In digital marketing, SEO is one of those tactics that never work with a one-size-fits-all approach. However, there are standard expectations when hiring an agency to offer law firm SEO services. It’s really important to have an in-depth discussion with the law firm SEO agency regarding how they are planning to support you to achieve your law firm’s goals. Ask the right questions to understand what kind of law firm SEO services you’re signing up for and the expected ROI. Here are some things to expect when you hire a reputable law firm marketing agency to offer SEO services.
Spends time getting to know your business
Before the agency starts implementing its SEO services, they must take time to learn your business. It doesn’t matter if the agency specialises in law firm SEO; they need to really understand your practice, its audience, and competitors. If you’ve shared your goals, this could be a great place to start. You’ll need to have several brainstorming sessions with the law firm SEO agency so that they can get to connect with your business and have a deep understanding of what it stands for. The agency will only be able to develop a winning SEO strategy once they understand your law practice.
Performs SEO audit
Secondly, an SEO audit has to be conducted on your law firm’s website. Most law firms have never really been through an audit of their website to help uncover areas of improvement. SEO audits are critical for law firms because they help to highlight key performance concerns such as low page speed, duplicate content, complex navigation, and bulky images that could hinder the site’s success. Once this audit is conducted and areas of improvement are identified, the agency offering SEO services can get to understand the tasks that need to be carried out in order to optimise your ROI. In most cases, the law firm SEO company will share the results of this audit process to keep you informed on the next steps.
Performs extensive keyword research
Another critical aspect of SEO services offered to law firms is keyword research. The law firm SEO experts need to understand what keywords or terms you want to rank for before they can develop a suitable strategy for your practice. The keywords they choose as part of their strategy will depend on what you can realistically compete for in order to get maximum ROI. Keyword research for your law firm’s website can be done using different tools, so find out which one the agency is going to use and what next steps they intend to take after this process.
Consistently monitors site’s performance
As soon as the agency begins offering local SEO - on-page and off-page SEO services, they need to track performance on an ongoing basis. There are tools that a law firm SEO expert can use to monitor the website’s performance and traffic levels. Key metrics such as rankings for specific target keywords, bounce rate, CTR and pages viewed per session should be monitored and progress reports sent over to the client. Constant monitoring is key as it helps to ensure that the strategy they are using is indeed working. The reports also allow the client to understand what tasks are being carried out by the agency and ask any questions they might have to get maximum ROI.
Frequent site health checks
SEO services will also entail site health checks which are done to ensure that your web pages are always running smoothly. For instance, the law firm SEO expert will check to ensure that search engine robots are crawling your site as they should and issues like broken links, duplicate content and poor backlinks are dealt with immediately. Most companies that offer SEO services have a web development team to fix these technical errors and guarantee the consistent performance of your law firm’s website.
Remains transparent throughout the process
Agencies that help market law firm websites should also remain transparent throughout the project. If you need to communicate with the agency, they should be clear and realistic about the tasks done, how goals are met and your expected ROI. If the agency is not clear on the tasks being carried out and why, consider this a major red flag. SEO is never straightforward, but there can be clearly laid out plans on how to improve rankings for law firm websites. Even though some techniques may not work, the agency should inform you of their law firm’s SEO strategy and have an actionable plan.
Offers reasonable turnaround time
SEO is complex and often takes time before you can see some significant improvements. This form of legal marketing doesn’t guarantee immediate results. That said, you need to partner with an agency that is very realistic regarding the expected ROI. You should equally be cautious about any digital marketing expert that promises law firm SEO services that offer quick results. It may take months before you can see a steady stream of increased traffic and revenue. However, as soon as you start making incremental improvements in your SEO efforts, you should begin to see some positive results.
The SEO firm must deliver results
If you’re considering using SEO to boost your legal services online, expect nothing but positive results from a reputable agency. Look for an SEO company that really wants to get to know your practice and asks as many questions as possible to ensure they understand your goals and what you’d want to achieve. At the end of the day, the winning SEO strategy will be the one that helps your law practice stay ahead of the competition and successfully converts online users into clients.
Make sure you pick an SEO company that is willing to work closely with you and be an extension of your team. This way, you’ll see improved performance and a good ROI.
