Family law firms are quickly adapting their marketing strategies around the effectiveness of divorce lawyer SEO.

Here’s a stat to think about: 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine. That’s a massive pool of potential clients you could be missing out on.

In simpler terms, every good law firm marketing plan includes law firm SEO.

That includes things like:

• Creating engaging content
• Keyword research
• Linkbuilding
• Reviews & citations

In this article, we’ll take you through the key elements of divorce lawyer SEO. You’ll learn about the top strategies to implement to start bringing in more traffic and leads.

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Why SEO matters for divorce lawyers

Making sure you have a solid online presence is no longer an option, it’s a necessity for all divorce lawyers.

When someone is looking for a divorce lawyer, their first instinct is usually to turn to a search engine like Google. If you focus on divorce lawyer SEO, you can make sure you’re the law firm they find first.

You want to rank #1, right?

It lets you compete with the larger, more established law firms that have endless budgets. With a well-optimized website, a small law firm can rank just as high in search results as a large firm.

So, any law firm looking to bring in more traffic and more leads should invest in SEO.

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4 key elements of divorce lawyer SEO

Here are the four essential elements of SEO for any practice area.

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On-page search engine optimization for divorce lawyers

On-page SEO for lawyers is all about controlling what you can on your website.

It’s the aspect of SEO that you have the most control over (and the one you’ll likely invest the most time into). Strong on-page SEO helps search engines like Google understand your website and content, encourages them to index your pages, and ranks your content accordingly.

Let’s look at two critical components: keyword research and content.

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Keyword research

Keyword research is the cornerstone of SEO. It’s about understanding the words and questions your potential clients are searching for and then strategically using those terms in your content.

If you aren’t targeting the right keywords, your website will fall into the abyss. No one will come to your site, and all of that work will have been for nothing.

It’s a comprehensive topic to go over here, but here’s what you need to know to get started.

Head terms like “divorce lawyer” and “family law attorney” have a high search volume (meaning a lot of people search for these terms) but are extremely competitive and not as targeted as long-tail keywords.

Long-tail keywords like “divorce lawyer for women in New York” or “what do divorce lawyers do?” have less competition but are easier to rank for. And they often have a higher conversion rate.

We recommend creating content around long-tail keywords to start.

Here are a few ways to do keyword research (for free!):

• Google Search: Start by typing a term like “divorce lawyer” into Google. Take a look at the autocomplete suggestions and related searches.
• Use Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner to look at trending keywords get traffic estimates.
• Use AnswerThePublic to look up questions people are asking about a specific keyword.
• Use a free keyword research tool like UberSuggest to look up potential keywords, their volume, and how difficult it will be to rank for them.

These are all free tools available to anyone. However, keyword research can be challenging, so don’t be afraid to reach out for assistance.

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Content

We all know that content is king. But not just any content — we’re talking about high-quality, informative, engaging, and original content. That’s what will rank on Google.

And it’s not enough to stuff a bunch of keywords into a blog post and call it a day. You have to understand the intent behind a user’s search so that they take action after landing on your page.

For divorce lawyers, this might mean producing content that explains different aspects of the divorce process, answers common questions, provides updates on relevant laws, or offers practical advice for those going through a divorce.

These can be:

• Long-form blog posts
• FAQ pages
• Videos
• Practice area pages

Blogging for lawyers is specifically one of the most crucial family law SEO strategies out there. It’s the best medium for creating content that ranks.

Here’s an example by Jennings Family Law.

Ultimately, the aim is to create value for your visitors, answer their questions, and establish your site as a trusted resource.

Other elements of on-page SEO include:

• Title tags
• Meta descriptions
• Header tags
• Internal links
• URL structure
• Mobile-friendliness

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Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO involves all the actions taken outside of your own website that impact your rankings.

It’s a fairly complicated process involving techniques like link building, which even the most experienced SEO professionals can struggle with.

Let’s dive in.

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Link building

Link building is a fundamental aspect of off-page SEO that refers to the process of getting other websites to link back to your site.

These backlinks signal to search engines that your content is trustworthy, which can improve your site’s domain authority and overall rankings.

But not all links are created equal.

Links from reputable, high-authority websites are more valuable than those from low-authority sites. For divorce lawyers, this might mean getting links from law directories like Avvo, guest posts on legal blogs, or mentions in news articles.

Here are a few easy ways to build some backlinks:

• Create social media profiles and include a link back to your website in your bio.
• Create profiles on all of the main legal directories
• Make profiles on legal forums
• If you own other websites, list your law firm’s website there too

Those are easy wins. Here are a few more advanced strategies for backlink building.

• Content creation: If you create valuable content that ranks highly on Google, people will link back to it on their own websites.
• Guest blogging: Write posts for other websites in your industry, like law journals or magazines.
• Public relations: Get featured in news articles and interviews in your area.

It takes time to build quality backlinks, but it is an essential part of SEO.

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Social media marketing

Social media isn’t a direct ranking factor in Google’s algorithm but can influence your off-page SEO efforts.

An active presence on social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook can help you engage with your audience and distribute your content, driving more traffic to your website. More traffic means more opportunities for those valuable backlinks we just spoke about.

It’s as easy as sharing all the content you’re creating on your social media profiles.

Of course, you could flesh out a social media marketing strategy for your law firm, but this is enough to start.

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Local SEO

Local SEO is all about getting your website to rank for local keywords.

For example, if you practice in Las Vegas, you would want to show up when someone searches “hire divorce lawyer in Las Vegas.”

A lot of the strategies we’ve already discussed help boost your local SEO, but there are also some specific things you can do to really elevate your local SEO strategy.

Let’s dive in.

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Google Business Profile

An optimized Google Business Profile can help you turn local searches into free advertising space.

Because most law firms rely on local searches to attract clients, making it absolutely crucial to have a GBP. (And it’s free, so why wouldn’t you?)

A GBP provides searchers with your law firm’s information, including your location, contact information, hours of operations, and reviews.

And if you want to appear on Google Maps, you need a GBP.

To get started, list your basic contact info and make sure it’s accurate. Add photos and a complete description of your law firm.

Check out our complete Google Business Profile optimization guide for lawyers if you want to really get into the weeds.

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Citations and directory listings

A citation is any online mention of your law firm’s name, address, and phone number (NAP).

For example, your Google Business Profile is a citation.

Other places they appear (that’s relevant to law firms and lawyers) are in online directories.

Think legal (and general) directories like:

• Avvo
• Findlaw
• Justia
• Yelp
• YellowPages

Just make sure your NAP is consistent across all platforms, and your local SEO will thrive.

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Reviews

Online reviews allow you to directly influence potential clients’ perception of your law firm and encourage them to reach out.

And they affect how Google ranks your website.

Make review solicitation a standardized part of your law firm’s operations so that you can get as many positive reviews as possible.

Your Google Business Profile is the number one place you want to get reviews, but directories also host reviews.

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Local keyword optimization

We’ve touched on this briefly but want to emphasize the importance of optimizing your website for local keywords.

Incorporate geographic-specific keywords into your content and all aspects of your website.

Keywords like “divorce lawyer in New York City” are more likely to bring in high-converting traffic (and you’re more likely to rank highly) than generic terms like “divorce lawyer.”

They’re the key to ranking for relevant and less-competitive keywords.

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Technical SEO

We always recommend leaving technical SEO to a specialist. But we’ll go over some of the basic aspects of technical SEO here.

It refers to the more technical aspects of SEO that help search engines crawl and index your website more efficiently. It involves the infrastructure hosting the content rather than the actual content. Here are some key aspects of technical SEO worth knowing about.

• Website speed: Your website’s load speed affects the user experience of your website. The better the user experience, the higher Google is likely to rank your website.
• Mobile-friendliness: More than 55% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, so your site needs to be mobile-friendly. This means ensuring your website looks and functions well on all screen sizes.
• Crawlability: Search engines need to be able to crawl your website to understand what’s on your pages. Use a robots.txt file to control what parts of your site search engines can access and use XML sitemaps to help search engines understand your site’s structure.
• Security: Having a secure site (SSL certificate) is a known ranking signal for Google. More importantly, it keeps your website’s data secure and gives users confidence when they visit your site.
• URL structure: URLs should be clear, simple, and easy to read. A well-structured URL gives both users and search engines an indication of what the page is about.
• Duplicate content: Duplicate content can confuse search engines and can result in them not knowing which version of a page to show in search results. Use canonical tags to tell search engines which version of a page you want them to treat as the original.

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Choosing the best SEO specialist for the job

Leveraging divorce lawyer SEO is not optional — it’s an absolute necessity.

It’s a law firm marketing strategy that can level up your online presence, drive high-quality traffic to your site, and convert that traffic into qualified leads.

You can go out on your own and DIY it, but we recommend working with a law firm marketing agency like us. We have a team of dedicated SEO specialists who’ve gotten hundreds of law firms to the top of Google.

When you’re ready, reach out to us for a free consultation.