Our data-driven law firm SEO strategies have helped dozens of law firms increase the number of qualified potential new clients and online visibility.
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When you partner with 9Sail, we begin by gaining a comprehensive understanding of your firm’s unique identity, target audience, and competitive markets. Our team conducts in-depth research to identify the most relevant and high-performing keywords and phrases that will resonate with your potential clients, and we’ll perform a comprehensive site audit to understand where your website currently stands. By delving into the intricacies of your practice area and geographic reach, we create a solid foundation for optimizing your law firm’s website, content, and online presence.
Our law firm SEO experts employ a range of techniques to ensure that your firm stands out among the sea of competitors. From comprehensive on-page optimization that includes keyword-rich content, metadata optimization, and user-friendly website structure to off-page SEO strategies such as high quality link building and reputation management, we leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of improving your organic search visibility.
But our dedication doesn’t stop at driving traffic to your website. We understand that the ultimate goal is to convert visitors into clients. That’s why our approach includes enhancing the user experience, ensuring intuitive navigation, and optimizing landing pages to maximize lead generation and client acquisition.
Explore our SEO success stories to see how we boosted search rankings, generated more cases, and supported law firms in growing their practices.
The team, especially Taylor, has been responsive, receptive, and really cares about personalizing the experience. When you’re looking for a partnership, 9Sail delivers.
Sarah Jacobs
Co-Founder of Jacobs Berger
“9Sail has always been responsive, and they help us navigate tricky situations. Our site’s traffic and inquiries have dramatically soared. Thank you!”
Shannon Quinn
Marketing Manager at Hansen & Rosasco
“We’ve seen significant improvements in our traffic, leads, and search engine rankings. 9Sail impressed me with their organized approach. They continually deliver items on time.”
Director of Marketing
National Boutique Healthcare Law Firm
“The 9Sail team are smart, knowledgeable, and responsive. They’ve been tremendously helpful with our SEO and we’ve seen great results from their work. I highly recommend them.”
Lesley Brovner
Co-founder of Peters Brovner LLP
SEO is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and gaining more website traffic in the process. SEO is a complex and ever-changing process that requires constant attention.
Law firms can have a challenging time with SEO, as they have to compete with countless other law firms, legal blogs, and legal websites for organic search rankings. In this section, we will explore the building blocks of SEO for law firms so you can optimize your website’s SEO strategy accordingly.
SEO can be divided into three major elements: content marketing, link building, and technical SEO. We’ll dive into each of these a bit more below.
Content marketing is an important part of a law firm’s marketing strategy. It’s one of the most effective ways for lawyers to attract new clients and grow their practice areas. To be successful in content marketing, law firms need to create high-quality content that caters specifically to their target audience and that audience’s intent – or where along the buyer’s journey they are.
Here are seven examples of the most popular different types of content used in content marketing:
Link building is the process of acquiring inbound links to your website. It is important to understand that this process can be done in a variety of ways and there are no set rules when it comes to link building. However, one thing you should always keep in mind is that you must provide value for the site that you’re asking to link back to you. You can do this by providing them with relevant content offering valuable insight to their readers or subscriber base.
There are many reasons why link building is important for law firms, including the following:
Technical SEO refers to website and server optimizations that help search engines crawl, index and rank your site more efficiently. It is important to consider because it directly impacts the performance of your site in the SERPs. One of the most critical technical SEO factors for law firms is making sure your website loads quickly, which can be accomplished by using a CDN, caching and minification.
Other important activities related to technical SEO include:
The legal industry is highly competitive. And to outperform a bevy of direct and ancillary search competitors ranging from peer firms to legal publications and bar associations, law firms need to make sure that they are using the best SEO strategies and tools.
To most effectively cut through the noise in this complex environment, the SEO strategy of a law firm should be based on, and tailored to, the unique nature of the firm’s practice. For example, a small boutique law firm can benefit from SEO by focusing on local rankings and generating leads through organic search. On the other hand, larger national firms might want to focus on more complex strategies like link building or content marketing. These foundational firmographic nuances also give rise to the need for very tailored, concerted target keyword pursuits since you can easily exhaust an SEO budget by pursuing too broad a range of target keywords.
In short, there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to law firm SEO and only experts specializing in the industry like 9Sail can develop a strategy taking into account the specifics of your practice, its desired target audience and the current search landscape.
No matter what type of law you practice, from elder law to business law, search engine optimization should never be an overlooked piece of your law firm’s marketing strategy. But why? What can SEO for lawyers really do? Well, for starters, organic search drives over 50% of website traffic (and, honestly, that percentage is just going to keep rising in the digital age). Website traffic equals visitors to your website, and each visitor to your website is a potential lead that could convert into a new client. This, in turn, means a new case that’ll result in more revenue, and so on.
Essentially, a targeted, meticulously planned and well-executed SEO strategy will increase traffic to your law firm’s website while boosting quality inbound leads that have a greater chance of converting into clients. Yes, other methods of traditional and digital marketing (like print and social media) should also be incorporated into your firm’s overall marketing strategy. However, implementing search marketing components like SEO and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is the ultimate key to ensuring that your firm achieves its goals.
There are many metrics used to gauge SEO performance, such as keyword rankings, organic website traffic, site authority, and generated leads. By combining the data from a variety of free and paid tools with internal firm information, you’re able to identify how many leads came from SEO efforts, how many of those leads turned into cases, and what the value of the cases was. The ultimate goal is to calculate ROO/ROI.
This is why transparency is critical when you’re working with a law firm SEO agency. The agency should be able to provide clear insights into how your SEO budget is being used and how your website is performing organically.
Law firms may spend anywhere from $500 to $20,000+ per month on SEO, depending on their goals and target audience. Costs vary based on the scope of work and market size. The budget should reflect factors such as desired ROI, practice area competitiveness, and service costs. Quality SEO is an investment in consistent traffic, client acquisition, and long-term growth. Results typically take 3-9 months, depending on the firm’s history with SEO and market competitiveness. For faster outcomes, firms can supplement with Google Ads while SEO efforts build momentum.
Paid ads can be an excellent supplement to any SEO campaign, whether it’s with traditional PPC ads or Local Service Ads. SEO is known as a long game. It can take months to begin reaping the benefits of your efforts. Ads, on the other hand, offer almost immediate results that can be further refined along the way. This allows law firms to generate more leads and revenue while their SEO metrics continue to improve.
Even if your law firm’s SEO is peaking and bringing in a satisfactory amount of leads, paid ads can still be beneficial to capture more real estate on search engine results pages. Google is constantly changing the look and order of these pages, so showing up in multiple sections is an effective way to ensure your firm is seen.
When choosing an SEO agency for your law firm, consider their track record, reviews, and industry specialization. Look for case studies that demonstrate their ability to boost rankings, traffic, and client acquisition. Reviews on platforms Google offer insights into client satisfaction and reputation. Referrals from trusted peers in the legal industry can also help identify reliable agencies.
Working with an agency that specializes in law firm SEO is essential. Agencies like 9Sail understand the unique challenges and opportunities in the legal market, crafting targeted strategies that resonate with your audience. Whether optimizing for local searches or building national/global campaigns, this expertise ensures your firm stands out online and drives measurable results.
Optimizing Your Law Firm’s Website Structure for SEO
November 19, 2024
Website structure, also known as website architecture, is often one of the most overlooked aspects of SEO for law firms. Perhaps this is due to the widely acknowledged concept that “content is king”. While content will always be one of…
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