Photo courtesy of Emrah TuruduWhether it’s crafting the perfect logo, creating a catchy tagline, or owning the best billboard in town, professionals in the legal industry aim to establish reach, build awareness, and generate leads for their brand.
While the aforementioned factors certainly play a role, lead generation and brand awareness are much more difficult than they used to be, specifically through the competitive channel of organic search dominated by specialists in search engine optimization (SEO).
For those who may not know, organic search is a method of finding information by entering keywords or phrases into a search engine and sorting through pages of results of content that the search engine believes will satisfy your query.
Today, the best example of this is Google. This search engine has evolved into the one-stop shop of the world in terms of meeting any request from, “Where is the closest gas station,” to “Should I hire a divorce attorney?”
The user will typically be met with more than a few million options (sometimes a few billion) in less than one second.
Because of this, it will take more than name recognition or having many years in a specific industry to dominate organic search, which is a marketing channel that is growing ever more valuable in the legal space.
In fact, according to a collection of statistics aggregated by The National Law Review, 96% of people seeking legal advice use a search engine. If your practice is not implementing SEO strategies, you will be missing out on a paramount touch point in an individual’s journey to finding legal help, regardless of your branding efforts or history.
Great branding can create a plethora of value for your practice, but the value of branding brings only a marginal benefit to your organic search presence because of the nearly 200 factors that search engines use to understand your website and use it as a top result.
When it comes to SEO you must consider technical aspects of your site, the content of your site, and user experience. There are even factors entirely separate from your site that weigh, in such as how many other websites are linking to yours.
Despite these considerations, some people might still be wondering, “If someone Googles X term related to my site, they’ll see our name and immediately recognize us.”
Unfortunately, that’s not how things work.
You are competing with tens and sometimes even hundreds of other local legal practices in the same niche or practice area for real estate on the search engine results pages.
If you have a blog post about a general question unspecific to an area, then you can change those competitors to millions and tens of millions.
If your competitors cover the first page of the search engine results page, where does that leave you? Is there a chance at clicks for the second page and beyond?
In short, using SEO to work toward better placement is much better than hoping for someone to find their way to the second page and beyond.
According to SEO Hacker, a sample of search engine results page data shows that more than 89% of clicks occur on the first page, with more than 25% of those clicks going to the top three spots.
If you’re not on the first page, then chances are you will never be found for broad and general terms that perfectly match one of your service areas or a blog you recently wrote.
If you are not the first site a user decides to click on, then you’re typically out of luck, as 72% of people who go on to hire an attorney have contacted only one attorney.
It is riskier than ever to heavily rely on your brand recognition and the value of your name, as many search-engine users are entering queries without a brand name.
When someone using a search engine makes a query without including a brand name, this is where SEO kicks in and fights for your practice. Capturing these non-branded terms are vital as 62% of legal searches are non-branded, according to The National Law Review.
This means that more than half of the people seeking information about legal related topics are searching without a specific firm or attorney in mind.
So how can a law firm or lawyer make sure that they are one of the top results for the search queries they want to appear for?
Your brand certainly won’t carry you there.
And even if you have the best website in the world, with the most in-depth articles, the best images and visual tools, and have a team of the most talented and knowledgeable attorneys in the world, users simply will not be able to find you if an SEO strategy is not being implemented.
When it comes to your top services and your best blogs that answer people’s concerns, you want these to be one of the first touch points on a qualified lead’s journey.
This is more important than ever, as there is an 87% chance that people who contact an attorney go on to hire one.
I am not endorsing SEO as a replacement to branding. Both of these practices are vital to succeeding in the modern-day landscape of marketing and, more specifically, digital marketing.
However, organic search has cemented itself as a cornerstone of developing the best marketing, lead generation efforts, and thought leadership. Additionally, Google, as we know, is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Rather than regret brushing off SEO, there is no better time to begin than right now.
SEO, much like branding, is a long play. Whether you plan to handle SEO internally or are considering hiring an agency to manage your search presence, the process can take more than a few months to kick in.
But I promise you, the rewards will pay dividends. Unlike pay-per-click advertising, your SEO efforts won’t disappear the moment someone outbids you for a position.
A healthy, white-hat SEO practice fosters growth throughout your site. When a few pages are performing well, it elevates your entire website.
There are also many more bells and whistles to Google than there were years ago.
Tools like Google’s Local 3-Pack show the value of local search and better connect users with a local business.
The featured snippet provides a chance for websites to create a short, insightful answer to a common question and be featured above the true top result in a coveted spot known as “Position 0.”
Google is not looking to supercharge industry giants who already dominate organic search and beyond.
Search engines like Google realize that users are the driving force behind organic search. It is their habits, interests, and pain points that motivate constant improvement to their search algorithm.
If you feel that your law practice has top-quality insight and knowledge to provide to people seeking legal advice, then SEO is your best bet to make your voice heard, connect with your community, and associate your brand as a go-to legal resource.
Joe Giovanolli is the founder and CEO of 9Sail, a search engine optimization (SEO) and business process company based out of Fairfield, New Jersey.