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SEO Writing Tips for Lawyers

SEO Writing Tips for Lawyers

Are you constantly on the lookout for ways to improve your lawyer SEO? One way to improve lawyer SEO is by implementing content throughout your law firm website. However, you must have well-written valuable content for it to be an effective lawyer SEO marketing strategy. Not only does the website content provide users with valuable information, but it also improves lawyer search engine optimization (SEO). While writing content, it’s important to focus on two things:

  • Writing valuable content that provides potential clients with the answers they are looking for, or the resources for the services they need.
  • Well-written content that is search engine friendly, and written in a way that can be crawled by Google. 
So, the content on your law firm's website should be set up in a way that allows Google to recognize and crawl your site, and it should offer valuable information to clients with an easy-to-read approach. 

SEO Writing Tips for Lawyers

Here are SEO writing tips for lawyers to achieve this effective style of content writing. 

Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research prior to creating written legal content is crucial. In order to reach your intended audience, you need to have relevant keywords throughout the content on your lawyer website. This is how potential clients find your law firm.  In order for a webpage to reach your targeted audience, search engines need to recongize keywords on your lawyer website that are relevant to potential clients' search queries. In this regard, your lawyer website will display as a search result for web searchers. On the other hand, if your content doesn’t use relevant terms and phrases, it will not display for your targeted audience, and your lawyer website will not get traffic.  Topic and keyword research will consist of identifying popular topics in the legal industry, commonly asked questions, and important legal information. All of which are topics that your targeted audience is highly interested in. After identifying a specific topic, you need to find a few keywords that are relevant to this topic. From there, you can write about the topic and use these keywords when necessary.  A few tips when writing your lawyer content:
  • Consider specific phrases, long tail keywords, questions, etc. 
  • Include the main keyword in the title of the article, blog, or webpage
  • Include your keywords in headings and within the first paragraph of the content page
Additionally, it’s important to note that you must not use keywords sparingly. Only use the keywords where they fit in and flow in the content piece. Otherwise, search engines will catch on to the overly used keywords and interpret the content as a way to increase traffic as opposed to providing value. Furthermore, web users will quickly leave the webpage once they notice it does not provide them with value, and search engines will recognize the increased bounce rate which will hinder SEO efforts. 

Create Legal Content that is Relevant to Your Lawyer Website

The legal content you create must be relevant to your lawyer website, and of course, it must be relevant to your legal practice. For example, if you are a personal injury lawyer and write an article on drug possession charges, you may increase traffic, but it would be the wrong audience and would not increase leads, which is ultimately the end goal of publishing written content. Alternatively, if you are a criminal defense lawyer, this may be a topic to consider writing about.  Ensure the topics you write about and publish on your lawyer website are relevant to your law firm and the audience you are targeting. 

Consider Readability 

Once you have decided on a  topic and keywords your legal content will be written about, the next thing to consider is reliability. Essentially, this means providing a good user experience for clients by publishing easy-to-read content. The way in which web users perform will affect your lawyer SEO. Search engines monitor how users engage with content which can affect website performance.  If a search engine notices users do not engage with content, or do not spend a lot of time on a webpage, search engines will not display your website on search result pages. Focus on the following aspects of readability:
  • Keep the content concise and straight to the point
  • Organize your content and utilize headings, subheadings, bullet points, etc.
  • Insert relevant images that allow the reader to better understand the text
  • Do not overcomplicate things — use simple words and language that is easy to understand
Keep in mind — it is likely your targeted audience will be scanning the content they are reading instead of closely and carefully reading, especially mobile users, which is a majority of web users.  If users feel they are having a hard time understanding your content, they will look elsewhere. Alternatively, if the content on your lawyer website is easy to read and understand, organized in a manner that allows users to quickly scan the text, and is full of information, then your website traffic will increase, which improves lawyer SEO. 

Use Clever Subheadings

The heading on your content is important. As previously mentioned, you should include your main keyword in the heading. Furthermore, you should also create strong, clever subheadings. This is a method used to catch the attention of search engines.  Here are a few tips to create strong and clever subheadings:
  • Use strong action verbs within your subheadings
  • Ask commonly asked questions 
  • Introduce what the following paragraph summarizes
Subheadings are closely related to readability. Users will be scanning your content and you want to catch their attention so they remain on your legal website, or so they read enough to take further action to become a legal client. When users are scanning your content, you want to make sure the subheadings are interesting enough to catch their attention. 

Structure Your Legal Content for Featured Snippets

Featured snippets are snippets of content that Google displays for internet searchers as a search result. It provides users with valuable information from a specific webpage. Typically, snippets display search queries that ask a certain question, definition, or process.  Google pulls a snippet of content from a website that is displayed as one of the top search results and displays it on the search result page. It is displayed at the top of organic search results and below search ads. Featured snippets allow your website to not only be displayed as top search results but also showcase your content which can introduce your law firm to potential clients, increase lawyer website traffic and leads, and improve lawyer SEO.  Here are writing tips to consider when trying to get featured in a snippet on search results:
  • Include the answer to a question — be direct and straight to the point
  • Consider the length of the answer, directions, process, etc — keep it short
  • Provide as much information as you can within a small explanation
  • Use headings and subheadings to provide direction and structure to web searchers who are searching for answers. 
  • Use longtail keywords 

Add Images to Your Lawyer Website

While writing legal content, you may find it hard to get your point across. One way to improve your writing for lawyer SEO is by including images that support the text and better explain the content. This can be images, videos, graphs, etc. Visuals help website traffic easily understand the text. However, make sure you do not go overboard with images. Ensure you are still providing valuable information and using keywords throughout your legal content. Images and visuals are used to support content, not replace it. 

Include Internal Links

Internal links are used as a resource and direct users to another webpage of your lawyer website. It is likely you mention topics within one content piece that could result in more questions or a whole other conversation. However, going into further discussion about this topic may digress the article. Because of situations like so, it's important to have a blog on your legal website that addresses different topics.  For example, a family law attorney writes an article discussing the process of child custody. Within the article, he mentions child support, a topic that should be addressed but would be too long to discuss in the article that is focusing solely on the process of child custody. However, child support is still an important topic. So, in the child custody process article when the author mentions child support, he includes a direct link that upon clicking on, directs users to an in-depth article regarding child support. Internal links can improve your lawyer SEO and it helps search engines find relevant content on your website. It is important to include links only where necessary. 

Use and Cite Statistics

If you are writing content that is answering a question or references factual information, ensure you are citing statistics and facts. Cite information only if it is relevant. Do not use citations if it is not relevant to the text. When users are reading your content and are able to refer directly back to a website that provides evidence and backs up your content, they will better understand the content and have a better idea of where the information came from. Furthermore, they will begin to trust you and your law firm. Search engines will also recognize the hard work you have put forth in your content on your lawyer website which can put you in front of your competitors. When referencing resources, include a direct link to the source.

Follow Best Practices for SEO

It is important to follow best practices for SEO when writing content. However, if your entire website is not optimized for search engines, then the content you created may not do the job you had hoped for. Essentially, there is no point in writing SEO-focused content, if the rest of your website is not SEO-focused. Here are important SEO factors to consider:
  • Website speed
  • Mobile friendly website
  • HTTP implementation
  • Include alt tags in images
  • Meta title optimization
  • Description optimization
It is important to note SEO factors that you need to be on the lookout for. Avoid the following:
  • Having too large images 
  • Too many popups 
  • Technical issues such as page errors and slow responses
Use Google Search Console to make sure your lawyer website is being indexed and to make sure there aren't any issues getting in the way of crawlers accessing your site.

Make Sure Blogs and Articles are Long Enough

We previously mentioned the importance of keeping legal content simple, concise, and straight to the point, however, this is not always the case. The content throughout your lawyer website is very important. Furthermore, it is also very important to publish weekly blogs, or articles, on your lawyer website.  Legal blogs and articles increase the chances of your website reaching its potential audience. They provide website visitors and potential clients with valuable information and direct them directly to your law firms contact information.  For blogs and articles, you want them to be lengthy. Of course, they need to be full of valuable information. Do not elaborate on a topic that doesn’t need it. If a specific topic is straight to the point, that is okay. Write at least 600 words for the topics that don’t offer much room for discussion.  Contrarily, if there is room for elaboration, aim for blogs to be between 1,000-2,000 words. Search engines will notice your website if it has valuable blogs or articles. 

Promote Your Legal Content

Promoting your legal content can go a long way. After you have written and published your content, promote it online. Post it on social media platforms with a high-quality image, hashtags, and a captivating headline to receive clicks and increase engagement and impressions.   Promoting your legal content online is a great way to spread awareness, increase visibility, and direct users to your lawyer website With the power of social media, you can reach your targeted audience. As your social media platform grows, so will your website traffic. Ensure you are promoting your legal content across various platforms to drive traffic to your website. 

Recap 

Writing efficient SEO-focused content can be a challenge. There are many different SEO factors to consider. Your legal content must be easy-to-read, valuable, organized, and SEO-friendly for it to reach your targeted audience.   Attract search engines and potential clients to your lawyer website with the above-mentioned SEO writing tips for lawyers.  Here are the SEO writing tips for lawyers that we discussed:
  • Conducts keyword research
  • Create legal content that is relevant to your lawyer website
  • Consider Readability
  • Use clever subheadings
  • Structure your legal content for featured snippets
  • Add images to your lawyer website
  • Include internal links
  • Use and cite statistics
  • Follow best practices for SEO
  • Make sure your blogs are long enough
  • Promote your legal content

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