We have put together the most comprehensive techniques to make you an SEO expert. It’s the ultimate handbook to take your law firm’s bilingual SEO strategy and business to the next level and expand your clientele. So, are you ready? Read on to learn more about SEO for lawyers with us.
I’m a Lawyer, Do I Need an SEO Strategy?
The world has gone digital and when looking for services, Google has become the be-all and end-all for information and guidance. That is why from large corporations to SMEs and individual service providers, an SEO strategy is essential for your legal services to be found online.
Moreover, in the United States, and Houston, specifically, communities are multicultural, and catering to the unique needs of your customers requires tailoring your strategy to welcome them.
With this in mind, Alpha Co. Marketing & Media is offering a one-of-a-kind handbook on SEO for lawyers looking to boost their business through digital media… in more than one language. Our specialists, led by Juan Pablo Osorio, have a proven track record of successful campaigns (check out our work with PepsiCo’s “Juntos Crecemos”, Abogado Aly, and Casa de la Justicia!) and in this article, they are sharing their know-how to help you thrive in the digital world.
Your SEO Handbook to Bilingual SEO
At Alpha Co. Marketing & Media, we have put together a guide for you to learn the ins and outs of SEO and what it can do for you as you grow your legal business.
This handbook offers insight into:
- What SEO for lawyers means
- The power of keywords
- Google ranking factors and leveraging SEO for lawyers
- Developing a digital marketing strategy for lawyers
- Beyond translation: Bilingual SEO for lawyers
👉 Let’s dive in!
What Is SEO and How Important Is SEO for Lawyers?
Let’s start with the basics. SEO means Search Engine Optimization and refers to the process of driving more traffic to your website via a search engine (in this handbook we will focus on Google). The wonder of SEO is that it focuses on organic and unpaid traffic, which means people being driven to your page already have the intention to find your services, so all you need to do is to nudge them in the right direction.
How does this affect your law practice? You see, Implementing the right SEO strategy can help people find you instantly—and, most importantly, trust you instantly (you will learn about how this works further on).
The Power of Keywords in SEO for Lawyers
Ever wonder how search rankings work and how those that are featured on top of the organic results get there? Such is the power of keywords. They are words and phrases that customers type into search engines to retrieve information. Therefore, optimizing content means we are tailoring the content of our websites around those terms that indicate an intention from users.
Let’s take a look at an example of bilingual SEO positioning:
A bilingual (English/Spanish) couple with children in America is getting a divorce, and the mother is thinking of filing for full custody of the kids but doesn’t know where to start. She opens her laptop and types “custodia completa para madre” (“full custody for the mother”). While saying these words out loud to a normal person would sound unnatural, Google understands that this person is looking for a lawyer to help with her case (as mentioned above, a keyword can contain more than one word) and will produce results based on what it has read from the lawyers that have created content around the topic of custody.
In the gif above, you can see that the results that Google provides include the following structure:
- Sponsored ads (these are paid advertising and thus are not organic).
- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions).
- SEO-driven organic results.
The first SEO-driven organic result points to Abogado Aly, one of Alpha Co.’s success stories! This is because Google has read, analyzed, and understood that the woman might be looking for a lawyer to help her and pointed her in the direction of one who can do just that, based on the contents of their website.
Abogado Aly's Case Study
Keywords and Bots, a Match Made in Heaven
Huh? Not only can Google understand, it can also read? Indeed, search engines have automated bots that read your content and scan it for relevant information. They understand what your website is about, and their systems rank websites based on how relevant the information is.
Now, how does it come to that decision? It all leads back to keywords. You are going to discover what makes users tick and afterward apply it when building your site. Those same keywords are the ones you are going to include in your website so that Google can play matchmaker between you and your clients.
Therefore, if we circle back to our example, the more you mention “full custody for the mother,” the more Google’s non-sponsored results will take you to websites of lawyers who have written about this topic.
With this in mind, we will move on to the next step in the process: understanding what factors aid your ranking.
Google Ranking Factors and Leveraging SEO for Lawyers
Google’s automatic ranking systems are designed to sort through the myriad of information in its search index (we’ll circle back to this word!) to produce results that are the most relevant and useful for users. Search algorithms find signals that tell them how relevant your content is. This is where optimization comes in and why SEO for lawyers matters.
Here’s an overview of Google’s 5 ranking factors:
Meaning
In order to rank your content so that your customers find you quickly, Google needs to establish the intent behind the queries. To do this, they basically have a system that understands the connection between the words typed into their search bar and those on your website.
Relevance
After that, Google assesses whether your content is aligned with the information users are looking for. This happens when your content contains the same keywords as the search query. Whenever they appear on the headings or body of the text on your website, the information becomes more relevant. Also, the algorithms evaluate if the page has other relevant content, such as pictures, videos, or lists of keywords.
Quality
The prioritizing system detects content that shows expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. So, a good way to ensure you are providing quality content is to provide users with links to official websites, add reviews to your site and list your site on reputable directories where your contact information is displayed. In order to leverage SEO for lawyers, these could you can create an Avvo or Google Business profile, among others. As you build content over time, others will link back to it, and your reputation will grow in the eyes of Google. You should be mindful that this takes a bit of time, so patience is key.
Usability
This refers to the experience users have when on your site. Is your website mobile-friendly? Does it load quickly? Is it safe to browse? What is the layout like? How mobile-friendly is your interface? These questions can work as a checklist before going live.
Context
Search engines like Google use your location to match it to users’ search queries to deliver results that are aligned with their search history and settings, so it is very important that this information is included in your content.
Developing a Digital Marketing Strategy for Lawyers
Basics: checked ✅. Now let’s see how to implement these concepts and build your strategy to reach your audience by leveraging what we have learned about the benefits of SEO for lawyers.
Walk in Your Customers’ Shoes
As a lawyer, you inherently know what your customers are looking for but may have never had to actually think about it—nos is the time to actively retrieve this information. Remember keywords and meaning? Exactly! Guided by your knowledge of the industry and your clients, you will research frequent searches by your target audience, and use the results to structure the content of your website.
In the process, you will identify intent—what the user wants out of their query— which can be divided into three categories:
- Transactional Queries: These imply that the user is looking to buy products. For example, “Best hair care products” indicates someone is looking to purchase a good hair care product.
- Information Queries: In the same vein, if a user types “Hair care products,” they just might be looking for information on the topic.
- Branded Queries: These include the brand name as part of the keyword and usually don’t need much optimization.
In implementing SEO as a lawyer, some of the questions you might ask yourself to follow intent are the following:
- What keywords might users search for about your services?
- Which might users search to learn about a legal matter?
- And to contact a lawyer?
📌 Pro tip: Once you have started building content, keyword placement is essential. It should feature in the title, the headings, the body, the anchor text of links included, and the image alt. Text.
Writing and Publishing Your Content
💡 It should go without saying, but, besides following the guidelines mentioned, your content must be of amazing quality. So let’s create phenomenal legal content that conveys your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
- Expertise: Include your legal insights to show Google that you are on the same wavelength as your customers.
- Authority: You will convey authority in your field by showing how others trust you as they link back to your content (as we mentioned here). Keep in mind that this does not happen overnight, so patience is key.
- Trustworthiness: Customers will trust you because you will have a secure domain and offer a good user experience. Remember to take into account the mobile-friendliness of your design!
When creating your content, keep these aspects in mind:
- To support the information you are sharing, it is a good idea to link it to authoritative sites. For example, if discussing certain specific law in Texas, link it to the code that mentions said law.
- Use the selected keywords in the title, the meta description, and headings throughout the article.
- Call-to-action buttons and text will direct your audience to you.
- So as to enhance user experience, include pictures and remember to create alternative text so that Google can identify them. The technical aspect of how to do this will vary from one website builder to another.
- Finally, always remember to index the pages you want to be ranked so that search engines can have it on their radars.
Beyond Translation: Bilingual SEO for Lawyers
You cater to a bilingual community and need to reach your Spanish-speaking audience. Now, you might think that you need to translate your content—and you would be wrong. A language is the reflection of an idiosyncrasy and a way of communicating beyond what the dictionary says the translation of a word is.
Enter: transcreation and localization.
Your content needs to be adapted to your target audience’s needs, which means:
- Transcreating parts of your text to make it more persuasive, interesting, and appealing to your Spanish-speaking audience. This means combining translation and creative copywriting to better suit the needs of the target audience.
- Also transcreating calls to action.
- Conducting keyword research in Spanish (rather than translating the keyword)
- Choosing images that better reflect the Spanish-speaking community
- Replacing links with ones referring to sites in Spanish
SEO for Lawyers at Alpha Co.
Marketing and SEO for lawyers is an area of expertise for Alpha Co. We work alongside our clients to showcase their strengths and uniqueness and position themselves in the market. Alpha Co. understands that the most successful attorneys are not only those with the skills and qualifications, but the right marketing strategy behind them to propel their business.
We specialize in finding keywords that unlock your business’ success and structure amazing content. SEO is the backbone of what we do, so we design tailor-made SEO strategies for your business. These strategies are accompanied by backend support, our IT experts are at your disposal. What’s more, our team of world-class, bilingual writers helps you produce content that reflects and promotes your mission.
With our extensive background in legal marketing, we are your go-to partner and look forward to helping you grow your practice.
