Local SEO for Lawyers: Tips Every Law Firm Should Apply

Local law firm SEO is quite different than global SEO.  Where link building plays a major role for global search engine optimization geographic citations play an integral part of ranking well locally.  Here is a beginner’s guide for every law firm looking to improve their local visibility.

On-Site Optimization

• Target Geo-specific Keyword Phrases - Include these location keywords in the title tag, meta description and content of your website.  If you have multiple locations you wish to target create a unique location specific page to target that phrase.
• Sitewide Name, Address and Phone Number - Include your firms name, address and phone number on every page of your website.  Ideal positions include the sidebar and footer. 
• Embed a Map - Go to Google Maps and get an HTML code to embed to your website.
• Create a Geo-sitemap - Go to http://www.geositemapgenerator.com/ and create a Geo sitemap and KML file. 

Off-Site Optimization

After you have optimized your law firm's website for Local SEO the next step is to list your firm in local search directories.  Below is a list of the top 10 local directories and top 5 local law firm directories.

Top 10 Local Directories:

1. Google+ Local
2. Yelp
3. Bing Local
4. Yahoo Local
5. Facebook
6. Merchant Circle
7. Supermedia
8. Foursquare
9. Yellow Pages
10. Manta

Top 5 Local Law Firm Directories:

1. HG.org
2. eLocalLawyers
3. JD Supra
4. Justia
5. Avvo

Reviews

Reviews play a major role in local search.  The best reviews contain geographic keywords in the review itself.  On Google+ Local you may respond to each individual review.  Use keywords in your response but make sure the response flows natural and does not appear to be keyword stuffing.

How To Get Reviews

• Follow-up Emails – Include a link to your local pages in every email follow-up correspondence.
• Ask clients – Face to face requests are often the best converting. 
• Ask peers – Peer reviews can be beneficial for specializations that do not like public case results.  Peer reviews are great for bankruptcy and criminal attorneys.

Conclusion

If you follow the tips listed above you can greatly improve the chances of your law firm being seen locally.