Local SEO for Lawyers: A Guide to Winning More Local Leads

You’re probably familiar with the basics of SEO for lawyers.

Local SEO shares many similarities but focuses specifically on improving search engine visibility for queries with local intent.

This involves optimizing local businesses (in this case, your law firm) to rank higher on Google when searchers look for products and services (your legal services) near their current location.

We’ve all performed local searches. Typing in “grocery store near me,” “Thai food near me,” or “barber in downtown Miami” are all examples of local searches.

This concept also applies to professional services. Many people seeking legal assistance prefer a lawyer in their local area, leading them to search for specific services like “Aggravated Assault Attorney Orange County.”

And when they do, they might find our client, Kazarian Law.

Before we start to help you master local SEO for law firms, we need to understand the factors that determine how Google selects businesses to feature in the Local Pack.

The official word from Google on local search rankings confirms three main factors.

These three factors are weighed heavily for the local pack. But there’s also organic local SEO, which is weighed differently.

BrightLocal surveyed local SEO experts to find out what the most important ranking factors are for both local pack and local organic SEO.

What this means is that the main ways to boost local search placements for lawyers are:

You can see that factors are weighted differently for the local pack versus local organic.

Local pack results are much more visible and have a higher conversion rate, so we recommend focusing on your Google Business Profile to start.

With that said, here are 10 strategies to improve your law firm’s local SEO rankings everywhere.

As you read these tips, consider what it means for you law firm to implement them.

Though the tips are for law firms specifically, your local environment and specialties will play a role in how you go about it.

With that being said, let’s dive right into the 10 local SEO tips.

As you now know, your Google Business Profile (GPB) is one of the more important factors for appearing in the Local Pack.

Here’s where it appears on the Google SERP.

Google prefers to promote content that it can verify as accurate. GBP is the tool it uses to do that.

Put simply, GBP allows you to quickly and prominently share your business details, service offerings, and reputation with anyone searching for a local lawyer.

And it’s how you get featured in Google Maps and Google Search. Google pulls your information to match you with relevant local queries.

Links are an important ranking factor for both local map and local organic ranking.

Aside from citation building, most law firms have active link-building campaigns to get backlinks from both local and non-local websites. The exact links you want to build to your law firm’s website depend on your practice area and where you’re located.

You can use a tool like Semrush to do a competitor analysis and analyze your competitor’s backlink profiles to find link-building opportunities.

Social media becomes more and more relevant as the years go by — and Google knows it.

A healthy presence and regular content sharing on the most relevant social media platforms can help build awareness about your law firm’s brand while indirectly supporting your local SEO efforts.

We recommend Facebook and LinkedIn for lawyers, as they tend to have the most significant ROI.

If you want to learn more about how you can use social media to level up your law firm, head over to our guide to social media for lawyers.

Curating positive law firm reviews from clients is a surefire way to increase your rankings. Without them, you won’t be able to compete with other local firms.

Strong reviews also serve as social proof. Any prospective client searching online for a law firm will check out the reviews. Having few reviews (or many negative ones) will damage your lead generation strategies.

Soliciting reviews from happy clients is one of the key ways we helped DWI lawyer Trey Porter start to dominate Google.

But how do you get reviews?

Like most of the best digital marketing strategies, many positive things happen organically if you provide a client-centered experience. But you sometimes need to give review-gathering a little “push.”

Many clients aren’t aware of how critical reviews are for businesses these days — or how to leave one.

Legal services rank among the highest regarding the importance of online reviews for potential clients to check, with 94 percent of people classifying reviews as important for financial and legal services in a recent Bright Local study.

It’s best to make soliciting a review from happy clients a part of the process as you close each case file.

This needn’t be burdensome. If you don’t like asking for reviews in person, you can automate it through email.

Here’s a sample email showing how you could approach a client.

Many satisfied clients will happily leave a positive review when asked. In fact, 76 percent of people asked to leave a review do so, according to Bright Local.

Here’s some more interesting data they discovered.

Don’t forget to respond to all reviews, even negative ones. It shows you care about your clients. Sometimes, you can make it right, and a client may even change a review. It also helps your local SEO efforts to show that you’re responsive.

While most people head to Google to search for lawyers, some browse directories like Yellow Pages or specific legal directories like Avvo. These pages are often placed high in the search results.

Your listings should be accurate and up-to-date across all directories. And consistency is key: Google loves listings that are consistent across the web and promotes them favorably.

Here’s an example of what your listing should look like on Avvo, one of the most popular legal directories.

Here’s a list of directories to consider listing your firm in:

A bonus of adding your law firm to these directories is that you can generate inbound links to your website, which will aid your general SEO.

Your website affects all your search engine optimization efforts. It’s an obvious place to look if you want to improve local SEO for lawyers.

Make sure you have a specific page with your location information to tell Google explicitly the localities in which you should rank (each of your locations).

It’s usually best to create location-specific pages for each office if you operate in different geographies. It will help get your firm in the local SERP for each area.

Oykhman Criminal Defense has created a different microsite for each of its offices — an excellent local search strategy for law firms.

Here’s another great example from one of Alberta’s leading employment law firms, which has optimized its website to rank in multiple locations in the province and beyond.

As the hub of your local search activities, it’s essential to keep your website’s on-page SEO up-to-date and optimized for search.

Here’s where to put your time and energy into the best results with on-page SEO.

Not every client will visit your website through local search results. Some will find you through high-ranking blog posts or other content.

A comprehensive content marketing strategy that develops relevant, valuable resources in your practice areas and incorporates location-specific keywords will help you feature prominently in local and non-local search results and get even more clients.

Here’s a good example from our client, The Maine Divorce Group.

The value of high-quality legal content is becoming more important, and it’s worth bearing this in mind as you develop your strategy:

Google has evolved to a point where you can focus on creating content for the user, not the search engine. You’ll still be rewarded with higher rankings.

Do local keyword research to identify high-performing keywords targeting your area.

Even if keywords like “child support in Maine” don’t convert directly into clients, they go a long way in generating backlinks and visits. This is good for SEO, in general.

Create a content plan that specifically addresses local topics in addition to your more SEO-centric posts. Luckily, there are a lot of things for lawyers to cover.

For example, you could be the local authority and publish content covering:

Here’s a good example of “local content” from New York family law firm Stephen Bilkis & Associates.

You can even use your insight to provide opinions on local crimes, changes in the law, or anything else you feel qualified to speak on. It won’t take long before you’re known as an authority in your area.

These are just a few options. Consider what kind of “top-of-funnel” (informative and problem-solving) content you can publish that’s relevant to your audience. Even go beyond your practice area if it’s relevant.

Don’t stop at sharing your thoughts and opinions on local happenings. Get out there and engage with your local community. The more you participate, the more digital PR you can get.

The benefits go beyond getting your name out there.

There’s a lot of value in participating in local events. And some of those benefits directly affect your SEO, namely building backlinks.

But what types of events should you be involved in?

Consider the following:

• Holding a volunteer day in your organization
• Appearing in the local media as an authority on a legal topic
• Sponsoring local events and teams
• Establishing a scholarship

Backlinks from news organizations and schools are precious as they are considered high-authority links. Look to engage with these types of organizations whenever you can.

You can also actively generate backlinks from other local and non-local sites by engaging with your community.

Keep your link-building strategies and activities relevant to your local audience, and you’ll build valuable backlinks that will improve your local rankings (and make you feel good in the process).

We need to get a little technical with this one, but it’s actually quite simple. Some simple DIY steps are included below but if you prefer, get your web developers, SEO specialists or “website guy” to look after this one.

Local schema is a major ranking factor in local SEO for lawyers, but what is it exactly?

Well, Google needs to understand your firm’s web page data clearly to present it how you would like in Google Search. Local schema is a type of structured data markup code that helps you help Google.

By adding local schema markup to your firm’s website, you’ll optimize it for local search, making it easier for search engines to identify where you operate and what your firm does.

How do you do that?

The easiest way is to use Google‘s Structured Data Markup Helper.

Click on the blue button, and you’ll be taken to the Structured Data Markup Helper.

From there, follow these steps:

If you prefer, you can also use ChatGPT to create the schema for you.

We’ve covered the why and how of local SEO for lawyers.

Now, let’s look at a few tools you can use to improve your rankings if you go the DIY route.

Local SEO for lawyers is neither difficult nor costly. Pay attention to the details, and it’s not that hard for a small local firm to outrank much larger businesses in the Google Map Pack and organic local search listings.

We can’t emphasize strongly enough the importance of a comprehensive local SEO strategy for any law firm looking to grow.

By following the above tips, you’ll attract new leads, establish yourself as an authority in your area, and increase revenues.

Let’s take a look at a case study that exhibits the success you can expect from calculated efforts toward your Local SEO Strategy.

Choosing an SEO company like JurisPage can help you grow exponentially and master local SEO.

As you can see, a good SEO strategy can make all the difference.

If you opt for Jurispage, you can receive local SEO audit, find out where you’re going wrong, and get you to the top of the local search results.

Get a free consult today.