8 Ways SEO Services Help Law Firms Grow

If doing your SEO research and writing on your own sounds like a mind-numbing task, that doesn't mean that you need to give up on great search rankings. In recent years, a number of SEO services have been developed to help companies get the search engine optimization results they want. Up to 80 percent of law firms that initially try to do search engine optimization on their own eventually outsource these responsibilities to an SEO service instead. Here are seven key duties that SEO services can perform for you, so that you can get back to the business of running your law firm.

#1: Keyword Research

What could be more boring than carefully researching dozens of variants on a single keyword or key phrase? Not much, which is why many law firms choose to leave keyword research to an SEO service instead of doing it alone.

SEO services can do extensive research into the kinds of keywords that are most likely to generate not only traffic to your site, but traffic that converts. It doesn't help to have great keywords for traffic generation if the conversions aren't happening, so your SEO service can help you map out “long tail” keywords including specialty areas of law or your exact geographic location.

#2: Content Creation

One of the best ways to do search engine optimization today is to have a blog that discusses relevant legal issues and links to your main firm website. Guest blogging can also provide you with more inbound links, which help your search engine results page (SERP) statistics.

But what if you don't have time to maintain a blog? Many attorneys are too busy to create their own blog content, and instead hire SEO services to blog for them. An SEO service can work with you to develop blog topics that will generate search engine attention and that will be likely to be linked by others.

While it's true that it's best for you to write your own search engine optimization content, SEO services provide a great alternative for attorneys on the go. An SEO service will also be able to make sure your blog continues uninterrupted, even if you go on vacation or are otherwise unable to make edits yourself.

#3: Social Media Integration

More and more search engine optimization efforts depend largely on social media. Some of the biggest bloggers in the SEO world are predicting that 2012 and 2013 will be when search and social begin to truly merge.

Even if you don't know the difference between “tweets” and “likes,” you can take advantage of social media by hiring an SEO service. SEO services can help you plan your social media presence based on your brand identity and their previous successful efforts.

#4: Long Term Planning

Great SEO services won't just help your law firm plan for today's SEO best practices, but also for tomorrow's. The people who work for your SEO service can keep an eye on the latest trends and upcoming changes to search algorithms so that you will always know about any changes before they happen.

Talk to SEO services about where they feel that the future of SEO is heading. You should choose between SEO companies based both on the results they can get you today and what they're planning for your firm's future.

#5: Niche Marketing

When you're new to search engine optimization, it can sometimes be hard to see the forest for the trees. SEO services can help you look at the bigger picture, including keywords and your local market, to help you identify possible marketing niches. Once your SEO service has identified a viable niche, you can choose to create a new website or landing page to take advantage of this new audience.

Because niche marketing allows for more specific long-tail keywords, it is extremely helpful in making your SERPs more prominent. You may find that your SEO service can identify niche markets you were already serving somewhat—you'll just know, now, to focus on those markets as a big potential source of revenue.

#6: Mobile Optimization

Mobile internet traffic is expanding greatly every year, and the last three years have each seen a doubling in the percentage of web traffic that comes from smartphones. What's more, these site visitors are much more likely to become conversions than people viewing websites from non-mobile devices. However, a traditional website will often display poorly on a smartphone.

That's where your SEO service comes in. SEO services can help you make your website mobile traffic friendly. You can use your SEO service to develop a fully mobile-optimized site, or just mobile landing pages to better attract these new, ready to convert web viewers.

#7: Going Local

More than ever, people are doing searches for law firms that are local to their area. These searches are also much more likely to lead to conversions. Getting your firm listed during local searches can be tricky, but SEO services can lend a hand. By identifying local directories (like Chamber of Commerce listings) and major search engine tools (like Google Places) where your website should be listed, your SEO service can guarantee that you are doing everything you can to generate traffic from local search keywords.

Local SEO can be extremely tedious and involve extensive data entry, so this is one of the better reasons to hire an SEO service. Once your listings are already set up, you may be better able to handle it on your own.

#8: Analytics and Data Collection

If you're not big on number crunching and statistical analysis, you may want to step back and let SEO services take charge. Analytics tools work best when they're handled by people who are experienced and know exactly what they're doing with your data.

Your law firm can identify key performance indicators that will help you decide whether a particular SEO strategy is working. The SEO service you hire will help you increase these KPIs substantially using the results of the data they collect from both on-site and off-site traffic.