46% of all Google searches are made to look for local information or services, and 86% of consumers use the internet to search for local businesses. This is where local SEO comes in, and why law firms need to capitalize on it so they can be easily found by potential clients. If you work for a law firm in New Jersey, using some local SEO strategies can be the difference between acquiring new clients or remaining stagnant. This article will cover some actionable steps you can use to make your law firm more visible in local searches, focused mainly on local directories, a Google My Business profile, and location-based keywords.
Optimize Your Google My Business Profile
The first step for any business, including law firms, to improve their local SEO is setting up and optimizing a Google My Business (GMB) profile. If you’ve ever noticed those businesses that appear with a map when you’re making a local search, that’s called the “map pack,” and an optimized GMB profile is what determines if your firm appears in there.
To optimize your GMB profile:
- Make sure your firm’s Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are accurate and consistent everywhere they appear online. Consistency is key to building trust with search engines and potential clients.
- Regularly update your business hours and provide relevant categories like “personal injury lawyer” or “criminal defense attorney.”
- Encourage clients to leave reviews. Positive reviews enhance your firm’s credibility and boost your rankings in local search results. Over 90% of people that make a local search say they’re likely to click on the first results, so you really need to optimize that GMB profile.
- Include location-specific information, like cities or neighborhoods your firm serves, in your GMB profile. For example, if you’re a criminal defense lawyer in New Jersey, state your location and practice areas clearly in your profile so you can better target specific clients from those areas.
Mobile searches are getting more and more popular, especially for services like legal help in New Jersey for personal injury cases, so your firm needs to appear early in local results. When you have a well-optimized GMB profile, you maximize your chances of ranking in those ideal top three spots.
Use Local Directories and Legal-Specific Listings
As a law firm, your business should also be listed on local and industry-specific directories. This includes platforms like Yelp, Avvo, and FindLaw, all of which can make your firm more visible in local search results. Search engines trust directories like this and having consistent NAP information in them adds to your firm’s credibility.
To improve local SEO for NJ law firms:
- Make sure to list your firm in New Jersey-specific directories, like local bar associations or business directories. When your firm appears in these directories, the search engines will rank you higher in local searches, such as “affordable attorney in NJ,” for example.
- The information on your directory profiles should always be up to date, including things like practice areas, hours of operation, and service locations. If your firm specializes in employment law, for instance, that information needs to be clearly displayed on all your directory listings.
Use Location-Based Keywords
Keywords are the lifeblood of any SEO campaign, and local SEO for NJ law firms is no exception. When you’re engaging in local SEO, the keywords you use should be location based, so the clients in the areas you’re targeting can find you easily. Therefore, you need to use NJ-specific keywords in your website content so your firm will appear in NJ-specific searches for services like business or estate law attorneys.
Here’s how to do it:
- Use keywords like “Local SEO for NJ law firms,” “legal help in New Jersey for personal injury,” and “New Jersey criminal defense lawyer” in your website’s headers, meta descriptions, and content. If you write a blog post about personal injury law, use terms like these to make your firm more likely to rank in these local searches.
- Create dedicated landing pages for each city or region you serve. Let’s say you’re a personal injury firm serving Newark, Jersey City, and Trenton. You should have separate pages targeting each of those places, and they should have useful information specific to those areas so your firm can rank in those local searches.
Leverage long-tail keywords to get more specific with the targeting. Keywords like “best real estate attorney in Hoboken” or “affordable attorney in NJ” are more specific than something like “lawyer in New Jersey.” Because they’re more specific, they’re closer to what potential clients are searching for. They tend to be easier to rank for as well, since they’re less competitive.
Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly
Over 80% of smartphone users use their phones to make local, “near me” searches, and over 90% of them are likely to click on the first results, so your site needs to be optimized for mobile usage. If it’s not mobile-friendly, potential clients will leave the site because it’s giving them a poor user experience. As a result, your firm’s website should load quickly, be easy to navigate, and display important information like contact details and practice areas.
Here’s how to optimize for mobile:
- Test your website on different devices to see if it loads properly and quickly on all of them. Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help you identify and fix any issues.
- Make your contact details easy to access from any page. Make sure your phone number is clickable so potential clients can easily contact you without switching apps.
Additionally, Google sees mobile optimization as one of the most important ranking factors, so a well-optimized website will boost your overall SEO. When you’re trying to attract clients searching for legal help in New Jersey for personal injury cases, for example, mobile optimization can be a big help.
Create NJ-Centric Content
Local SEO for NJ law firms also includes creating high-quality content that should speak directly to NJ residents’ unique legal concerns. When you write blog posts or case studies about issues specific to New Jersey, like NJ Worker’s Compensation Laws, or the laws about car accidents, you’ll rank higher in those related searches, so you’ll be more visible to potential clients looking for that kind of advice.
Make sure to:
- Include local keywords in your blog posts. For instance, if you’re writing about personal injury law, mention the specific laws that apply in New Jersey and include phrases like “legal help in New Jersey for personal injury.”
- Write about local events, legal updates, or case studies relevant to New Jersey. Focusing on NJ-specific content demonstrates that your firm is part of the local community to the search engines.
Build Local Backlinks
Backlinks act like votes of confidence from other sites to your firm’s, so getting some from other reputable local sites will boost your SEO rankings dramatically. You can network with other local businesses or organizations and ask them to link to your site.
To build local backlinks:
- Sponsor local events or collaborate with other businesses. For example, a blog post from a local news site about your firm’s involvement in community work can provide valuable backlinks and raise your firm’s profile.
- Reach out to local NJ legal publications and offer to write guest posts or provide expert commentary on legal issues in New Jersey.
Understanding Local SEO for NJ Law Firms
When you focus on Google My Business optimization, leverage local directories, and use location-based keywords as a law firm in New Jersey, your local SEO performance will skyrocket. Implementing these strategies will increase your firm’s visibility in local search results while helping you attract clients searching for specific legal services in NJ. Whether they’re looking for an affordable attorney in NJ or legal help in New Jersey for personal injury cases, local SEO puts your firm in the position to catch local clients.