Why Should I Invest in SEO for My Family Law Firm?

The term “search engine optimization” (SEO) leaves many family law attorneys scratching their heads. They may wonder why it’s crucial for their business, how to use it to attract more clients, and how seriously to consider investing in SEO for family law.

Simply put, SEO for family law is essential for your practice’s growth. In today’s online world, using the proper SEO strategies can put your family law firm on the map and attract clients who need your services.

The Right Kind of SEO is Essential for Family Law Firms

While many SEO marketing agencies spend their energy increasing irrelevant keywords and adding ineffective content to improve website performance metrics, this strategy usually falls short and may not reap any meaningful benefits.

A more effective approach is to work toward reaching your target audience, leading new users to convert organically. Family law marketing agencies should concentrate on identifying opportunities based on their conversion potential rather than solely on improving organic traffic numbers.

Focus on:

• Return on investment (ROI), instead of vanity metrics like total keyword count
• Obtaining more high-value cases
• Ranking relevant keywords to increase quality traffic
• Continually optimizing pages that deliver the most revenue

8 Priorities of a High-Quality SEO Campaign

In today’s competitive family law market, consider what kind of agency will best meet your SEO needs. General marketing agencies often miss the mark when working with family law firms because they don’t specialize in their practice area.

Meanwhile, agencies that cater to family law—like Constellation Marketing—deliver superior results, including better rankings, more traffic, and more quality leads. We prioritize eight key steps:

1. Examine the client’s website, including assessing the current SEO metrics
2. Discuss the client’s primary concerns
3. Assess their leading competitors
4. Create a well-planned family law SEO strategy
5. Develop pages and supporting content to establish the site as a topical authority with Google
6. Optimize existing webpages
7. Insert external links to further improve the page’s authority with Google and other search engines
8. Review to ensure that rankings, organic traffic, and potential leads are improving

Core Components of a Successful Family Law SEO Campaign

Now, let’s dive in to discover more about the core components of a successful SEO campaign!

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the pages of a website for best Google practices, which helps each page rank higher with relevant, organic keywords.

We recently implemented on-page optimizations for a divorce lawyer in Springfield, MO. She initially had less than a few hundred organic keyword rankings and under a few hundred organic website users monthly.

After the successful SEO strategy was in place, she ranked for more than 10,000 keywords and had over 10,000 average organic users a month! To top it off, she ranked for more than 1,000 family law practice keywords on the first page of Google, with 250 keywords being relevant to divorce specifically.

1. Keyword Research

Keyword research is an essential component of on-page SEO for family law: It is the process of identifying specific words (or phrases) that people typically type in when searching for family law services.

Keyword research is essential because it helps to create the perfect balance between relevant keywords, their volume, and how difficult the keyword will likely be to rank on Google.

Choosing the correct keywords involves more than identifying relevant keywords across the country or the globe. Identifying “locally” relevant keywords is a fundamental part of the process because users typically look for family lawyers in their local searches.

Lastly, determining topically relevant keywords (with a high volume and lower keyword difficulty) helps the client’s website rank faster, get organic traffic more quickly, and convert leads more easily!

2. Content Marketing

Content plays a pivotal role in family law SEO because search engines like Google use the quality and relevance of your content to determine the value of your web page for users.

Choosing the correct content involves researching, writing, and publishing new pieces that attract keyword rankings. Without regular content publishing and optimization, Google Crawler will not understand that you are trying to rank for your targeted keywords, triggering a decrease in your website’s visibility.

3. Topical Authority

Topical authority helps search engines like Google understand which websites are considered reliable sources of information for family law. Optimizing and publishing relevant content is crucial for achieving this topical authority.

For instance, a divorce lawyer in Missouri publishes topics that answer questions pertinent to their state, such as divorce laws, child custody and visitation, child support, division of property, and parents’ rights. Because the lawyer publishes unique, relevant content, Google recognizes the website as an industry authority, which boosts the family law firm’s rankings in relevant search results.

Off-Page SEO

While on-page SEO focuses on optimizing elements within a website, off-page SEO involves actions taken elsewhere online to enhance a website’s credibility and visibility. Essentially, external backlinks are built to the law firm’s website to increase its authority with Google.

External link building sends a signal to Google that a website is influential and authoritative. For a family law attorney, this means sending links from relevant sources. Then, Google compares your backlink profile with your competitors’ and ranks the website with the stronger, more natural backlink profile better for target keywords.

Let’s check out an example: A divorce attorney in Clayton, Missouri, had a low optimized backlink profile, with a domain rating of three. After increasing the quality of backlinks from around 50 to 245, that attorney’s backlink profile jumped to a rating of above 25 within a couple of years.

1. Citations

Citations, which are crucial for off-page search engine optimization, are when a family law firm’s website, name, address, and phone number (NAP) are mentioned on external websites and local directories.

Citations are essential for off-page SEO because they add to the natural look of the backlink profile. Every family law attorney’s website needs to be listed in many citations. Why? Doing so signals to Google that your law firm is a legitimate business listed on relevant citation websites.

2. Directory Links

Directory links are backlinks obtained from online directories or listing websites. They are similar to citations but require a more strict process of NAP checking.

Simply put, directory links are NAP listings that add to the natural and relevant backlink profile. They are checked thoroughly and have a stricter process, which is vital for local SEO and the relevancy of the listings in the backlink profile.

3. Link Building

Link building is an off-page SEO strategy where link insertions and guest posts are published on relevant blogs or websites within the family law industry.

For family law firms, this is vital because external links should come from more than just citations and directories. Links also should come from relevant websites in the practice area, such as blogs discussing family law topics.

These carefully chosen websites publish links in two ways: link insertion through an anchor in an existing post or publishing a new guest post to the backlink profile.

The essential part of crafting these links is choosing an anchor, which is selecting a relevant piece of text to be hyperlinked to the family law attorney’s website.

Local SEO

Local search engine optimization is a specific branch of SEO that focuses on optimizing a website to improve its visibility and rank higher in local search results.

Family law firms that want to attract organic client leads must rank locally because people usually search for family lawyers in their geographic area.

To see local SEO in action, let’s consider the example of a Clayton, MO, divorce lawyer. Constellation Marketing recently built and optimized local citations for this attorney’s website, which has significantly improved their local rankings for the Clayton area over time.

The family law attorney had scant rankings for their location and was not in the top map pack results. After working on the following three components of local SEO, the website had better local SEO rankings in the map pack and for organic keywords involving “Clayton MO” and family law practice areas with volume.

1. GBP Optimization

Google Business Profile (GBP) optimization is an SEO strategy that improves the ranking of a business’s profile, helping it rank in the top map pack for a targeted keyword.

This optimization is essential for local SEO rankings, “near me” rankings, and map pack rankings for family law firms. Because users are searching for local law firms through keywords and a map pack, an optimized GBP is crucial for getting more local organic leads.

2. Reviews

Reviews are feedback users leave on a GBP profile after using a family law firm’s services.

Receiving many reviews helps to fuel the ranking of the GBP. Quality reviews that are well written and include applicable keywords help further improve a GBP’s relevancy and stature.

3. Citations

As mentioned previously, citations are business profiles (or online mentions of an attorney’s name, address, and phone number) on websites that offer business directories online.

They are essential for local SEO because they add to the local authority of the GBP. They also confirm the NAP data and the family law firm’s authority within its location.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO is the optimization of a family law website in its structure, page speed, and other items that are not visible to a website user (but are crucial for meeting Google guidelines).

Check out this example: A divorce lawyer in Missouri had a slow-loading website without the right call-to-action (CTA) buttons. After optimizing the page speed, H element structure, SEO plugins, and website caching to meet Google’s standards, the site was more responsive and enjoyed better rankings.

1. Website Design

The first part of technical SEO is website design, which is how a website is visually designed and structured.

A law firm’s website design must be user-friendly, appropriately structured, and provide a great user experience. If the website checks all these boxes, it is likely to rank better on Google.

2. Website Performance

Website performance refers to a website’s speed, absence of errors, and responsiveness, which determine its overall usability.

Website performance is crucial for SEO because search engines prioritize fast-loading, error-free websites. Google aims to provide an excellent user experience, so the better your law firm’s website performs, the higher its search rankings will be.

3. Hosting and Security

Hosting provides a server or infrastructure to store and make a website accessible online. In contrast, website security protects the website from threats like unauthorized access, data breaches, and malware attacks.

A reliable hosting service ensures that your family law firm’s website is accessible and fast-loading while establishing the proper security measures to protect against potential vulnerabilities. These two crucial elements help provide a trustworthy user experience, positively impacting search engine rankings and organic traffic.

Measurement of SEO for Family Law Firms

Measurement is the process of evaluating the effectiveness of your SEO strategies and efforts, and it is essential for family law firms investing funds into their SEO strategy. By implementing effective measurement strategies, the law firm can assess the impact of all SEO efforts to achieve the best ROI.

As a family law attorney, you must be able to track key metrics like website traffic, conversions, and search engine rankings, enabling them to see how much ROI is coming in from organic leads.

Objectives of Family Law Marketing Agencies

When working with family law clients, marketing agencies should have several goals.

• Delivering a strong ROI for family law firms
• Generating new leads
• Supplying a final product that aligns with each client’s goals
• Providing measurable results that directly impact a law firm’s growth
• Ensuring that each client sees the incredible impact of high-quality SEO services

Constellation Marketing Measures the Success of All SEO Campaigns

As marketing agencies aim to deliver the above objectives, they should review and measure several things.

1. How many first-page rankings have been achieved (specifically, top-five rankings, which attract the most organic traffic)
2. How many relevant first-page rankings have been achieved
3. How much website traffic has increased through organic users
4. How organic leads have originated (whether from landing pages and keywords, website forms, Google Business Profile, or another source)
5. How successful the campaign is based on the type, quality, and location of all leads

A qualified SEO team, like Constellation Marketing, continually analyzes its clients’ SEO strategy performance and conducts monthly reviews. The team should assess the number of organic leads in the monthly review and gauge the campaign’s success level.

They should also check to see if the family law firm is meeting its targets or underachieving. Lastly, they should determine the next steps for the SEO campaign and identify opportunities for optimization and growth.

FAQs

What is SEO for family lawyers?

Family law SEO refers to the strategies used to improve the quality of a law firm’s website to boost search engine rankings.

Why is local SEO important for family law firms?

It allows them to target specific geographical areas with tailored content, helping to attract more interest from prospective clients in the area.

Should I pay someone to do SEO for my family law firm?

Yes! Family law SEO is a complex, long-term process that requires skill, experience, research, and dedication to acquire the best results.

Top 3 SEO Mistakes for Family Law Attorneys to Avoid

1.  Family law firms typically want to rank in a specific location. A common mistake is to try to rank for a statewide keyword like “Divorce Lawyer Missouri.” Instead, the goal should be “exact location + keyword,” like “Divorce Lawyer Clayton MO.”
2. Supporting pages should focus on building information around the cluster you wish to rank. Adding pages not based on relevant topics (in an attempt to rank for keywords) is a common mistake. Remember: Supporting pages should be based on a relevant keyword supporting the targeted subject.
3. The last mistake is using the wrong metadata, such as a title tag and H1 (or no H elements). Using H1, H2, and H3 in SEO is essential because it helps with keyword optimization, indexing, content organization, and improved user experiences.

Add SEO to Your Family Law Marketing Efforts

At Constellation, we know how to put SEO to work for your law firm. With over 70 law clients and a solid history of helping firms increase their revenue by 300%, we’ve got you covered! Contact us today to see how we can improve your family law website and help you win more high-end cases.