Seasonal SEO for Law Firms: How to Adjust Your Strategy for Down Times

Date: December 5, 2024

During the Holiday Season, a period characterized by celebration, introspection, and quality time spent with loved ones, law firms often experience a notable decline in both website traffic and the generation of potential clients. This trend is commonly observed during the summer months as well, as individuals prioritize vacations, family time, and other leisure activities while the weather is nice. So, how can your firm capitalize on seasonal SEO to make your strategy stronger than ever? 

In this blog, we will explore strategies for adjusting your SEO strategy during down times, ensuring your law firm remains competitive and poised for success.

Seasonality in SEO For Law Firms 

Seasonality in SEO refers to the fluctuations in organic search traffic that law firms experience throughout the year. For law firms, seasonality is often influenced by factors such as:

  • Legal Calendar: Certain times of the year, such as tax season or the start of a new school year, may see an increase in demand for legal services. For example, January is considered Divorce Month, so Family Law firms are typically busier than normal. 
  • Holidays: Most law firms experience a slowdown during major holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. 
  • Economic Conditions: A recession or economic downturn can lead to a decrease in demand for legal services.

Law firms need to be aware of seasonality in SEO so that they can adjust their strategies accordingly. By understanding when traffic and demand for the legal services your firm offers are typically higher or lower, you can allocate your resources more effectively and target your SEO efforts to reach the right people at the right time.

Five Ways to Adjust Your Legal SEO Strategy For Down Times

While it’s true that down times in SEO can lead to a decrease in traffic and conversions, they can also present opportunities for law firms to improve their online presence and prepare for future growth. When you are experiencing down time, it’s important to make adjustments to your SEO strategy to stay ahead of the competition and plan for the future when things begin to pick up again. We’re going to dive into five ways you can adjust your legal SEO strategy for down times to maximize your SEO efforts for the greatest opportunity of success. 

Perform a Conduct Audit 

When things are slow, one opportunity your firm can capitalize on is performing a content audit. This involves analyzing all of the current content on your website. It may be best to go section by section to make the process feel less daunting. For example, start by reviewing all the practice area pages on the site. Once those have all been analyzed, move on to your blogs. 

When conducting your content audit you should be sure to check the following: 

  • Traffic – How many people are visiting this page on a monthly basis? How many people have visited this page within the last 3 or 6 months? What channels are bringing the most traffic to this page? 
  • Engagement – How long are people spending on this page? Are they interacting with anything on the page? 
  • Conversions – Are people filling out a contact form or calling the firm from this page? 
  • On-Page SEO – Does this page have relevant internal linking? Does this page target the appropriate keywords? 
  • Target Audience Alignment – Is this page speaking to the correct target audience? 
  • Relevancy – Is the information on this page up to date with current laws and information? 

We recommend two tools to help you grab actual data pertaining to the aforementioned metrics: GA4 (Google Analytics) and Google Search Console. These tools will allow you to analyze traffic, engagement, and conversions. 

Content Updates and Creation

If there are certain pages on your site that you know need to be updated due to changing laws or any other circumstances during down time, it is a good time to do so. It’s also wise to utilize your down time to create your content. For example, if you notice you have a slow period during the holiday season, use that time to catch up or get ahead on creating new content. 

This is also relevant if you conduct a content audit– if, during your audit, you found that you have existing content that needs to be updated or refreshed, you can take this time to do so. 

Run a Site Audit 

Running a site audit is a way to achieve “quick wins.” This will allow you to identify any technical issues with your site that you can fix to help improve the health of your website overall. Examples of this include finding 4xx errors, assessing PageSpeed, and ensuring Core Web Vitals are being passed.  

Two great tools for running a site audit are SemRush and Ahrefs. 

Refresh Your Google Business Profile 

During moments of downtime, consider reviewing your Google Business Profile(s) to ensure all information is current. This is crucial because Google may sometimes automatically add services to your profile, warranting regular audits, since the services they automatically add may not necessarily pertain to your firm. This will also allow you to notice if any relevant services are missing. For example, if the firm added a new practice and it is not yet reflected on the profile, you’ll want to add it. 

Strategize For the Coming Months or the Following Year 

While you are experiencing down times, you have an excellent opportunity to begin strategizing and planning for the coming months or year ahead. This is especially true if you decide to conduct a content audit– you can begin planning what you want to do with all the data you collected from that audit, whether that be scheduling when you want to refresh older content or even post new content. 

Using down time to refine your overall SEO strategy will allow you to remain agile and stay ahead of your competitors. During this process, start to think about your goals, both for the firm as a whole and goals that relate directly to your SEO strategy. For example, is the firm’s goal to expand its Elder Law practice or increase leads from the estate planning page by a certain margin? These are all questions that you can ask yourself during down times to begin planning for the months ahead. That way, when things do get busy again, you already have your strategy laid out and can follow it with little excess energy. 

Stay on Top of  Seasonal SEO For Your Law Firm With Guidance From 9Sail 

Staying on top of seasonal SEO and SEO trends in general can be hard, especially when your firm is juggling other marketing responsibilities. That’s why we always recommend leaning on a trusted SEO partner like 9Sail. We can help guide your law firm through seasonal SEO challenges to ensure your firm comes out on top. Contact us today to learn more about our SEO for law firms, and how our team can help your firm grow, whether that be through SEO, PPC, content marketing, or digital PR.