8 Proven Local SEO Strategies That Work for Law Firms

The digital universe is vast, complex, and seemingly never-ending, which is why it can be easy for your law firm to get lost in space. Considering that nearly 95% of consumers consult an online review or platform before making a purchase, it is more important than ever that your firm is visible to those searching in your area. 

However, the legal field is becoming increasingly competitive and oversaturated, which is why in this day and age, a basic website just isn’t going to cut it. You need a strong local SEO strategy to push you above your competition and attract clients in your community. 

In the dark and confusing world of online search, local SEO is like a lighthouse, guiding potential clients right to your doorstep when they search for legal services in their area. 

We’ve worked with hundreds of law firms nationwide, and in this blog post, we will share with you our exact 8 battle-tested local SEO strategies that worked for us to get to the top of local search rankings and win more clients for our clients.

In fact, by following the exact steps, one of our clients, located in the highly competitive California market, has secured a top 10 ranking on Google for their primary practice area, “estate planning attorney,” in their city. Also, they hold the #1 position on Google Maps for the same term.

Local SEO for Lawyers

SEO is a term, usually used in the digital marketing space, so we wouldn’t blame you if you’re wondering what relevance it has to lawyers. 

The truth is that local SEO is a crucial component of broader law firm marketing strategies, acting as a cosmic beacon that guides potential clients to your law firm.

At its core, it is optimizing your online presence to boost your appearance within search results when people search for legal services in your specific location. For example, this could be:

• “car accident lawyer in [location]”
• “family lawyer near me”  
• “estate planning attorney in [location]”
• “family lawyer”

Local SEO is of the utmost importance to law firms for a number of reasons, including:

• Ensuring local clients are guided to your door – most people seeking legal help want an attorney they meet with face-to-face, and local SEO ensures you’re found by those searching for lawyers in their immediate vicinity.
• Increasing brand awareness by ensuring potential clients browsing the web in your area come into contact with your firm 

Furthermore, employing strong local SEO strategies can be highly beneficial for law firms, helping to increase the following: 

• Website traffic 
• Rankings in local search results 
• Phone calls 
• Office visit 
• The overall success of your firm

How Local SEO Works For Lawyers?

Using local SEO as a lawyer is a unique process, but it can be extremely helpful when it comes to building your brand, as it helps Google to understand:

• Where your law firm is located, which is crucial for ensuring your firm appears in searches conducted by potential local clients 
• What services your firm offers, helping Google to show your firm to people looking for specified services such as “criminal defense attorney in dallas” or “family lawyer in fort worth.”
• That your firm is of highly reputable, thus increasing your visibility and encouraging potential clients to pick your firm over others 

Ranking Factors 

When ranking law firms in Google Maps and the “local pack” (which is the set of top local results displayed after a search), Google considers:

• The relevance of your firm’s services, especially how well they match the user’s search query 
• The distance of your firm from the local users’ location (or the location specified in their search)
• How prominent and well-known your firm is in your local community based on factors such as online reviews, citations, and backlinks. 

Furthermore, when ranking websites in traditional organic search results for law firms, Google also considers: 

• Whether your website content matches the context of the user’s search query. 
• The overall quality of your website content, including how informative, helpful, and trustworthy your website content is. 
• How “user-friendly” your website is, including factors such as mobile friendliness, loading speed, and other UX elements.

Local SEO Strategies for Modern Law Firms 

1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile 

The first step in any local SEO strategy should be to optimize your Google Business profile. 

As Google is the world’s leading search engine, this is crucial for your visibility. Your Google Business Profile (GBP) will be your firm’s home base in the online world. As it is the first thing potential clients will see, it needs to be top-notch. 

To optimize your GBP, you need to implement the following steps:

Claim and Verify Your Listing

Click the link to your GBP, and follow the prompts on the screen to claim and verify your firm’s online profile to confirm that you are the owner. This will allow you to manage the information displayed. 

Check for Accurate Information

Check that your firm’s name, address, and phone number are consistently displayed with the same formatting and details across all your online platforms – including your website, GBP, and any other online directories. 

Choose Relevant Categories

GBP will ask you to select categories that your business fits into. Select the categories that reflect your firm’s areas of practice. For example, if you specialize in family and divorce law, select categories such as “Family Attorney,” and “Divorce Attorney.” 

Add High-Quality Images

Humans are visual creatures, so you will need to showcase your professional brand with high-quality photos of your legal team and office. 

A friendly staff photo or image of the reception area can help to make a great first impression on potential clients. 

Active Engagement

Your GBP will likely garner some reviews or questions from your community. It is important that you respond to these promptly to show clients that you value their feedback. 

Add a GBP Description

GBP allows you to add a short description of your firm to the profile. 

Use the 750-character limit wisely to provide an informative and engaging overview of your firm, including key information such as your name, lead attorney, years of experience, practice areas, and the locations you serve. 

Here’s an example: “XYZ Law Firm is a premier personal injury law firm in Los Angeles, CA, and surrounding areas. Lead attorney X has over Y years of experience handling car accidents, slips and falls, workplace injuries, and more. Call today for a free consultation.”

Make sure you add your main keyword to your GBP description (e.g. personal injury law firm in los angeles.) 

Add Posts

Your GBP isn’t a one-and-done matter – it requires frequent use to get the most out of it. Regularly share updates, news, or special offers to increase potential client interaction with your GBP listing. Including an image, a brief description, and a call to action linking to your website is a great way to strategically use posts to increase engagement. 

Q&A

GBP also has a Q&A section, and we have found that our clients benefit the most when using this fully. Aim to proactively address common questions and offer valuable information to help convince potential clients that you should be their next attorney. 

Seed the Q&A with your own questions and provide comprehensive answers to make full use of this feature. 

You can also use tools like Paige to automate your workflow. Paige uses AI to manage users’ GBP, allowing them to maximize their profile without needing to sacrifice time and energy during the workday that could be spent doing other things. 

Correctly filling out your Google Business Profile can be one of the best things you do for your law firm. Customers are 2.7 times more likely to consider a business reputable if they can see a complete Google Business Profile on maps and in search. 

Additionally, those with a complete business profile make customers 70% more likely to visit and 50% more likely to consider purchasing from them. 

2. Build Local Citations 

The next step in building your local SEO strategy is to build local citations. These validate your business, as citations are like online endorsements that help search engines to know that your business is legitimate. 

When building citations, focus on relevant directories. Listing your firm on reputable legal directories such as AVVO, FindLaw, and Justia is a great start, as these are niche platforms designed for law firms. Additionally, don’t forget the more general directories such as Yelp, as well as your local Chamber of Commerce Website. 

You should also become a member of your local bar association, and list your firm within their directory. Not only does this add credibility to your firm, but it also increases your local relevance. 

Finally, you need to check your NAP (name, address, phone) consistency. Check that all numbers and addresses are identical across all listings. Even the smallest difference such as “St” instead of “Street” can confuse search engines. 

Not all citation-building tools are the same, so the following are the ones that we have found to be the most effective for our clients to streamline their citation process: 

• Brightlocal
• Semrush
• Whitespark

3. Generate Positive Reviews 

At the heart of your local SEO strategy should be generating positive reviews. More importantly, these should be Google reviews, as these can help to improve your firm’s ranking, as well as have your client sell your firm for you through their review. 

Online reviews act as social proof and testimonials that guide potential clients who are deciding whether to work with you. A swathe of positive reviews helps to build trust and credibility for your law firm, which is of the utmost importance when it comes to attracting and keeping clients. 

If you want to make the most out of reviews, you can’t be passive. Don’t hesitate to ask your satisfied clients to leave you a review on Google – you can even direct them to your GBP or other review platforms. 

Once you have received a review, make sure you respond to all of them  (even if they’re negative) in a positive manner. You need to ensure you thank the reviewer for the feedback provided and address any concerns raised constructively. 

Reviews shouldn’t just be displayed on your GBP, as you can also feature the best reviews and testimonials on your website and social media. You could even create a dedicated “testimonials” section of your website. 

This is also a fantastic opportunity to use third-party tools to streamline the review generation process and easily request reviews from clients. 

Finally, don’t forget to create a review link. You can use Google’s resources to create a direct link to your GBP review section and include it in any emails you send that request a review. 

You could also use different tools to create a customized link, which can be advantageous for your business. If the review input is positive, the user will be redirected to your GBP page. If it is negative, it will simply ask for feedback and not direct the client to the GBP profile, saving your profile (and ranking) from poor reviews. 

What to Do If Your Law Firm Receive A Negative Review?

Even with your best efforts, receiving a negative review is unavoidable.  However, you shouldn’t panic, nor should you let your emotions get the best of you. 

Your first step should be to make contact with the reviewer. If you know who they are, give them a call and ask them to explain why they left a not-so-positive review. If you don’t know the reviewer, you may want to dispute the comment on the review platform.

From there, turn your focus to the positive reviews you have and aim to create more. One or two bad comments are not going to destroy your business, so get back on the horse and try to come back even stronger. 

4. Create Localized Blog Content 

By now, you will have noticed that most law firms worth their salt have some sort of blog on their website. However, you take this up a notch and incorporate it into your local SEO strategy by creating localized blog content. 

Localized content allows you to show local expertise and show potential clients that you understand the needs of the community around you. For example, a divorce attorney in Miami could write a blog titled “What is a Husband Entitled to in a Divorce in Florida?” 

A blog is also a good opportunity to cover local legal news and events. Sharing relevant news or events on your blog is a great way to engage with the local community and drive traffic to your page. 

You could also take this a step further by creating a series of blogs that cover your state or local laws. You could explain how specific local laws impact practice areas in your city to show your expertise and help clients to know their legal position. 

Tips on Doing Local Keyword Research

Step 1: Identify relevant service-based and blog keywords

With your team, brainstorm some law-related services you offer and the keywords that go with them. For example, if you are a family lawyer in Texas, jot down all the practice-specific services you offer under this umbrella, such as wills, family trusts, divorce, and child custody. 

From there, you can use keyword research tools such as Ahrefs or SEMrush or Google Keyword Planner to expand your list with extra modifiers like location, “lawyer,” and “attorney – e.g., texas family lawyer. 

You can also analyze competitor websites to see which keywords they are targeting on their homepage and website. 

Make sure you also identify relevant blog keywords as well, such as “how much does a family lawyer cost in texas.” Using tools like Ahref’s or Semrush, you can enter phrases like [your practice area + location] into the tool and filter by questions to get localized blog keywords. Repeat the process for all the practice area you serves.

Step 2: Check Search Volumes 

Using Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs, take time to understand local search volumes for your city or region.  Make sure you prioritize keywords with higher search volumes, however, don’t overlook their relevance to your firm’s specialization.

Step 3: Check for Local Intent

Local intent is very important when it comes to local SEO, and we recommend Googling your keywords to see if the search results include any map packs or local “blue link” results. Take time to focus on keywords with stronger local intent as these indicate that searches are looking for lawyers in your area. 

Step 4: Assign Keywords to Pages

Once you have completed your keyword research, your next step should be to identify which keywords you specifically target on your homepage, practice area pages, and blogs.

For keywords with a broader context, such as “texas family lawyer,” you should aim to target these on your homepage. Location-based keywords should be scattered throughout your website content, including in your metadata, H1 headings, and any other heading that is applicable. However, DO NOT keyword stuff your copy, as this can make it clunky and read in an odd manner. 

5. Optimize Your Homepage and Practice Area Pages for Local Search

Your local SEO strategy should prioritize optimizing the website homepage and practice area pages, as this will help you perform the best in local searches and get qualified leads.

One of the best techniques is to include your location (city or state) in key elements across your website, such as the:

• Title tags 
• Headers
• Page content within the practice area pages 
• Homepage

Here’s a visual representation of a well-optimized landing page for law firms:

When doing your website optimization, use local business schema markup and Attorney Schema to help search engines understand your key business information, such as your NAP, practice areas, and business hours. Doing this can greatly improve your visibility in local search results. You can also test your schema implementation using Google’s Structured Data testing tool. 

Additionally, you need to be thinking of your consumer when optimizing, so don’t forget that most people search for local services on their smartphones or tablets. Make sure your website is responsive and loads quickly no matter what type of device are accessing it. 

Furthermore, if you have multiple offices in your area, we advise that you create separate pages for each location that contains unique content, contact information, and local keywords. 

There are also several elements of your online presence that many people seem to forget about, but they are crucial for optimizing local SEO. Here are some common areas that we often have to remind our clients not to forget:

• Update title tags and meta tags: Make sure you include variations of your keywords and location in title tags and meta descriptions or add “near me” and “near you” to some of your LP copy. 
• Keyword placement: Don’t forget to include your target keywords and city in all your titles, meta tags, and H1 and H2 headings, as well as sparingly but naturally in your main content.
• Display NAP: Clearly display the name, phone number, address, and business hours of your firm on your website. You could also consider embedding a Google Map on your website to visually show clients your location and make it easier for them to find you. 

6. Build Local Backlinks

Building local backlinks should also be your top priority when employing a local SEO optimization strategy. 

Backlinks from reputable local websites boost your authority and act as a vote of confidence for your services. They also signal to search engines that you are a legitimate and trusted source of information, which can help boost your search result visibility.

A great way to build local backlinks is to collaborate with other local businesses to earn backlinks. You could also consider sponsoring local events or charities to get your firm listed on their websites. 

Another strategy that many of our clients have found success with is writing guest posts for local publications and blogs. This allows you to widen your audience while also earning backlinks to your website. 

You also shouldn’t underestimate the power of your local business associations. Joining your local Chamber of Commerce and participating in their events can lead to networking opportunities and further chances for backlinks. 

When building links, we recommend you do the following: 

• Use a wide variety of anchor text, including generic phrases (e.g., “click here”), URLs, and brand names, as well as exact matches for partial matches for keywords 
• Analyze your competitors’ backlinks to gauge the anchor text distribution in your local market 
• Sparingly use exact match anchor text to dodge over-optimization penalties. 

7. Leverage Social Media 

In this digital age, it would be a fatal mistake not to utilize social media, especially within the competitive law firm landscape.

Social media is a powerful tool that allows you to amplify your local presence and connect with your local community to build brand awareness. 

Here are some of the social media techniques for law firms that will allow you to make the most out of it:

• Post local content: Making posts about local events you’re participating in or sponsoring, or sharing articles about local legal issues is a great way to show you have your finger on the pulse of your local community and their needs. 
• Location tags: Don’t forget to add location tags in all your social media posts to increase your visibility in local searches. For example, if you are posting about a specific event in your community, tag the location of the event. 
• Promote local events and causes: Showing your support for local initiatives by promoting them on your social media allows you to build a deep connection and understanding of your local community, which contributes to your overall positive reputation. 
• Encourage engagement: Gently encourage your clients and partners to follow and engage with your content to increase your online presence and visibility in search results.

Along with the above techniques, here are some more general best practices that we recommend: 

• Consistently post and engage with your audience 
• Make sure the content you are sharing is valuable and resonates with your target audience 
• Encourage follower interaction by employing questions, polls, and prompt responses to comments 

8. Track and Measure Your Local SEO Performance 

Finally, you should not be setting and forgetting your local SEO strategy. After all, how are you going to know if it’s working, or if you need to make changes? 

Regularly monitoring and tracking your local SEO performance is key to understanding if your current strategy is working, or if it needs tweaking. 

Some of your key performance indicators (KPIs) that you should be keeping on top of include:

• Organic search traffic 
• Local search rankings 
• Website conversions 
• Online reviews 

You can use tools such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor user behavior, keyword rankings, website traffic, and other important metrics. 

You may also want to consider using other tracking tools, such as SEMrush, or Local Falcon, or Grid My Business, to track your keyword rankings in local search results over time for more targeted insights. 

Local SEO Tools

To get you started, here are some of our favorite local SEO tools to help you boost your firm’s online presence. 

Essential Keyword Research Tools 

The following are the best essential keyword research tools to help you be more strategic and targeted when it comes to your SEO plan:

• Ahrefs: As one of the top online marketing tools, Ahrefs provides a vast database of legal keywords and analyze their search volume, difficulty, and click potential. 
• SEMRush: SEMRush is another fantastic tool that allows you to do targeted keyword research for both organic search and paid advertising campaigns.
• UberSuggest: If you’re on a budget, this low-cost keyword research tool helps you generate keyword suggestions along with metrics such as search volume and SEO difficulty. It also tracks keyword performance over time
• Google Keyword Planner: A free and powerful tool from Google, helps you discover new keywords related to legal services and provides data on search volume trends and competition levels. It is particularly useful for planning Google Ads campaigns but can inform organic keyword strategies as well.

Managing Business Profile

These are the best online platforms to help you manage your business profile: 

• Google Business Manager: Formerly known as Google My Business, this is the platform that lets you directly manage your Google Business Profile 
• Third-party tools: If you want to take your profile management a step further, you can consider using tools such as Paige, Grid My Business, or Local Falcon (for rank tracking only). However, here at LaGrande Marketing, we are particularly fond of using GMBbriefcase, as our experience has shown this to be the best platform. 

Site Analytics 

If you’re looking to keep an eye on your site analytics, here are the best platforms to use;

• Google Search Console: This platform allows users to see how Google indexes and serves their websites, giving valuable insights that can help you tweak your SEO strategy to perfection 
• Google Analytics: If you want to gauge your ROI on your SEO plan and get a detailed analysis of your online performance, Google Analytics is the place to go.

Avoid Common Local SEO Mistakes 

SEO can be a challenging topic for many, and we have noticed that many of the clients who come to us for advice have made a common mistake. 

Here are some of the most common local SEO mistakes for you to keep in mind and aim to avoid as you embark on your SEO journey;

• Not claiming and fully completing your Google Business Profile listing: This can be detrimental to your SEO strategy, as well as the visibility of your business and the accuracy of your information on the internet. 
• NAP Inconsistency: Make sure your NAP information is consistent across every single platform that it appears on to avoid confusing potential clients and search engines. 
• Ignoring reviews: While it can be tempting to simply ignore reviews, they are the backbone of your online presence. You need to be actively engaging with and responding to online reviews to show you care about feedback and listen to your clients. 
• Keyword stuffing: Over “stuffing” your written content with too many exact match keywords can make the content seem jilted, wordy, and off-putting to the user, as well as detrimentally impacting your search engine ranking. 
• Not prioritizing website speed: You are making a big mistake if you are not ensuring your website is quick to load across all devices. Just a few seconds of lag can be enough for a client to click off your site and onto one that belongs to your competitors. 

Words from LaGrande Marketing 

When creating a local SEO strategy, there is so much to keep in mind. 

From GMB optimization, optimizing your web pages, engaging with social media, and enduring all content geared towards a local audience, it can be a lot to take on. 

However, implementing these key strategies will give you a solid foundation from which you can build on some of the more advanced techniques we have talked about. 

If the thought of local SEO is overwhelming and scary, don’t worry – we are here to help. The last thing we want is for you to get lost in the digital universe, which is why we urge you to take action today. If you’re hesitating about implementing these strategies yourself and want the steady guidance of an experienced hand, feel free to contact us here at LaGrande Marketing.

Our clients love our hands-off, results-driven approach that boosts SEO and gets you the success you deserve. If you’re looking for a helping hand, contact us today for a free consultation so we can discuss your law firm’s growth options.