If your small- to mid-sized law firm has a client-centered website that encourages potential clients to contact you to discuss their options, it’s easy to assume that this achievement will keep your firm visible and competitive. However, content marketing for law firms is far from a static, one-time endeavor. Instead, an effective and impactful law firm digital marketing strategy needs to be shifting and evolving to ensure that search engine algorithms (such as Google) continue to acknowledge your law firm’s website, blogs, social media posts, and other online content marketing efforts and rank them favorably among the search results pages. Just as search engine algorithms evolve to anticipate user queries and improve their ability to provide searchers with the most up-to-date, relevant, and trustworthy information, updating your law firm’s content marketing strategy on a regular basis will remind search engines of your presence and authority—which will maintain (or even boost) your search results ranking position. While there are many components to establishing an effective digital marketing strategy, this post will focus on the recent pivot from prioritizing keywords in search engine optimization (SEO) endeavors to investing in a newer SEO tactic called semantic search. Let’s take a look at how semantic search differs from traditional keyword search and how integrating semantic search into your SEO for lawyers strategy can help your law firm climb among the search results pages and engage with more potential clients.
Semantic Search as an SEO Strategy
Whenever a company wants to become more visible to potential customers, it will likely focus on implementing an effective SEO strategy. For many years, using keyword research and generating content that incorporated common search terms that users were the most likely to use when looking for information on a particular topic. Initially, websites that were full of keywords performed well, but the search engine algorithms began to favor a more organic approach to keyword research. Incorporating too many keywords became known as “keyword stuffing,” which negatively affected a website’s ranking among the search results pages because such websites prioritized the algorithm over engaging naturally and authentically with potential clients. The most recent SEO best practices involve semantic search. Google defines semantic search as “a data searching technique that focuses on understanding the contextual meaning and intent behind a user’s search query, rather than only matching keywords.” In other words, semantic search allows the algorithm to explore the deeper meaning and intent behind someone’s search by using alternate meanings of words and phrases, as well as considering the context of search terms. For instance, a search for “best estate planning lawyer in Seattle” used to generate results based solely on matching these keywords to web pages. However, with a semantic search model, the results can include other similar or adjacent terms (i.e., attorney, law firm, how to create a will, probate, etc.) that may be more relevant to the searcher’s intent.
Incorporating Semantic Search SEO for Attorneys
Now that we have some idea of how semantic search works, let’s take a look at how you can integrate this approach into your law firm’s digital marketing strategy. A good place to start is to review the current content on your law firm’s website. If it comes across as “keyword-stuffed” or overly spammy in its tone and style, it’s time to revise the content and make it more natural, conversational, and genuine. As you create new or revised content for your firm’s website, it helps to keep a list of relevant semantic keywords (i.e., terms that are related to your subject). While semantic keywords can be synonyms of the primary keywords, they also include terms that are closely related concepts. For instance, the field of personal injury law encompasses car accidents, slip-and-fall accidents, insurance claims, medical malpractice, and many other semantic terms that tend to be discussed within the same context as personal injury. So, how can you start to locate semantic search terms and integrate them into your law firm’s overall SEO strategy? Here are some places to begin.
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Use Google Autocomplete to Find Semantic Search Terms
When you type in the first few words of a topic, Google’s algorithm will provide you with a list of terms that it believes make sense in the larger context. You can use some of these terms as keywords and incorporate them into your website’s written content as appropriate. That way, searchers who use Google’s autocomplete function when conducting a search may be more likely to see your website or blog posts in the search results because the semantic search terms align so well.
Pay Attention to Google’s “People Also Ask” Questions
Whenever someone enters a question or topic into Google’s search bar, the most relevant results (and paid advertisements) will appear at the top of the page. When you scroll down a bit on the results page, you will see a section called “People Also Ask,” where Google presents similar questions that pertain to the original topic or question. You can use these questions as headings on your website, FAQ page, or blog posts as a component of your semantic search strategy.
Start Updating Older Content to Appeal to More Potential Clients
Once you have a solid list of semantic search terms that relate to your practice area, you can refresh the content of your law firm’s website to remove repetitive keywords and incorporate more semantic search terms. This process is referred to as content optimization, as it allows you to revitalize your older content to align more precisely with the latest SEO best practices and search engine algorithm improvements. As you create more client-centered content, the search engine algorithm will regard your law firm more favorably and begin to move your position higher among the search results pages. If you are interested in learning more about how working with a trusted legal marketing professional can provide you with high-quality law firm SEO services, reach out to LegalRev today.
Just because your law firm has a digital marketing strategy doesn’t automatically mean it is delivering you your desired results. Your law firm deserves a customized and data-driven content marketing strategy that’s specifically designed to grow your practice and engage more clients. Give LegalRev a call today at (800) 893-2590 to learn more about how we can help you take your digital marketing efforts to the next level.
