In this guide, we’re going to look into doing SEO for a lawyer or attorney’s website specifically. It’s not miles apart from traditional SEO but there are some particular tactics you should know about.
We won’t be wasting any time by telling you what is SEO and why is it important. You likely know all that already if you’re here. Now, let’s get to the meat of the discussion.
AI-generated Content for Lawyer SEO
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know how digital marketing is changing business with marketing automation, an explosion in the popularity of video-based social media, and whatnot.
But most importantly, there’s this thing called ChatGPT. AI tools like ChatGPT (another example is Google Bard) are creating heaps of content with simple prompts. We’re living in an entirely different world today, that’s true.
But is it a heap of stuff that can improve your SEO or a stinking pile of unusable garbage regurgitated the same way as thin, spun content is?
SEO has seen tremendous updates over the last several months. For example, Google has launched a series of updates to combat shady link-building.
Google has also made it harder for filler AI-generated content, that’s only inflated in word count and not substance, to rank at all. As long as your content is not thin, low-quality, spam, or filler—It will rank regardless of how much of it is AI-generated.
At least that’s where things stand right now.
And oh, you can bet that Google’s AI detection is almost 100% accurate so forget about beating it with ChatGPT Plus. It’s AI against AI, pretty much. It’s significantly better than any other website you get when you search for “AI detector.” All of these are inaccurate more often than not.
So, if you’re a lawyer or attorney with a website, be careful about how much AI you use in your content. Maybe it’s good for research, summarizing, or giving you ideas on titles and outlines. But when it starts to write entire articles, they quickly become robotic and dull.
And that very likely hurts SEO.
Legal Research Fans Rejoice
Any quality SEO agency that’s been in the industry for a while will tell you that keyword research is where you start.
Tailor your SEO efforts around the specific practice areas you specialize in. Conduct keyword research to identify the most relevant and commonly searched terms related to your areas of expertise.
Once done, remember to incorporate these keywords, their synonyms/proofs, and related words strategically into your website content.
Putting all Apples in the Local SEO Basket
Local SEO is the only SEO that matters for lawyers and attorneys.
Doing local SEO means doing technical SEO, content writing, and on-page SEO in a way that your pages are optimized for location-based keywords. This includes the name of the city, state, and region you practice in.
As your audience is localized, you need to optimize your website for local. Trying to make a generic website will not give you any results.
- Create location-based landing pages.
- Incorporate location-based keywords on website pages.
- Find location-based problems and answer them through articles.
Spending Money the Right Way
You will need to make investments. Whether it’s sponsoring posts on other high-authority websites in exchange for a link, hiring writers to publish quality content, or running ad campaigns to drive traffic on your landing pages—Money equals quality leads and conversions.
SEO marketing for attorneys is pretty much the same as that for traditional business websites. There are just a few things to keep in mind:
- Your only intent is to get leads. Whether you run “Call Us” PPC ads or information collection forms for Facebook ads, always optimize for maximum leads and not landing page views or website traffic.
- The best platform for you is Google Ads. If you’re into corporate law, patent law, or other disciplines where you need business contacts (founders, executive officers, managing partners, etc.), LinkedIn ads are one of the best ways to let your name be known.
- Optimize your website with a clear call to action. No user should feel confused as to what to do next. Give the relevant information and then a button to get in touch with you.
- Ensure website loading speed and mobile responsiveness are both good.
Legal Advice for Free
This is entirely optional and we know not everyone is going to be cool with handing out free legal advice. But some topics are important for your target audience. Or more like pain points on which people need guidance and handholding.
Pick topics and questions like that—Answers to which can be found for free anyway by Googling. And create your own content on that.
- Put up all these articles, guides, and resources in one section on your website.
- You can additionally make PDF reports, infographics, and video explainers. These three are much sharable and can help spread the word about your practice quicker.
This is going to be a valuable USP of your website. When you hand out free legal advice and give a CTA button for a free consultation call, conversions go through the roof. This is where you need to begin.
Whether it’s criminal defense SEO or SEO for family law—This rule remains the same throughout categories. But of course, if your business is already making tons of money then this will just be a waste of time.
In Conclusion
To summarize, you can win the SEO battle as a lawyer or attorney personal brand, or a law firm website with the right choices in the SEO department.
Of course, you need to pay attention to the vital stuff—Using client testimonials, tracking analytics, link building, on-page optimizations, etc. But more importantly, you need to focus on local SEO, providing free legal advice content, and investing in marketing the correct way.
