Thursday, October 27, 2022
This is no secret Search Engine Optimization (SEO) works for many types of businesses. From restaurants to retailers to tech companies, any business that attracts customers through Google can benefit from SEO.
The same is true for law firms, as many lawyers generate clients directly through local marketing. If customers are looking for customers in their area, Google is often the first place they go to do their search.
But what are the tangible results of SEO for law firms? How do you measure if SEO is really “working” for a legal business?
In this guide, you’ll read about real-life case studies and statistics on how SEO works for law firms and how to use those same strategies to your advantage.
How SEO Works for Law Firms – Statistics
Recent legal SEO statistics support how SEO works for law firms. The proof is in the numbers. More and more law firms are turning to SEO as an effective marketing channel, and the results are amazing!
SEO was voted the most effective marketing channel for law firms.
A 2022 research study by Brandmuscle found that 79% of law firms Consider SEO as the most effective marketing channel. It’s no surprise, given that Google is the number one driver of organic traffic for all types of local businesses.
Companies that rank #1 on Google see an average click-through rate of over 30%.
The #1 result on Google Search has an average click-through rate (CTR) of 31.7%. This means that about a third of all users click on the first search result. SEO can help your law firm rank first and drive more traffic to your website.
Local and organic searches account for over 60% of all digital traffic.
Landmark search conducted a study of 500 location-based businesses and found that local and organic searches together account for 69% of all online traffic (organic search: 46.5% of website traffic; local search: 22, 6% of website traffic). Local businesses that employed local SEO through proximity-based optimization performed better in generating more website traffic.
Organic search drives 66% of law firm call conversions.
2021 analysis of Rules analysis found that organic search generates the most call conversions (i.e. phone calls) for the legal industry. In other words, users turn to organic search more than any other channel when it comes to contacting law firms directly by phone.
Directories are one of the main drivers of organic search traffic for local businesses.
Directories like Yelp, Google My Business, and YellowPages often appear in the top five organic search results, making them an important traffic driver for local businesses. In fact, Yelp appears in the top five locations of 92% of Google searches which include a city and company category.
Benefits of SEO for law firms
SEO brings many benefits to law firms, far beyond Google rankings. SEO is an effective marketing tool because it not only helps drive traffic, but can improve user experience, increase lead generation, get customer reviews, and more.
Local traffic generation
Your potential clients are using Google to find law firms in their local area. As the number one driver of organic traffic, you simply cannot ignore the power of Google. SEO allows you to optimize your website and local listings for the specific geographic and service keywords your potential clients use to find law firms like yours. This can help you stand out from your local competitors and drive more traffic to your website.
Phone calls and contacts
The Google Map Pack is a section of Google search results that highlights business contact information (address, phone number, etc.). This is prime real estate to get your business noticed and generate phone calls. If you’re comfortable with the Google Map Pack, you can generate phone inquiries and organic leads directly through your website.
Positive customer reviews
SEO helps make your law firm easier to find, which in turn makes it easier for satisfied clients to review your business. SEO not only helps you provide a platform to generate reviews, but also shows these reviews to potential customers. Having positive reviews can be a big factor in convincing customers to work with you over your competitors.
Better website experience
The technical principles of SEO ensure that your website provides a positive, interactive and device-friendly experience for users. SEO allows you to optimize your website for mobile devices, user experience, fast page speed and more. By embracing SEO, you can provide a better experience than getting users to work with you.
Social and email traffic
An optimized website makes your law firm more visible. It also gives users a destination for conversion through your email and social media campaigns. If you have an email newsletter, post on your blog, share content on Facebook, or use other social channels, your website provides a landing place for that traffic. Traffic from other channels can then be converted into new leads for your business.
See more: Benefits of SEO for law firms
Case Studies: SEO Working for Law Firms Today
These are real case studies and stories of how SEO works for law firms today. As an SEO Strategist for a law firm, I empower my clients to use SEO for traffic generation, lead generation, reviews, and more. Here’s how SEO is paying off for law firms now.
5x Keyword Placements for “Top Class Actions”
Top Class Actions’ goal was to rank for high-value keywords like “lawsuit attorney,” “class action attorney,” and other settlement-related terms. The law firm already reached millions of consumers, but wanted to take the top spot on more competitive terms.
First, we conducted an audit to identify and fix technical and basic web vital issues. We then adopted a robust content strategy to help the brand gain new competitive keyword inventory. We even moved the brand to the Google Analytics 4 (GA4) platform to provide better reporting, automation and deeper insights into your customer journey.
As a result of this SEO work, our client went from ranking 96,000 to almost 500,000 keywords. We’ve also massively improved the UX and overall performance of the website. This has resulted in more traffic, leads and cases for higher class actions.
Discovering Law Firm State Website Rankings
What does it take to rank for high value keywords like “personal injury attorney” or “DUI attorney”? This is a question many law firms ask, and one we constantly try to answer through data-driven SEO strategies.
So, to deepen our understanding of law firm digital marketing, we analyzed the organic rankings of nearly 16,000 law firm websites. The goal was to identify the factors that contribute to a page’s ranking for competitive keywords on Google.
This case study confirmed:
The most important ranking factors (number of entities on a page, entities in the title tag, user experience of the web page, inbound and outbound links, and web page script tags)
Top recommendations to improve your SEO ranking
The most popular legal industry websites in all locations
The impact of the content management system (CMS) on SEO
The Impact of Word Count and Content Depth on SEO
How title tags and using the word “best” in title tags can affect rankings
Overall, our findings validate most of what we know about SEO: that content is king, backlinks influence rankings, and Google values user experience factors. The findings hint at some of the signals Google pays attention to when ranking law firm websites.
Make SEO work for your law firm
It’s never too late to make SEO work for your law firm. SEO is one of the most impactful strategies for law firms today. Case studies, statistics and studies prove this to be the case. Now it’s just a matter of starting your own SEO strategy.
Fortunately, I have published my guide to How to plan an SEO strategy for your law firm. Use this as a framework for your SEO plan and then refine your strategy over time. Whether you take a DIY approach or work with a professional, I’m sure SEO will work for your law firm as long as you use data to your advantage.
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