SEO & lawyers natural referencing

You ask yourself why, when you search for”employment law lawyer” on Google, other people's sites appear in Top of the Google page and you at the bottom. It's unfair! Well, no, some Paying to be at the top of the search results (the SEA), while others have no Not paying a cent but have put in place an excellent SEO strategy to be among the first.

We explain everything about SEO for lawyers. Understanding what is it and why is important. Then we give you lots oftips and techniques to put in place to improve or implement your SEO strategy.

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Understanding SEO for lawyers

What is SEO?

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“Search Engine Optimization“or the natural referencing, it is the set of strategies that make it possible toReach the top of search results In a completely gratis. The aim is to put in place the best possible strategy to find yourself at the top of the search engines for attract as many visitors as possible on your site and increase your chances of getting new customers.

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A good SEO strategy Ask for time (a lot of time). La research, article writing, analysis of results, optimizations to be made, ... And you have to Be patient to see the results. It's an Slong term strategy that starts as soon as your website is created. You can quickly climb to the top of the search results, but also fall quickly. It is a real ascent that requires methodology, determination and times !

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SEO and Lawyers

‍Why is SEO essential for lawyers?

The majority of individuals are looking for information and services, Y including lawyers, in row. That's why a well-optimized online presence is paramount for lawyers in order to attract new customers. Once your site is up and running optimized and appears at the top of the search results, you attract in a way Organic Of patrons Interested by your services.

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Is SEO adapted to my working method?

First question to ask yourself, Does my working method allow me to do SEO. Concretely, if you don't produce content on the internet, that you Don't write no items And that vYou're not going to do it?, it will be hard To set up a complete and effective SEO strategy. SEO is suitable for lawyers who like write and share content on the internet.

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Is SEO adapted to my legal activity?

To answer this question, it is essential to know well its target and its methods of research in the field of lawyers. For example, if You specialize in employment law for senior managers, it is very likely that many of them will look for their lawyer on the internet. On the other hand, if you practice maritime transport law and your clientele consists mainly of dlegal directors of major ports or maritime companies, SEO will probably have a smaller impact.

💡 Our advice: If your target is a handful of individuals, go directly to meet them.

However, even in this case, it is possible to become a reference in a very specific sector and to position yourself around niche issues thanks to SEO. So the best way to definitively answer this question is to seek the opinion of the persons concerned themselves.

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Understanding search engines

google

Before embarking on the implementation of a strategy, you must understand and analyze the terrain in which you operate.

Search engines”, in fact, there is especially one: google. Google has 92% of the market share, so even if you hate the American giant and browse Bing or Yahoo, because you are a rebel, your customers are not. Typically, on Bing, we are in front of Predictice for the previous search “nice lawyer site”... It makes us a nice leg...

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During a Google search, The first 5 positions monopolize 90% of clicks! So you understood the objective is simple: be referenced as best as possible on Google.

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How does Google reference lawyer sites?

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To reference sites And the shelve, Google uses robots That is called”Crawlers“. These robots will explore the web, discover your pages and Index. That is to say the store in a huge database (index).

When someone does a search, the search engine goes Search this index to reveal the pages that most accurately respond to the search. Google uses algorithms Which will be based on the content quality of the pages, the loading speed of the pages, the page structure, the keywords used on each page, The authority of your domain, etc. to classify the results. To simplify, Google analyzes all SEO strategies and highlights the best ones.

Google's algorithms are not set in stone. They are in constant evolution and analyze the index again and again. This means that lSEO is constantly evolving. You can be missing from the top of the search results one day and put in place a strategy to appear there. Or conversely, disappear little by little at the expense of competitors.

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The different types of SEO for lawyers

To set up a good SEO strategy for your firm, there is 4 main areas to rely on. Commonly referred to as 4 pillars of SEO. They include all the optimizations to be made to maximize your chances of being well referenced by Google.

• The Onpage : It is about theoptimizing your content on your website.
• The Netlinking : Consists of obtaining links from his site to other sites relevant websites to improve your domain authority.
• The technical part : It's all that is related to the structure and performance of your site. 
• The SXO : Take care to improve the user experience on the site of your law firm.

Do not panic, we will explain everything to you in detail.

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Onpage: Optimizing the content of your law firm's website

Position yourself on the right keywords

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How do you choose your keywords?

Several tools allow you to help you choose the right keywords for your site and your content. This is the case with Semrush, Ahrefs or even the Google Keyword Planner. For our part, we use Semrush, which is paid to use it to its full potential, but offers 10 daily free searches.

The choice of keywords that you use on your site must be based on several criteria:

• Your target : Concretely identify what research your target audience is likely to do. Adapt your terminology to the vocabulary of your target audience. Avoid falling into the trap of overly legal jargon.
• The Volume : Consider the quantity of searches performed on a keyword. A high search volume indicates that the keyword is widely used. It is therefore interesting to position yourself on it and use it in your content.
• “Keyword difficulty” : The problem is that a keyword with a huge search volume often has a high “keyword difficulty” level as well. This means that a lot of competing content is positioned on this keyword and that it will be difficult to stand out.
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The key words for long trains

To differentiate yourself and position yourself at the top of the list of keywords, opt for Long tail keywords rather than generic keywords where there is strong competition. A long tail generally consists of 3 to 5 words less popular and less competitive.

To build your long trains here is a simple example:

• Generic word : “Lawyer.” There is an fStrong competition with all the avocados in France (and even the fruit). It is almost impossible to position yourself on this keyword.
• Les semi-generic words to add:”Labor law lawyer“. That shrunken The level of competition is already very high. Not always easy, but very interesting to position yourself if your content is qualitative. A lot of work ahead.
• The long trains, use specific keywords like”dismissal lawyer in Bordeaux“. There is certainly less research, but above all much less competition, which offers the possibility of Position Among the premieres search suggestions.

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Fewer search intentions don't necessarily mean fewer customers. Thanks to long lines, in addition to filtering the quality of your prospects, you will probably be much more visible than on a generic word that on paper knows a lot more research.

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Tags, URLs, and images

The title tag in blue below, and the Meta description Who is the short descriptive text under the title tag, are the premieres information that we see when we search for you on Google, and also among The first elements that Google Use for you reference on its search engine. Present on all the pages of your website, these items should be optimized to gain visibility and attractiveness. Avoid the off-topic, respect text lengths For not having cut beacons in the middle of the sentence and choose keywords that generate traffic. 👉 Learn all about title and description tags!

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Other elements of your website deserve consideration when choosing keywords:

• Tags HTML : Each page has a H1 beacon, iThis is the title of your page (en general, it's almost the same as your title tag). Then it's up to you to prioritize your pages with beacons H2 then H3 so on. Google looks closely at these tags for your SEO, so be careful in choice of keywords for the latter.

Attention, only one H1 tag per page, and avoid going from an H2 to H4 beacon without having an H3 in between! To make sure the job is done right, use the chrome extension Detailed SEO Extension

• Your URLs : Yes, URLs are also a medium to google to analyze and understand the structure of your site. So your URLs must be short and easy to understand for your users and Google. One URL name Who is linked to the content of the page Allows you to be better referenced and better rated by Google, such as a URL that uses relevant keywords (avoid special characters and numbers).
• Your images : Rename your images improves your SEO and allows you to be visible on Google image. Not sure if someone will find you via Google image, but do it for SEO, It will take you 10 seconds per frame.
• Alt tags : The Tags: descriptions of your images. Google can't (yet) analyze the images. Filling in their alt tag allows you to give context to Google for SEO and understand explicitly What you share with your image.

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Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

We strongly invite you to set up FAQ On your pages, services or other pagesS. Query-based searches Are enormously used by Google users. In addition to being a good reinsurance element to visitors to your site, it is a Great way to position yourself upon highly relevant keywords to attract your prospects and generate traffic to your site. You will find a good example of FAQ on our page: SEO Avocats Agency

In addition, a quality FAQ provides answers to questions that users of the search engine ask themselves, Google will perceive this as a added value for users and boost your SEO.

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Content strategy

Your content strategy is mainly based on two types of content: your blog articles and pages dedicated to your services.

Before writing your articles and pages, Ask yourself the right questions. Is it aboutA subject that interests my target ? Is there some trafficking on this type of content? Use tools like Semrush or Answerthepublic.

Then apply for apiece Of your items or each of your pages these recommendations:

• Position yourself on relevant keywords.
• Meta title and meta description.
• URL user-friendly.
• Internal and external links : Integrate relevant links to dOther pages or articles on your site (internal links) and reliable external sources (external links).
• HTML tags : Be sure to use HTML tags correctly to structure your content. Use title tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to prioritize your titles and subtitles. Search engines use these tags to understand the structure of your article and assess its importance. Only one H1 tag per page is the rule!

The 3 reasons for an independent lawyer to do content marketing

Be careful, avoid when writing your content keyword stuffing. The Google algorithm manages to detect content that is there to inform about content only there to “go viral.”

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The number 1 criterion, and the most important one for properly referencing content, remains the quality of the content.

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So think about your readers when you write an article or a page and Google will reward you, for this:

• Long articles, It's better, but Not empty of meanings. Google prefers articles with 3,000 words over articles with 300 words. As long as it is not devoid of meaning and interest.
• Long articles but short sentences!
• Create text levels : Put Headlines to your games, bold texts to facilitate readability and referencing.
• Integrate bulleted lists, of pictures, of quotes, and even videos !

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Netlinking: Get backlinks for my law firm's site

Authority and backlinks

What is a backlink?

Backlinks are links to your website from third party sites. For Google, this translates to a guarantee of quality, because other sites consider your site and use it as a reference. It is important to monitor your backlinks carefully, because if A good backlink has a positive impact on your SEO, there are also toxic backlinks. Google Search Console allows you to monitor your backlinks, identify toxic ones. Those on sites unrelated to the activity or on sites detected as unwanted by Google. You can then ask Google to no longer be assimilated to its sites.

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Authority

The authority of your site is the reputation, reliability and credibility of the site.

The more backlinks you have Of quality the higher the authority of your site will be. And you start getting to know the song. Guess who Good reference sites with high authority: Google!

How do I get backlinks?

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Building your backlink network is a bit like building a professional network: It requires time, initiative, and relevance.

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Here are some concrete strategies:

• Collaborate on items : write with partners in the legal field or sectors Related to get a link to your site.
• Webinar and Podcast : intervene suchlike expert. You gain visibility and get a link in return.
• Directory of lawyers/Networking site/Networks : registering on this type of recognized site allows you to have a significant quantity of quality backlinks.
• Professional networks : LinkedIn! Publish and share as much content as possible that links back to your site.
• Quality content : if your content is enough qualitative, people will share them organically.

Absolutely avoid backlink buying services, or “spamming”, i.e. sharing the link to your site en masse on forums or blog comments. Google manages to detect This guy Of intentions and will penalize you. Give priority to quality backlinks at the expense of quantity!

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Technical SEO: a good lawyer site is a healthy site

The third key point of SEO is technique. Google carefully analyzes your site on its points. Concretely, it is about the speed and architecture of your website.

Site speed

A light and clean code

Optimize the loading speed of your site to improve the user experience and improve your Google rating. A large part of this work will be done when designing your site.
A major point in doing this is to have a “light and clean” code. To do this, of course, you are not going to not code your site by hand. But use recognized tools to meet this need. We strongly recommend that you use standard CMS WordPress or Webflow. Avoid at all costs specialized site construction tools for lawyer. We wrote an article and made a video to teach you how to create your landing page on Webflow : It's happening here!

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The photos, videos, animations...

Each photo requires a greater or lesser quantity of resources to make it appear on your site. For limit the quantity of resources requested and optimize the loading time of your pages, choose a suitable image format and weight. For the preferred format The Webp format which makes it possible to maintain high image quality while reducing the weight of the latter. You can also compress your images in order to reduce them as much as possible (Tiny png 😉)! In general, it is said that an image on a website should not exceed 100kb.

For integrating videos, Spotify links, or other elements into your CMS, don't do Not a vulgar copy paste! This takes up a lot of space and will greatly slow down the loading of the page. To do this, you have to directly integrate the lines of code on your page!

Avoid putting tons and tons of animations on your site. Yes, it's pretty, but unlike us, you are not selling a website, You don't have to put a lot of attention on your home page to show that you know how to do a lot of things on the sites. For you, the objective is simple tosee a beautiful site, well referenced so that loads quickly! Animations require a lot of resources so take time to load. Anything Google doesn't like.

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Know the performance of your site

Pagespeed Insight is a Google tool that allows you to Know if your site is efficient, if it loads quickly and Put your finger on the various elements that slow down the loading of pages. Try to get a performance score as close as possible to 100. We let you try for your site: Pagespeed Insight.

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The architecture of your site

Google favors sites with aA simple and logical architecture. To be ranked as best as possible, Google must be able to analyze and Understand the network of your site. One well-designed navigation improves the user experience (UX), essential for keeping visitors engaged and encouraging them to explore your site further. In general, we talk about the 3-click rule. All your pages should be accessible in only 3 clicks.

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Site Map

A site plan is a structured representation of the different pages and sections of a website. It acts likee a skeleton upon which the site is built, Defining how pages are linked to each other and how information is organized and accessible. Creating such a plan will allow you to Define the goals of your site, ofavoid the creation of a labyrinth and optimize the experience of your users.

We created a template for you to start creating your site map and an article for a solid architecture: Create my site map!

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Prioritize your pages

If you combine all of your activities on the same page, a “mother” page, Google will categorize this page as the service page of your office, nothing more. Your services Will then not be not highlighted On the search engines. For this reason, we recommend creating “children” pages, dedicated pages for each of your services. Google will analyze them, observe that the title of your page (The H1 title) is the name of your service. And highlight your service on the search engine.

More content: an article on how to organize your services as a lawyer!

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SXO

The last thing to consider in your SEO strategy is user experience (THEM). google Will calculate through user experience How is it going its passage on your site While watching The number of clicks, the time that the user stay on the pages, his behavior, to assign a note to your site. In addition to The speed of loading pages, The architecture of the site and the way to present information that we have covered and which are crucial elements of SXO, you can take into account:

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Research intentions

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Each search carried out Has a specific intent. It's up to you to create adapted pages aux research intentions on which you position yourself.

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• Informational : the user wants find an answer to his specific question. Position yourself on this type of keyword and do commercial only, that is to say sell your services, will therefore not be effective or not very effective. Position yourself on this type of keyword for Establish your expertise, reassure potential visitors by answering their questions and finally, suggest appointments.
• Navigational : the user is looking for a page, site, or physical location very particular. The person has Already heard about you and seeks to reassure yourself by visiting your website, find information about you. Being visible on your firm name, last name and first name,... is a Obvious. Not being visible on it could be harmful to you because develops distrust among your prospects.
• Commercial : The user wants to find out about brands or services. Optimize your service pages, for be visible on the right keywords and answer questions that prospects and their present solutions For you stand out from the competition.
• Transactional : the user wants to perform an action (conversion). Being visible on this type of keyword is not always enough, link to specific pages with reinsurance elements and push as much as possible to make contact. These are often very competitive keywords So it's up to you to stand out or you position on long trains.
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Mobile First

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Mobile searches exceed desktop searches in quantity.

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It is on the basis of this observation that Google decided to favor “responsive sites”, That is to say the sites that adapt their display on mobile. In order to propose the best user experiences, Google passes the mobile version of your site in the foreground in its referencing algorithm, “Mobile First”! To put it simply, if you want to be The first on the search engine results you need a site designed for mobile and desktop. The importance of responsive design!

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International and local referencing for lawyers

Internationally

Your firm operates in France but also in other countries around the world. Be referenced internationally is therefore also becoming a major challenge. Think of translate your site with localized versions for each country where you carry out your business. Adapt your site in each of its countries, the browsing habits are not necessarily the same from one country to another.

Also think about translate your content. For video content, we recommend the HeyGen tool! We wrote an article and made a video on the subject: Discover Heygen. 

We wrote an article on how to create a multilingual site: Create a site in several languages

Local referencing

Optimizing your local SEO is an effective solution for legal professionals, in particular for Those in the provinces Who are facing with less competition compared to lawyers located in big cities. But even in Paris, you have your card to play.

Position yourself on local search keywords. Keywords that target a specific location. Combine sound main keyword with a neighborhood, one city makes it possible to be more visible in its target region. In the continuity of your netlinking strategy, try to get backlinks in local directories, pages of local communities or local news site.

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Google My Business

Create and optimize your form

Optimizing your Google my business page is an essential way to improve your local referencing. Your Google my business page allows you to be referenced on Google Maps Is winning drastically in visibility on Google.

For raise your chances To appear While Top of the searches On Google my business you have to:

• Position yourself on The right keywords even for your GMB card
• Name yourself so as to be as visible as possible”Cabinet X - Lawyers in (target request).” (Always taking into account the keywords, it may be more interesting to focus on “divorce” rather than “family law”)
• Complete as many fields as possible on your form to give a maximum information. Take special care of”the category of your activity“(use the best queries as before) and”The services offered“(same, use Google Trend or SEM Rush to integrate powerful keywords)

Let's try it with the following search:”Family law lawyer in Lille“. it is observed that:

• The avocados that are visible first have extremely positive ratings.
• They had the intelligence of put their specialty in their name.
• The lower competition in the regions means that the 3rd result is a lawyer who communicates the specialty only in the details of her file and not in her name but who outperforms thanks to numerous positive feedback.
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Collect as many reviews as possible

To increase your visibility and credibility, it is essential to invite your customers, acquaintances and partners to leave reviews on your Google listing. At the end of each service, Encourage happy customers to rate 5 stars to your business on your Google listing.

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Google tends to highlight listings with lots of positive reviews rather than those with no reviews or negative reviews.

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Learn more about Google My Business

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Analyze the results

Once you have all this in place, how do you know if your strategy and keyword choices are Effective ? We're going to have to parse and make tweaks to optimize your SEO strategy. For that a tool that you know, but do not use enough: Google analytics.

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Google Analytics 4

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It is a tool 100% free, which allows you to understand how users behave on your website. Know where traffic is coming from, how long a visitor rest in average On my site, what are the pages that attract the most people, etc.

Concretely, Google Analytics Give you the sufficient data To make a analysis of user behavior of your site, highlight your strengths and weaknesses and make decisions to build on your strengths or do the adjustments needed to work on your weaknesses. To know everything about Google Analytics: 👉 click here 👈

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Organic Search

Organic visits on Google Analytics describe and explain your traffic coming directly from search engine results. As part of an SEO strategy, it is the value that will interest you. This will highlight thekeywords that work, Your best referenced pages and the ones that are completely invisible. For example: your service 2 page generates little traffic compared to your service 1 page for a service that is however more common, compare the actions put in place and Apply these lessons to underperforming sections