The algorithm encompasses over 500 factors, and it’s constantly changing as Google seeks to provide its users with the most relevant search results.

If you can get your website to the top of the results pages for relevant search terms, you will be able to generate a lot of traffic, leads and business for your law firm.

Why is SEO Crucial for Your Law Firm?

Let’s say you’re a solicitor firm based in Birmingham, specialising in family law. Showing up on the first results page for terms such as “law firm Birmingham”, “divorce lawyer Birmingham” and “solicitor Birmingham” will drive a huge amount of traffic to your website, resulting in more enquiries and more cases won.

The Search Engine Journal reports that the vast majority of users – 88% to be precise – click on results from the first page of results. If you’re not ranking there for your chosen terms, then you’re missing out on a lot of business.

In fact, digital marketers tend to joke that the best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google.

A Digital Accolade

Ranking on the first page of the Google results page is like a digital accolade for your law firm. It’s the ultimate sign of trustworthiness and credibility.

You see, Google is the world’s most visited website for a very good reason; it’s excellent at finding its users exactly what they want.

And what all internet users want, regardless of their chosen search terms, is reliable and trustworthy websites.

Therefore, if Google lists you among its top search results, then you have just received a stamp of approval from the internet’s ultimate authority.

A Long-Term Strategy

Getting to the top of Google’s results page is not easy – if it was, everyone would do it.

Exactly how difficult it will be for your law firm depends on the competitiveness of your legal field, the quality, relevance and popularity of your current website content, and the search terms you are trying to rank for.

Achieving a high ranking is certainly not impossible, and it’s definitely worth pursuing as a long-term SEO strategy.

However, you must bear in mind that SEO is a long game. Cheap tricks to try and fool the Google algorithm into bumping you up to the top will only backfire and may even see you removed from Google’s listing altogether.

It’s like trying to get in shape: fad diets may work for a few weeks, but then you’ll suddenly find yourself gaining all the weight back again – plus ten extra pounds.

At Kinetic Traffic, we have always favoured a balanced and steady approach. Having obtained high-quality results with this method, we firmly believe it is the key to long-term success.

The Google algorithm is pretty much impossible to fool. If that weren’t the case, Google wouldn’t be the world’s most popular search engine. If you want to achieve SEO success, you need to play by Google’s rules.

Final Thoughts

SEO is a complex and ever-evolving field, but it’s one that’s absolutely crucial for your law firm’s online success. If you’re not sure where to start, or you need help implementing an effective strategy, get in touch with our team today. We specialise in leveraging the power of SEO to take law firms to the next level.