Local SEO is crucial for law firms aiming to attract clients from their local area. By focusing on local search optimisation, you can enhance your visibility, connect with potential clients, and grow your practice.
I have been developing SEO strategies for law firms at Contra for many years and witnessed both the successes and mistakes law firms make in their local SEO marketing.
In this blog, I will delve into the benefits of local SEO, practical strategies for improving your local search presence, and how to effectively use SEO tools and techniques to achieve better results.
Local SEO definition.
Local SEO for law firms is about optimising your online presence to rank higher in local search results and attract nearby customers to your business.
By targeting local searches and optimising your local service pages, law firms can improve rankings for local search terms on search engine results pages (SERPs). Think “medical negligence lawyer in London” or “Manchester personal injury solicitor”.
There are several reasons why, as a law firm, you should be honing in on the local population.
Benefits of using local SEO pages in your law firm marketing strategy.
Local SEO benefits law firms as clients often search for solicitors near them.
While remote consultations are available, many prefer in-person meetings, especially for sensitive matters.
By meeting this audience's needs, you ensure they don’t look elsewhere. This helps retain clients who will return and attract new local ones through positive referrals.
Local SEO also enhances a law firm's marketing strategy by targeting individuals ready to convert, driving business and profits. Those searching for a local firm are likely ready to act and need professional help.
Local SEO for law firms: factors and tactics.
To leverage local SEO effectively, start by creating dedicated pages tailored to your local audience for your law firm.
The success of these pages depends on optimised copy and various technical elements.
Here, we outline key considerations and best practices for integrating them into your local SEO page content.
Keyword optimisation
Targeting suitable keywords is crucial for SEO. This involves thorough keyword research to identify terms your audience searches for, placing your site in front of users with the right intent.
Use tools like Ubersuggest and Semrush to identify the local search terms your prospective clients are using in search engines.
Semrush allows you to filter search terms by target area, providing even more accurate search volume data.
From your research, select a primary key term that best represents the page’s topic. For example, a law firm focusing on personal injury services in Manchester, ‘personal injury lawyer in Manchester’ is a strong choice.
Place this key term strategically in the meta title, meta description, H1 title, and throughout the content.
Quick tip:
Clients often ask me a simple but important question:
Do you need to optimise your local SEO pages with the exact phrases found in your keyword research?
My answer is always the same.
You don’t have to use the search term verbatim throughout the content. Google’s RankBrain update uses machine learning to understand user intent.
This means that if you use the term ‘Manchester personal injury lawyer’, Google will understand the intent behind the search and still rank you for ‘personal injury lawyer in Manchester’.
Just don’t stuff your body copy full of keywords. Place them naturally throughout your body copy.
In addition to your primary key term, include secondary key terms throughout the content.
Using terms like “no win no fee personal injury solicitor Manchester” or “Manchester personal injury services” alongside the primary key term can enhance relevance and increase rankings.
Header tags
Our local SEO for law firms guide has already covered using the H1 tag to include your primary key term and highlight the page’s focus. However, other header tags also offer significant benefits.
Include secondary key terms in your H2s and H3s. This improves the page structure, helping readers navigate and find relevant information easily.
Likewise, a clear structure with optimised header tags helps search engine bots crawl your page and determine precisely what it’s about.
If search engines can see that your page effectively answers your target search queries, there’s more chance of it being displayed on results pages, driving traffic and potentially conversions.
Ensure header tags are hierarchical: use H1 for the title, followed by H2 for subheadings, H3 for sub-subheadings, and so on.
Here’s a secret:
People make decisions based on emotion rather than logic.
Therefore, at Contra, we often tweak H1 title tags so they’re smaller and include a large H2 impact statement directly below.
Why?
Our conversion rate optimisation (CRO) tests show that a strong, emotive hero statement highlighting benefits or the potential client’s desired state boosts inquiry rates.
For example, rather than ‘Divorce Solicitors Birmingham’, the main text in the hero section might be, ‘It’s time to make a fresh start’.
This appeals to emotions and the desired outcome of the audience.
However, this doesn't provide any context to search engines.
To ensure Google can understand the page context and rank your page, we include a smaller H1 tag, ‘Divorce Solicitors Birmingham’ above the large impact statement.
And there you have it.
Potential clients are engaged with emotion.
Google understands the context of the page.
And your firm increases conversions.
Call-to-actions
Once the user has explored your page and found what they were looking for, you need to encourage them to take the next step. That’s where call-to-actions (CTAs) come in.
These are small pieces of copy usually accompanied by a button prompting the user to take a desired action.
They should be strategically placed throughout the page and be relevant to the rest of the content.
As a law firm utilising local SEO, you’ll mostly be targeting prospective clients who are ready to take action and engage your services.
Therefore, “Request a free consultation” or “Book an appointment” could be examples of CTAs you might consider using.
Name, address, phone number, hours of operation
In addition to CTAs, make sure important business information is prominently displayed to encourage prospective clients to get in touch.
Providing consistent name, address, and phone number (NAP) information guarantees the user knows exactly who you are, where you’re based, and how to contact you.
This is particularly important considering your close proximity is a key selling point when trying to drive conversions in your local area.
On your contact page, add LocalBusiness schema.
LocalBusiness schema is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand key details about your law firm, like your address, phone number, and hours of operation.
Adding LocalBusiness Schema this increases the chance of your firm appearing on the results page, either in the Knowledge Panel, Local Pack, or Rich Snippets.
To add it to your law firm website:
- Use a schema markup generator – This will help you identify all of the variables required to meet the various different schema criteria. LocalBusiness schema is perfect to start with as it includes attributes like business name, address, contact information, and operating hours, which are crucial for search visibility. It has various subtypes provided by Schema.org tailored to specific industries, such as LegalService for law firms. Fill in Your Details – Enter information like your firm’s name, address, phone number, and hours.
- Add the code to your website on the page you require it to appear – Insert the generated code into the HTML of your website, ideally in the header or footer.
- Test your schema – Use Google's Rich Results Test to ensure the schema is set up correctly.
If this sounds all too technical, Contra's law firm SEO services can help.
Customer reviews and testimonials
Including genuine, positive local reviews about your law firm is highly effective, especially with local SEO.
Prospective clients seek reassurance that you can meet their needs—showcasing your success with similar local cases is a great way to do that.
If they can see that there’s a reliable, highly-rated organisation trusted by other members of the local community then that gives you a significant advantage over firms based further away.
Extra points for using integrations such as Trustpilot that link back to the original testimonial source.
Local news and updates
Similarly, local news and updates relevant to the particular service you’re promoting can also be an effective local SEO tactic.
This could include prominent case studies involving someone from the local community, or a local organisation or venue which has been involved in a well-known event.
Even if this sort of content doesn’t immediately drive conversions, it helps to build your company’s presence and reputation, which can lead to more local clients later down the line.
Social proof and local links
In addition to having clients within the local area, your business might also be interacting with the local community in other ways, including partnerships with charities or other organisations.
This is something you should be shouting about, particularly if the partnership is connected to the particular service you’re promoting in some way.
It helps to show that you’re going the extra mile, helping to build trust and a positive reputation.
Not only that, the organisations you’re partnered with are also likely to link back to your website from theirs which is another big plus for SEO.
Frequently Asked Questions
Your prospective clients are at the stage where they’ve explored your local SEO page and like what your law firm is offering.
They’re almost ready to take action but they’d just like some clarification on a few points before they do. A frequently asked questions (FAQs) section can help provide this.
FAQs are typically located towards the bottom of the page, after the main content about your service.
Their purpose is to cover the main queries people might have, including questions unique to the specific service you’re offering, the process of working with you, financing, and more.
If prospective clients have absolute clarity about what they can expect to receive from you, then they’re all the more likely to convert.
Mobile optimisation
One of the technical local SEO factors to consider for your law firm is mobile optimisation.
Research from Semrush shows that 57% of local searches are now made on mobiles or tablets.
If your local SEO page isn’t optimised for mobile, you’re restricting the experience of a huge number of prospective clients when they visit your site.
Mobile optimisation requires responsive design, where all page elements adjust to fit any screen size.
This ensures all the crucial elements that prompt your visitors to take action remain visible and accessible, driving clicks and conversions which are great for SEO and for business.
Optimised images
Ensure every image is high-quality and relevant to the services you offer, enhancing your law firm's professional image.
All images should also be optimised with descriptive file names and alt tags including your chosen keywords.
‘Medical-negligence-solicitors-hull.jpg’ is an example of what you should be aiming for with your file names, while the alt tags should provide a clear description of what the image displays.
Search engine bots don’t (just yet) have the ability to look at an image like we can so they need additional information allowing them to crawl the image, helping to index and rank the page.
Alt tags also improve accessibility for visitors with visual impairments who might not be able to see the image themselves.
Local SEO rankings and reporting
SEO tools such as Semrush enable you to create a local pack of keywords, which include location-specific phrases that generate search results for a specific geographic area.
From my experience working with the legal sector, I strongly recommend Semrush for law firms, as it empowers legal marketers to tag and organise local keywords by Practice Area, Service, and Subservice.
This strategic approach enables a comprehensive view of your rankings, allowing you to assess the overall growth of your Practice Area through your SEO efforts.
Legal marketers should start by focusing on local SEO pages for Practice Areas, monitoring and showcasing the impact of these efforts through visual reports and local pack rankings monitoring.
Gradually, they can refine their strategy to target more specific local SEO pages for Services and Subservices.
Real-world example
Contra built a range of locally optimised pages for Hudgell Solicitors. Each page included NAP, local keyword research, local SEO schema, and Google Maps.
How to use Google Business Profile for local SEO.
Google Business Profile is a free tool allowing businesses to manage their online presence on Google Search and Maps, enhancing visibility and engagement.
https://whitespark.ca/local-search-ranking-factors/#pack-finder
When people search for law firms on Google, they might see a prominent panel with key details about your firm (Google's Maps Pack). If someone searches for a type of law service (e.g. ‘top solicitors in Manchester’), they might see a list of relevant firms.
In fact, according to data from Backlinko, 42% of people who conduct a local search click on results inside the Google Maps Pack.
Optimise your Google Business Profile (GBP) and improve local SEO by:
- Verifying your business – Claim and verify the GBP listing to confirm the firm's location and accuracy, which enhances trust with Google and potential clients.
- Adding imagery – Upload high-quality photos of your office and staff to increase the chances of appearing in Google's local 3-pack, a feature that displays the top three local businesses that Google considers relevant, close to the user, and prominent. It appears when a user searches for a local business using keywords like "near me" or "near [Location]". The results include a map and three Google Business Profile listings.
- Regularly reviewing the profile – Share the review link with clients, encouraging them to leave positive reviews. This improves ranking and click-through rates.
- Adding services – Clearly list legal services to help users quickly understand what the firm offers, making the profile more attractive and informative.
- Choosing keywords – Use specific legal keywords based on your keyword research to boost visibility in search results, helping your firm stand out against competitors.
- Updating NAP – Ensure your firm's name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent across all platforms to improve relevance in local searches.
- Being precise with categories – Select the most relevant business categories to appear in appropriate search results, connecting with the right audience.
- Completing the profile – Fill out all available fields to make the profile comprehensive, increasing its attractiveness and usefulness.
- Keeping hours updated – Regularly update business hours, especially during holidays, to provide accurate information to potential clients.
- Utilising special features – Take full advantage of GBP’s features like posts, Q&A, and messaging to engage with potential clients and provide more detailed information.
- Responding promptly to reviews – Engage with client feedback quickly to show attentiveness and improve the firm’s reputation.
Contra’s development and SEO experts can help you set up and optimise your Google Business Profile so you can start reaping the local SEO rewards today.
Local SEO link building.
While local link building is part of SEO, it’s almost a different concept entirely.
Local SEO link building focuses on getting other organisations to direct their web users to your locally optimised pages, rather than just relying on your own content.
High-quality backlinks have significant importance in improving your ranking on search engine results pages, helping you reach more prospective clients in the local area.
When well-respected local organisations reference your site, it boosts your domain authority (DA).
While DA isn’t a direct Google ranking factor, it predicts how likely a website is to rank well, on a scale of 1–100. DA is based on factors like the number of linking domains and total links. A site with a DA of 50+ is more likely to rank for competitive terms, with 50–60 considered good and above 60 considered excellent.
It indicates to search engines that your content and services are reliable and should be shown to more users by being placed higher on results pages.
Organisations that can potentially provide more authoritative backlinks are local news websites.
Typically, local news websites are strongly trusted sources of information which are likely to have a large readership within the community.
This can make it difficult to secure backlinks from them but it could be more achievable for law firms than other businesses.
Criminal or unlawful cases involving local people are likely to be of interest to readers, presenting the opportunity for your business to feature in the news if you’ve represented someone involved.
If your law firm is a member of a chamber of commerce, this can be another useful local SEO backlink.
The main purpose of a chamber of commerce is to gather business leaders who work together and network in the interests of local companies and the community as a whole.
With that in mind, showcasing your membership can help to build your firm’s authority and reputation amongst the local community, increasing the number of local people trusting your services and driving conversions.
It can sometimes be challenging to secure local SEO backlinks for your law firm because other organisations often don’t see any value in directing users to someone else’s website.
Getting the help of a law firm marketing agency experienced in local SEO backlinking can make all the difference. Contra will work alongside your organisation to identify which local organisations will provide the most authoritative backlinks and implement a thorough strategy to secure them.
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