In a follow-up to our previous blog “How to Perform Keyword Research” we take a closer look at long-tail keyword strategy and why targeting high-intent keywords is crucial to Law Firm SEO.
Many law firms assume that ranking well for simple keyword searches such as ‘solicitors London’ or ‘conveyancing solicitors London’ for example is crucial to their marketing strategy because of the ‘high search volume’. The common perception is that emphasis should be put on gaining high rankings for these seed keywords, believing that it is a reflection of how potential clients are likely to search for (and select) their solicitor.
The fact is, however, that most people (your potential clients) don’t search like this. The majority of the time most people are fact-finding or solution-seeking in relation to their case or legal matter, but might not even realise what area of law they need help with or even that they need a law firm or solicitor to solve their problem.
Concentrating all your time and marketing budget trying to rank for these basic seed keywords is not the most effective SEO strategy for various reasons, most importantly: –
- It’s hard and can take a long time to rank organically for these high volume basic searches
- Digital advertising such as PPC can be very expensive trying to compete for these terms
- When looking for a solicitor or law firm, your potential clients are not using these types of basic keyword searches, they do so via “long-tail” searches
Long-Tail Keywords
Including long-tail keywords in your content involves finding key phrases that makeup highly specific searches. They are a better representation of how potential clients use search engines to find law firms or solicitors. For example, whilst ‘Bankruptcy Solicitors London’ is more specific than “solicitors London” a long-tail search that is more relevant to this legal practice area might be:
- “What happens to my house if I declare bankruptcy in London?”
- “What happens if I liquidate my company in London?”
- “Can I get my money back if a company goes into liquidation?”
- “What do I do if I have received a director disqualification claim?”
These highly specific ‘long-tail phrases” resemble how your potential clients conduct online searches, how they are looking for information on their legal matter and using search engines to answer those queries. Whilst long-tail keywords have a lower search volume than seed keywords, competition is lower meaning that is it often easier to rank for and be found in relevant search results, and typically conversion rates are higher and better quality.
When the search is more specific, it is normally intent-driven meaning that they are looking for detailed information that solves their problem or answers their query. If your law firm provides high-quality content related to that query, providing useful information about their legal issue, providing information on your expertise in that area of law and how you can help them, there will be a greater chance of engaging with and converting that potential client.
Keywords for Law Firms
Discovering and understanding your client’s search intent allows you to create query-specific content. Seed Keywords are often too generic and don’t always reflect what the search is actually for. With one in three legal consumers using online services, it is vital that Law Firms take online marketing seriously, ensuring that being found online makes up part of their business development strategy.
Law Firms that focus on a combination of basic seed keyword searches and long-tail / high-intent phrases, creating content around these are much more likely to engage their audience and drive better quality visitors (potential clients) to their website.
Conducting keyword research with Long-tail targeting and converting it to strong content requires constant effort and can seem like a daunting task, especially when you need to be concentrating on servicing your clients.
Let FireTap deliver you a robust SEO and content strategy and write your Law Firm’s website copy. From blog writing to website writing and optimisation, our SEO and content development gurus do it all. We have years of experience in the Legal Industry with Law Firms of all sizes.
Like most SEO services, they work best with a long-term based approach, FireTap provides on-page website optimisation, as well as off-page optimisation and Social Media Marketing. We know Legal Marketing – talk to the experts today – contact us here.
