The personal injury industry is a highly competitive marketplace. This year has been one of the most difficult for businesses all over the world and people in all walks of life. So therefore personal injury lawyers need to use SEO even more effectively than before to continue to grow their share of the market.
SEO or Search Engine Optimisation for law firms
This basically involves making your website more visible on search engines. How do you do that? Well you need to optimise your pages so that it targets common phrases that your demographic audience will likely type into Google (for example).
For instance you may type in a personal injury lawyer near me because you are hoping to find a local lawyer to assist with your claim. You may wish to be more specific and type in where is a good personal injury lawyer in Tampa?
To make this work for you on search engines such as Google you need to create content around words and phrases that Google can find when your target audience is searching.
You may also hear people mention keywords as well as phrases.
What are keywords?
Keywords or keyphrases are what the user is typing into Google to find the website of their choice. So if you type in a personal injury lawyer in New York then that is a keyphrase.
In order for a law firm to show up in the search results in a favourable position you need to think about what keywords your target market are typing into Google the most. You need to have these words in your website and importantly in the right places.
These keywords are important because they decide which pages show up in a search. So return to your phrase ‘personal injury lawyers in Tampa’ and Google would then search for which websites talk about this and show you the most relevant ones.
Optimisation for greater SEO success
Personal injury law firms don’t just use keywords though. To gain greater visibility on Google you need to optimise your website and the content. You will want to update content regularly and include blogs and long form content.
Blogs
These are used primarily to give up to date news on legal developments. Maybe changes in personal injury law. They will typically be up to 1,000 words and form more factual details rather than promotion or sales pitches.
They would display useful items about changes to your legal rights or perhaps a legal breakthrough. If you have something current and newsworthy then you want to publish this quickly to take advantage.
Practice Area Pages
These are longer than blog items and may come in around 2,000 and more words long. Content is king. For Google to find your law firm then the content must be good with keyword optimisation. Good law firms will produce great long form content with pages optimised with good keywords. They will research keywords and make sure the content has headings that help Google to find their site.
A personal injury law firm will want to include sections for car accidents, medical negligence etc. All phrases that a user may type in while searching. Long form content is important for making the site visible. It will keep a visitor on the page longer, attract other websites to include backlinks to your page and all more opportunities to include keywords and phrases.
Why do law firms update content often?
Updating your content means the publishing date gets refreshed. It gives companies a chance to check the SEO and update keywords. Google will re-crawl the pages after refreshing the content.
You can entice people to return with new content. Update stats and facts, include new images and if applicable other links and change the layout to be more appealing.
Visual optimisation
Although not so much about SEO, successful law firms know the importance of good visuals. No one wants to read page after page of text. Break up the longer content with suitable and engaging imagery. Law firms will typically show their partners and law team and friendly, approachable looking photos can attract potential clients.
Using an outside SEO agency
It is likely that a personal injury law firm will employ outside help for SEO rather than employ an in house team. An agency can help with many aspects and would likely look at many facets from metatags to keywords to social media. You could expect them to check the following:
Build a strategy for SEO
Keyword research and check competitiveness
Optimise images and loading speeds
Look for ways to make the site run faster and smoother
Check indexing, titles and headers
Check for security risks on your website
Check for duplication and any plagiarised content
Law firms would look to build up trust and interest on social media including Facebook, Youtube and Yelp reviews.
PPC and Google advertising
Google advertising is an effective way personal injury law firms push their rankings up in Google searches. In much the same way as someone searching for keywords, if a law firm has paid for Google Ads then someone searching for something relevant would find that site in the top listings.
PPC advertising on Facebook or other channels lets the firm produce an advert that targets a particular market. For example the advert could be aimed at people involved in car accidents. While they are browsing Facebook they see your advert. This can generate leads, click throughs and brand awareness. The backlinks help with the site’s SEO.
Social Media
85% of law firms say they use or have used social media as part of their marketing strategy. Facebook alone accounts for nearly 2 billion users logging in each day. Law firms are all looking to use this important avenue and it helps create more backlinks to their website and pushes them higher in the searches.
As you can see law firms have to consider in detail how to use SEO and this post barely scratches the surface of the work put in to create an effective SEO friendly website.