On-Page SEO for Lawyers

When your pages are more visible in search results, your chance of attracting new customers and potential customers increases exponentially. On-Page SEO for SEO for law firms helps ensure that happens to you.

As a lawyer, SEO marketing may not seem that important, but it is! We also know that, for an attorney, SEO marketing is not their area of expertise. While most law firms don’t have the resources for such an undertaking, a reliable SEO agency for Law Firms is a good solution.

Understanding Attorney SEO Marketing

There are three general types of SEO that must be effectively addressed to win the race for page one on Google or Bing. These include On-Page, Off-Page, and Technical SEO.

On-page SEO

Search engines can’t see a page as a human does. Search engines can only view the page’s source code. You’ve probably seen an option to view the code of any webpage if you right-click on “source”. What you see will appear messy if you aren’t familiar with HTML code, but search engines use that mess to find clues.

Our apologies to any web developers who are reading this. However, a lawyer, SEO, and clients go together.  Anyone dealing with your company’s web content needs to be familiar with HTML tags in order to understand SEO for Attorneys.

You will find these tags in the source code for a page: Anything between < and > is HTML. Text within the < > tells search engines and browsers how to render information between the tags. These tags and the information that they contain can be modified on-page to make search engines see the pages and produce the right types of searches you are aiming for.

On-page SEO is about finding the right balance between providing the correct information to search engines and not compromising what your customers see on the page. 

Off-page SEO

The backlink is the most popular Off-page SEO strategy. The theory behind the backlink was first introduced in Google’s early versions. It was believed that if a link from another website to yours was created; it was a sign that the website was popular. Higher rankings should be given to pages with more backlinks. Each backlink can also be weighted based on how popular the site is that’s linking to you.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is a catch-all category for any SEO improvements that do not fall under one of the two other categories. These are changes that affect the code behind your website’s pages. 

An In-depth Look at On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is more than just publishing high-quality, relevant content. It also includes optimizing your titles, HTML tags (titles, meta, and head), and images. This also includes ensuring your website is trustworthy, authoritative, and knowledgeable. That is accomplished by employing the best SEO services for attorneys.

Why On-Page SEO is Important

Because search engines can understand your website and identify relevant content for their query, on-page SEO is essential.

Search engines are becoming more sophisticated and there is an increased focus on relevance and semantics on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Google is much more proficient with its many complex algorithms than it was before.

• It is important to understand what users actually search for when they type their queries.
• Search results that apply to user intent (informational shopping, navigational).

It is crucial you adapt your law firm SEO services to these changes. You can do this by optimizing your website and content according to the most recent best practices.

10 key areas in improving your content and authority as part of our On-page SEO strategy

These 10 areas are key to improving your content and authority, as well as increasing traffic and conversions.

1. E-A-T – Expertise Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness

Google raters use E-A-T to evaluate content creators, websites, and the entire web. It has always placed a premium upon high-quality content and rewards sites with superior content. Sites with low-quality content are less visible

It is clear that Google’s highest-quality content has a direct relationship with what you see in search results. E-A-T plays a big part in Google’s organic search results. 

2. Title Tag

The title tag is an HTML tag found in the head section of each webpage. It offers a preliminary clue or provides context about that page. It is highly featured on search engine result pages (most often as a clickable link), and in the browser window.

3. Meta Description

Meta descriptions have been an essential optimization point since the inception of SEO. Google claims meta descriptions don’t improve rankings. However, evidence suggests that better descriptions improve search results.

Optimizing your meta description can improve:

• Click-through rate
• Perception of the quality and value of your content

4. Headlines

Do you want your website content to rank well in search results? Then write compelling headlines. Although it might seem simple to come up with a title, a good headline can make or break a blog post.

To make your headline stand out, it must spark interest. This will encourage users to click on to continue reading the content.

5. Header Tags

H1-H6 tags are HTML elements that differentiate headings from subheadings in your content. While header tags aren’t as necessary as they once were for site rankings, they still serve a valuable purpose for users and your lawyer SEO marketing.

These can have an indirect impact on your rankings by:

• Making your content more accessible and enjoyable for readers.
• Providing search engines with context that is keyword rich.

6. SEO Writing

Attorney SEO writing is about content that users and search engines can use. Writing solid SEO content requires a strategy–it’s not just keyword research.

Remember – You are writing content for people, not their computer or smartphone, so it is important to be relevant, high-quality, and substantial.

7. Avoid Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization is a practice that targets a single term on multiple pages and can have disastrous effects on your SEO. If you have multiple pages that rank for the same keyword, you are actually competing with your own pages.

8. Content Audit

Content creators tend to be so focused on creating new content, that they neglect to review their existing content. 

It is important to audit your content and assess whether your content is meeting its goals and generating ROI. A content audit can also help you determine if the content you have is accurate, outdated, or stale.

Regular content audits can help improve your SEO strategy.

9. Image Optimization

Images can make your website more attractive, but they must be optimized properly to make them a valuable SEO resource.

Image optimization offers many benefits, including:

1. Additional ranking options (show up in Google Images Search).
2. Better user experience.
3. Faster Page loading times.

Images should not be considered an afterthought. Images should be used to support your content. Use descriptive titles and alt texts.

10. User Engagement

It’s difficult to keep users engaged, but it is possible. Increase user engagement by focusing on their experience, site speed, content optimization, and user experience.

Understanding UX Signals

Google uses UX signals to measure user behavior patterns and determine how they experience your site.

Here is a helpful video that explains the relationship between SEO and UX, as well as UX best practices.

Click-through rate (CTR) and bounce rate are two of the most important behavioral metrics. These metrics can have a major impact on your rankings, so it is important to learn what UX signals are and how you can use them to your advantage.

Click-Through Rate

CTR (click-through-rate) is a percentage that describes the number of people who click on a link to visit a page. This percentage is calculated by subtracting the number of clicks on a link to your site from the number of views it has received. Your CTR is the sum of clicks and impressions. High CTR indicates users find your content description relevant and useful.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who land on your site and leave immediately without ever interacting with your content. It is simply the sum of all sessions divided by single-page sessions. 

For several reasons, a high bounce rate can negatively affect your rankings. 

Why UX Signals are Important

These signals are important because they tell you a lot about how quality information is provided on your website. High-quality content that is relevant to their search terms will increase visitors’ willingness to stay longer on your site. You can see which pages are performing well and which need improvement by looking at your CTR and your bounce rate.

Your CTR can be used to determine which pages or posts perform well. 

• What’s your content about? 
• What is your content about? How helpful is your content to visitors? 
• Are there images and videos that are helpful and relevant?

Optimize your Mobile-Friendly Design

Mobile-friendly design is a must if you want to maximize your Legal website SEO.

Nearly two-thirds (or more) of Americans now own a smartphone. Web applications for mobile devices continue to grow in popularity. 10% of US smartphone users don’t have access to the internet beyond their devices. Experts estimate mobile data traffic will increase fivefold to 49 gigabytes in 2021.

Attorney web design must be a leader in mobile-friendly design. INC.com reports that 40% of users will abandon websites that take more than three seconds to load. Many people place more importance on aesthetics than functionality when building websites. This can lead to major problems when it comes time to load the website.

SEO for law firms is essential. If you need help with your legal website and SEO attorney marketing, call the experienced team at Law Firm Sites.