Should attorneys work with a law firm or a general SEO agency?

Your legal office needs a website just as other businesses do. Attorneys have special needs for website content though due to the specialized nature of their practices. You might wonder whether you should retain the services of a law firm that practices in the area of Internet and online law to create your content or a search engine optimization (SEO) agency. The answer is you need a marketing agency that specializes in attorney SEO.

Attorney SEO Defined

The concept of attorney SEO leverages strategies to gain top of the fold search engine results page (SERP) placement for a law firm with organic means only as well as drawing in new clients. The two key elements of attorney SEO include educational legal content and appropriate keywords, both long-tail phrases and one-word keywords.

Writing Content Yourself as the Law Firm

You may think that as a lawyer that you could write the content yourself. You know the law. You know the precedent-setting cases. You know the latest Supreme Court rulings.

You do not know how to write for the Internet. It’s likely that no person in your office knows how to write for the Internet either. Writing a court brief varies vastly from writing a blog or website content. The two writing forms vary vastly from one another although both require SEO.

Most visitors to your website do not speak legalese. You must use content that the average person finds accessible to read and understand, but that explains the matters of law you need to convey. You do not change the topics; you hire or contract with writers who can capably write accessible legal blogs.

Hiring a Specialty Law Firm

Your first inclination might be to contract with a law firm that specializes in Internet law. While they could represent you well in court or settlement talks, your website should not read like a deposition transcript. While they know what you can legally say, these firms would probably write it in just the same legalese that you would.

That won’t work.

The law firm does know how to shepardize cases, but not how to craft SEO driven content. You need a set of writers who understand the law and legal topics, know how to do legal research, and know and understand how to apply SEO because they do it every day.

Hiring an SEO Content Creation Agency

Now we’re talking. Most SEO agencies take on general interest assignments much like newspapers hire general assignment reporters to cover most stories. Your law firm needs a content creation agency that knows SEO inside and out, but also knows how to research and write legal topics. A few agencies specialize in the area of legal SEO, also known as attorney SEO, providing web marketing for lawyers that’s done right.

This area of search engine optimization targets the legal specialties of a law firm as the target keywords and key phrases for the content. It devises SEO website copy for the main pages, then fleshes that out with a landing page for each area of legal practice. This means, for example, an attorney practicing personal injury law would have a landing page for auto accidents, but a separate page for motorcycle accidents. A third landing page would target worker’s compensation cases, while a fourth landing page would address pedestrian accidents. Each landing page would target SEO for the case type within the larger topic of personal injury cases.

The agency then creates a blog for the law office. The blogs may carry the byline of the attorneys or say the legal staff of [insert office name]. They are ghostwritten by professional writers specializing in legal blogging who have copious amounts of SEO experience.
These writers often have some legal education in addition to a journalism degree. They understand the essentials of Internet law, journalism law, advertising, marketing, and can read case law and briefs, then easily write about the topic in accessible, understandable language. This means your potential clients can understand the blogs easily.

The Importance of Content

Providing accessible educational content helps prepare your clients for their case. It reduces your workload since you have less to explain to your client. It helps your client ask better questions. Your landing pages and blogs act as a frequently asked questions (FAQ) for your areas of practice.

These SEO-driven content pieces also provide a larger readership than potential clients. The articles and blogs make y our website a legal resource. The plethora of SEO keywords used in the content on your pages help rank you higher in the search results. Attorney SEO done right helps you rank well in search engines, educate existing clients, attract new clients, and become a legal resource.