One of the best ways for law firms to attract new clients is to use techniques to boost the search engine optimization (SEO) of their online presence. Here are some of the most important SEO elements that a website should include for a law firm.
Mobile-First Design
The mobile-first philosophy has been a key to all business sites benefitting from Google’s emphasis on mobile search. Since consumers now routinely search with smartphones, it’s best to design your site so that features can be seen easily on small screens. Fortunately, many website platforms have design aspects that can be applied to both computer and mobile versions of the site.
Focus on Higher E-A-T Scores
Three key building blocks of SEO are expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, which form the acronym EAT. Google uses E-A-T factors to help determine its search rankings. Make sure the content on your site reflects accurate and deep expertise, as Google rewards sites with original content. Try to create content that cannot be found on other law firm sites.
The way to demonstrate authority online is to share background information. If your firm has been in business for many years, talk about it and mention some of the success stories. Publish reviews from loyal clients to provide insights on how your firm has helped others. It also helps to link to high-authority sites, including government sites.
Make Sure Pages Load Quickly
One of the most important factors for retaining new visitors on your site is to ensure that the pages load instantly. The average online user waits a maximum of 20 seconds for a page to load before moving on. It’s best to keep your home page simple with a minimum of big files and applications. There are various other ways to speed up loading time, such as compressing CSS, HTML, and JavaScript files and reducing redirects to your site.
Keep Site Current
A website needs to look like it’s from the current decade to earn trustworthiness, otherwise many users will think the site is outdated or neglected. Most sites now use a “Secure Sockets Layer” (SSL) certificate, indicated by ‘https’ instead of ‘http’ at the beginning of the URL. Sites still using the Http protocol are flagged as “not secure” in Google’s Chrome browser.
Publishing new content is important to keep users coming back. Offering a weekly blog is an effective way to keep people interested in fresh content. Search engines want to give the most attention to blogs that exhibit expertise with regularly updated information. At the core of SEO is writing detailed content that connects with the visitor.