Optimizing Your Law Firm Content for Google

Date: February 7, 2023

When creating content for your law firm’s website, you’re really writing for two audiences: potential clients and search engines. These two audiences rely on each other – search engines want to display content that is helpful for human users, and potential clients can only find your law firm if search engines want to show you at the top of their results pages. To increase your law firm’s online presence, adhere to the content guidelines that Google presents in order to be seen by your optimal audience, and make sure your law firm’s voice is heard.

Create Original Content

The first way to optimize your content for Google is to ensure that it is unique. While there are very few new ideas on the internet, there are always ways to present them that are distinctive and individualized to your law firm. The benefits of creating original content is twofold. First, your potential clients will have a sense of who your law firm is – the legal services you offer and the way your law firm approaches them. 

Second, original content is key for optimizing your law firm website for search engines. Websites like Google notice websites whose content is duplicated elsewhere on the internet, and punish those sites by not displaying your content on the search engine results pages (SERPs). Ensure that your content is seen by taking fresh, original takes on your law firm’s areas of expertise.  

Relevance is Key

Search engines have the primary goal of showing users exactly what they’re seeking. Make sure your blog posts and practice area pages are seen by making them as relevant as possible to what your potential clients are searching for. Are there common questions that your new clients always ask? What are patterns and trends that you’ve noticed during your years of practice? You’re not creating content for content’s sake – both your reader and the search engines want to see that you’re talking about what you know best. 

Incorporate Keywords

In digital marketing, you’ll often hear about search engine optimization (SEO). This is the practice of, as the name suggests, optimizing your website content for Google and other search engines in order to be seen by the right eyes and generate qualified leads. 

One feature of SEO is keyword research and use, which involves discovering what words and phrases are most relevant to your business and utilizing them to help search engines recognize your content as germane to related searches. Readers can tell when keywords are shoehorned in without care for their relevance, so endeavor to include keywords in ways that are natural and useful for the content you’re presenting. 

Keep Length in Mind

While Google has never released an official recommended word count, it is currently best practice to aim for your content to be around 2000 words in length. This does not mean that you must hit 2000 words every time you post content on your law firm’s website – this is based more on the principle that you’re more likely to answer the potential client’s question if you create longer content. That being said, there’s no reason to add length for length’s sake – if your point is made in 1000 strong words of content, that’s much better for your ranking than 2000 words of filler. All told, Google seems to prefer content that is thorough, which tends to be a little longer. 

Make Sure Your Page Functions Well

Like your users, Google also cares about the functionality of your website. Ensure that your content is posted in an environment that runs quickly and efficiently on all devices. When Google recognizes that your website works well for users and meets all privacy and security requirements, it can more quickly index your content. Indexing means that your content will be able to show up in search engine results, which puts it in front of potential clients. In the case of your content, website functionality directly equates to generating qualified leads. 

Incorporate Images, Videos, and Links

Google loves features that enhance the user experience. The use of media like images and videos that support your written content is more likely to hook your audience and keep them on your page to learn more about your firm. In fact, research suggests that content that utilizes relevant images gets 94% more views. Google recognizes how helpful images and videos can be, and rewards content that incorporates them. 

Similarly, incorporating links can be a very powerful resource. Connecting, for example, a blog back to a relevant practice area page can help to establish credibility and show Google that you understand the topic. This can also help generate leads, as this internal linking keeps potential clients on your site for longer as they dig deeper into your wealth of knowledge. While you shouldn’t spam your content with internal and external links, incorporating some relevant pages can make a big difference in how authoritative your content looks to Google. 

Maintain Consistency

Google wants to direct users to websites that are current and actively in use to ensure that all information provided is up-to-date. While “evergreen” content is great to have as a strong support for your law firm’s website, posting new content regularly keeps your website fresh, demonstrates that you have a strong grasp on what’s currently happening in your industry, and shows Google that you are actively engaged and working in your practice area. 

Are you interested in generating quality content for your law firm’s website that is user- and Google-approved? 9Sail is an SEO company that is ready to help take your law firm’s digital marketing plan to the next level. Contact us.