Local SEO for lawyers: a by-the-book plan to win at search

Why invest time in local SEO for lawyers?

These days, the vast majority of people in need of legal services search for a lawyer online, and if you’re not in the first three results (Google’s local pack), chances are they’ll go straight to your competition. Search is such a powerful marketing strategy for lawyers that you can expect as many as three in four potential clients to get in touch within one day of discovering your profile on Google.

Google’s local pack, a key goal of local SEO for lawyers

When a user searches “lawyer in [your location]”, you’re competing against all the other firms in the area for online visibility, and neglecting the work involved in local SEO for attorneys could leave you struggling for new business. 
But to make sure your legal firm is discovered in the Google SERP local pack, Google Maps, and the other important online business directories that many lawyers overlook, you'll need to invest in getting your local SEO right. 
Fortunately, there are some handy tools that make light work of scaling the lawyer local SEO ranks, and Semrush Local's Listing Management tool is the first one you need to put on your list to be sure no potential clients fall through the cracks.

Setting up your law firm’s online business listings

Citations are key to good local SEO for law firms. The most important place to have your business listed is Google Business Profile (GBP), which is also where Google Maps pulls data from. But Google is only one piece of the much bigger law-firm-local-SEO puzzle. One of Google’s ranking factors is prominence, which takes into account other websites and directory mentions of your legal practice. Google checks these resources for NAP data (name, address, phone number) and cross-references them with your GBP to make sure everything is consistent; if it isn’t, you can expect your rankings to be negatively affected.

A London law firm‘s profile on Google Maps

Take the time to fill out all your information to stand out from the competitors that have only done the bare minimum and prove to Google that you take local SEO seriously. 
Make the most of the 750-character limit for your description. Write about the legal services you offer and include local keywords to give your profile more chances to be triggered in local lawyer searches. 
Add your opening hours (including updates for the holidays) and include the right categories so people can quickly confirm whether or not you can help with their legal problems.

Local SEO tip: Save yourself a lot of time and trouble by distributing your local business listings with Semrush Local's Listing Management tool, which continues to work in the background to make sure all your law firm’s listings are up to date and accurate.

Happy clients boost local SEO for attorneys

It goes without saying that a potential client conducting a search for local lawyers is going to be looking at what people are saying about the firm. 
Google itself favors well-reviewed businesses, ranking businesses that actively generate reviews above those with no star ratings or an abundance of negative reviews.

The types of reviews that will help improve local SEO for attorneys

When you’ve concluded your business with a client, reach out at an appropriate time and ask them to review your legal services, perhaps with a brief suggestion of what to say that encourages them to include local and relevant keywords. If you get a negative review, don’t panic. Consider it an opportunity to reflect on what you can do better as a business to make sure it doesn't happen again. The occasional negative review is perfectly normal. If you think about it, a business with five-star ratings across the board doesn't always seem 100% genuine. As long as you’re in the 4-5 star range and you’re replying to everyone that leaves feedback, your profile should give users enough confidence to get in touch.

Keep your profile relevant with authoritative content

Google Business Profile allows owners to upload photos of the location and post content to keep users informed about what’s going on. The search engine favours businesses that keep their profiles up to date, so it pays to put together a content strategy to keep the posts flowing.

Google Business Profile posts used to boost law firm local SEO as shown in Google Maps

Photos of the premises and the legal team are a great way to build trust with potential clients. Seeing a few of the smiling faces they can expect to greet them will make people feel more comfortable about visiting your offices and will look far more appealing compared to a profile with no pictures at all. 
And don’t neglect the content on your law firm’s own website! Legal websites fall under the Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) category, which are judged especially strictly by search engines due to the potentially negative impact they can have on people’s lives, so it's important to do everything you can to help Google see you’re the real deal. 
Expert, authoritative and trustworthy (EAT) website content featuring the right local keywords not only boosts your organic positions, but also helps Google understand that you’re a genuine business with your clients’ best interests at heart (as well as lifting your local pack and Google Maps rankings). 
Barr & Young is one law firm that committed to its local SEO by creating lots of useful content for their website, as well as a few technical SEO improvements. 
The result was a 934% increase in organic search traffic and 6.5x the number of qualified leads.

Organic traffic stats as shown in Semrush

If your law firm has several offices, consider creating dedicated location pages for each one and linking to them from your GBP so it’s clear which areas your firm serves. Use structured schema to mark up the NAP data on these pages to help Google find it easier and embed a Google Map so users know exactly where you are.

Go further: Semrush Local's Listing Management tool is just one of many Semrush tools that can help with local SEO for lawyers. Use it in conjunction with Social Media Poster, which allows you to schedule content for all your channels, including Google Business Profile, as well as the Keyword Magic tool, which finds the right local keywords for your content.