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Originally Posted On: https://bippermedia.com/8-common-seo-mistakes-for-lawyers-and-how-to-avoid-them/
Did you know that 80% of people look up a potential business online before visiting it? If you’re hoping to pull new clients into your law firm, you need an online presence that’s polished — and effective. That means creating a marketing plan that uses SEO and keywords effectively. Stay with us to learn about 8 common SEO mistakes for lawyers and how to avoid them!
1. Not Investing in a Marketing Plan
Marketing law firms online requires having a robust and intentional marketing plan. When you’re reviewing your business plan, make sure you’ve made room for one.
Assign personnel to maintain a website and active social media presence that makes the most of SEO. If you try to manage an SEO strategy on top of your full-time job, you’ll start to neglect it quickly. A good SEO strategy requires ongoing research, updates, and data reviews.
2. Choosing Poor Keywords
Wondering how SEO works? SEO, or search engine optimization, relies on using relevant keywords to attract an audience. And you’ll need to spend time researching keywords that target the demographics you hope to serve.
You don’t want keywords that are too broad. For example, if you operate a bankruptcy firm based in Cincinnati, using keywords like law firm won’t be specific enough. And if you’re hoping to focus on clients within a certain radius of where you live, keywords that don’t specify your location won’t connect with the right audience.
That’s why it’s critical to have a local SEO strategy. With an effective local SEO strategy, you’ll be able to see your firm pop up in Google’s local search results. How do you get started?
Include the location and contact info for your business on each page of your website. Create a listing on Google My Business so you can improve your ranking in the search engine results. And link to other local businesses or entities in your web copy.
3. Overusing Keywords
Once you have established a few primary keywords and secondary keywords, you need to weave them into your content. But don’t overdo it.
Resist the temptation to pack those keywords into every sentence. Stuffing your blog posts and tags with keywords won’t fool search engines like Google. If you use keywords in a way that doesn’t seem natural and authentic, your site won’t rank as high.
4. Writing Weak Content
A blog can be a great way to generate more views on your website, but it needs to contain good content. Fluffy content won’t rank as well — and it won’t help your credibility as a legal resource. Instead, craft blog posts that cover legal terms and processes that can help potential clients.
You might write about malpractice lawsuits or the steps needed to handle sexual harassment cases. Or, if you’re an estate planning attorney, you can add your keywords to posts about writing wills. Informative content will let you show off your expertise while providing an easy space to sprinkle keywords.
And remember that SEO and social media should work together. That is, you’ll want to include relevant keywords and rich content on all social media posts, too. Aim to create a presence on at least two social media platforms and post engaging content every weekday.
5. Building a Website That Loads Slowly
No matter how well you’ve integrated SEO into your website, it won’t matter if your website loads slowly. Yes, Google also considers the amount of time it takes for your website to load in its algorithm. That’s because Google knows that most people don’t have the patience to wait for a slow-loading website.
Start by looking for large images that are taking too long to load. Resize and compress them for better results. Additionally, you should get rid of unnecessary plugins and trim the fat from your website’s code for faster load times.
6. Ignoring Analytics
Marketing law firms online takes patience — and a willingness to be critical of your strategy. To move forward and gain more clients, you need a marketing plan that’s generating clicks. Most search engines, websites, and social media platforms offer access to analytics where you can see if your efforts are producing results.
While it’s easy to set up an ad campaign or website and walk away, you shouldn’t do that. You may be using outdated or imprecise keywords in your SEO strategy. And if that’s the case, you probably aren’t generating the traffic you need to grow your client roster.
7. Overlooking Indexing Issues
It’s not enough to have a law firm website. To get the most from the site and your SEO, you need to ensure that search engines, like Google, can index your site. This means that your site needs to be logically organized with internal links and clear sitemaps.
When your website is orderly, it’s much easier for search engine bots to find the info on your website and share it with search engine users. Check to ensure that all internal links are functional and keep content unique rather than repetitive. Websites with a flat structure and bread crumbs on each page will be easier to index.
8. Failing to Address Tags and Descriptions
Once you understand SEO and keywords, it’s easy enough to sprinkle them into copy and posts on your website. But don’t forget about other elements of your website, like tags and descriptions.
For instance, tags are like headlines that give a user a sense of what your website is about. They’re also small places where you can embed primary and secondary keywords. Consequently, you need to be certain that each page on your site has a distinct tag.
Likewise, creating strong descriptions with keywords will improve your click-through rate and SEO. You’ll also be providing a service to the reader since descriptions can indicate what’s on the site. You may want to indicate the specific types of law you practice, for instance.
Avoid SEO Mistakes for Lawyers
If you know the common SEO mistakes for lawyers, it’s easier to avoid them. Focus on developing a comprehensive marketing plan that prioritizes SEO-rich and engaging content.
Then take the time to look at analytics to see if your strategy is resulting in increased web traffic. If it isn’t, make changes to your keywords and website structure to create better visibility.
Ready to build a winning SEO strategy? Contact us and we can help.
