As social media experts will tell you, the best place to hide a body is the second page of search results on Google. For any law firm, SEO is the number one tool for ensuring that you make the kind of impact that you’re looking for when your potential clients search for you. Search engines are your best friend when you’re looking to make an impact on the local market but they’ll bury you if you don’t use them correctly.

Here are four tips for ensuring you make the kind of impact you’re looking for to boost your online presence.

1. Start A Blog

When people use a search engine to look for something, they’re either looking for a specific service or they’re looking for the answer to a question. Your law blog is your secret weapon to ensure that you capture both types of searches. Start by giving responses to common legal concerns and end each article with your services as the solution to those problems.

A blog is also a great way to connect with your local audience. You give readers the opportunity to learn about your law firm and your specialty. Every firm has either a specialty or a set of lawyers with their own specialties.

Let everyone know who your partners and staff are. Have your lawyers write anonymized accounts of people who they’ve served or helped in the past. Armed with these stories and the positive results you’ve seen, potential clients make more informed decisions about whether to work with you.

Search engines also reward URLs that have a blog with higher search engine rankings. Search engines promote sites that are frequently updated. Your blog gives you the opportunity to update your URL often with useful content relevant to searches.

2. Seize Business Directories

In the absence of the yellow pages, there’s no way to find out about companies the way that we used to. Lucky for all of us, it’s actually easier and more informative.

Those old thick directories required us to thumb through them and make cold calls for hours. With business directories as they stand now, we find out about businesses, their hours, locations, and even reviews of them all with a quick search.

Business directories are the ket yo success for your business, as they’re often the first impression that people see when searching for firms like yours.

Since business directories have star ratings attached to them, its vital that you seize those listings as soon as possible. If one bad client goes out and decides to write a bad review and it’s the only one out there, they’ll wreak havoc on your ranking and ability to get clients.

Stary by getting control of all of the business directories from Google My Business to Yelp and Avvo. Then reach out to some of your best and most important clients requesting a review on these sites. Based on your specialty, you’ll have a clue as to what sites your clients use the most, so focus on them.

3. Promote On Social Media

Social media is more than just a place to get into political arguments with your in-laws or to see videos of cats playing air guitar. Social media is a marketing tool for savvy entrepreneurs and law firms around the country.

Firms have realized that social media is a powerful way to target their market very directly. By using the tools that social media sites provide, companies can target their audience carefully and directly. Instead of sending out a huge mail blast or buying a billboard that will leave wasted impressions, social media an filter people down to age and location carefully.

Don’t put all of your ad dollars into social media, but look at it as a tool for getting your name out to the people who need to see it the most. Social media is your best bet for letting people know who you are, what you specialize in, and what your firm’s name is.

Given that it takes about seven instances of seeing your firm’s name before people remember it, social media gives you the tools for expediting this process. Promoting your brand on social media gives you the chance to get the impact you’re looking for at a low cost and with low effort.

4. Use The Right Keywords

If you’re not using the keywords that your clients need, you’ll miss out on lots of search results and struggle to have the reach that you’re looking for. While keywords aren’t everything to SEO anymore, they still make a big impact.

If you don’t know where to begin with keywords, start off with a few test searches on your own. Try using a search engine to find your law firm without using the name of your firm. Search based on location and specialty and find out how high you rank.

If you’re not ranking as highly as you’d like, change the way that you’re using your keywords. You need to use your location, neighborhood, and city name as often as is reasonable. Be aware that Google searches for intent, so don’t spam your own page by adding nonsensical sentences or phrasing.

Make a list of the keywords that you rank highly for. Make a second list of keywords that your competitors rank more highly than you do on. Incorporate more of these keywords into your page and your blog posts.

Law Firm SEO is the Law of the Marketing Land

If you’re not prioritizing your law firm SEO marketing plan, you’re spending dollars in the wrong place. Your law firm needs a strong SEO plan to make the impact you’re looking to make on the market. Focus your marketing efforts here and you’re sure to get the kind of response you’re looking for.

For more tips in online marketing, check out our latest guide.