The legal niche is highly competitive in every respect, including SEO. In the constantly evolving game of search algorithms, law firms must also continue to update their strategies and adapt to new challenges. From local search optimization to EEAT scores, there’s a lot to learn! Let’s take a look at five of the main SEO challenges for lawyers in 2024, and the best strategies to overcome them.
Challenge #1: EEAT Scores
Google uses the EEAT scoring method to determine how it ranks pages in search results. EEAT stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. If you don’t have a high EEAT score, your website won’t get very much traffic.
How to Improve Your EEAT Score
- Your site and its content should reflect your experience and expertise as a legal professional. Try incorporating success stories into your content or highlighting your experience in specific areas of the law.
- To improve your authoritativeness, you should write clearly and knowledgeably on current topics, and include an author profile link on each blog post. Adding links to trustworthy sites (like the Department of Justice) and earning backlinks from other sites will also improve your score.
- If you do not have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, get one. An SSL certificate will improve your site’s trustworthiness because it encrypts communications between the web browser and the server.
Challenge #2: Mobile Optimization
Next, you need to ensure that your desktop and mobile sites are synced so viewers can easily read your content on any device. Since Google has been leaning more toward mobile sites for search engine results, this is an area you definitely want to pay attention to. Here’s how to make sure your desktop and mobile sites are running as a team.
Tips for Mobile Optimization
- Make sure your mobile site loads correctly—mistakes in formatting can drive visitors away.
- Ensure you are using the same structured data on both sites.
- Use short sentences and paragraphs in your copy for better mobile viewing.
Challenge #3: Site Speed
Because people will leave your site if it doesn’t load quickly, site speed is an important part of Google’s ranking system. An estimated 53% of visitors will leave if the page doesn’t load within three seconds. Therefore, site speed is another SEO challenge for lawyers to overcome. You’ll need to check the site speed for both desktop and mobile applications.
Tips to Increase Site Speed
- Reduce the size of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS files by compressing them.
- Limit redirects.
- Keep your design as simple as possible.
Challenge #4: Local SEO
Another common SEO challenge for lawyers is learning how to utilize local SEO. Many law firms have decent SEO strategies in the global market. However, if they do not localize their SEO strategy, they won’t reach many paying clients. By implementing a hyper-focused local search strategy, you can target a local audience and convert more clients.
Tips for Implementing Local SEO
- Create location-specific landing pages: Create a separate landing page with landmarks, street names, and neighborhood information for each location you’re targeting.
- Use localized keywords: Instead of broad keyword phrases, include location-specific phrasing like “divorce lawyer in Atlanta” or “personal injury lawyer in Phoenix.”
- Leverage Google Business Profile: Optimize your Google Business Profile to include accurate information about your business and the locations you serve.
Challenge #5: Technical SEO
You want everything on your desktop and mobile sites to work correctly, so learning the technical side of SEO is essential. Maintaining your website’s technical health will keep your site relevant, trustworthy, and professional.
Tips for Ensuring Strong Technical SEO
- Check for broken links and 404 errors regularly and fix them immediately.
- Make sure your website’s structure is easy to use and easy to navigate.
- Don’t forget to check for the “https” at the beginning of your web address. “Hypertext transfer protocol secure” is the primary protocol used to send data between a browser and a website. It signifies that your website is encrypted and secure, which makes it more trustworthy.
Overcome SEO Challenges with New Wine Digital
As 2024 continues, more SEO challenges will emerge. We listed some of the most common SEO challenges that law firms face and some tips on how to overcome them, but it takes real expertise to win the SEO game.
New Wine Digital can help you create a sound SEO strategy that will keep your firm one step ahead of the competition. Contact us today to learn how we can help you update your SEO strategies and attract more clients to your practice.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (8/15/2024) Image by LEANDRO AGUILAR from Pixabay