What To Do When Your SEO Formula Doesn’t Work?

This month’s Ask SEO question comes from Heather, who asks:

“Do you find that sometimes even your best ranking formula doesn’t make sense? I advise employment lawyers on how to write. However, I find that the “formula” doesn’t work. Have you found that you can’t even get it to work? A loaded question, but I hope you know what I mean.”

Great question, Heather, and not as loaded as it originally sounds. It’s easy to solve if you don’t think too much about it.

When you use the same approach for law firm SEO or any niche SEOyou create the same experience for search engines.

Search engines need the best experience – not the same. That’s why using similar strategies doesn’t work.

See how each law firm is unique and use that as a strength.

Identify who in practice can become part of the brand (including any partners with media potential), what their specialties are, and how to approach each law firm’s strategy differently.

The answer below also applies to e-commerce, service providers like your clients, and publishers, so this post benefits all readers.

But I’ll stick with lawyers because that’s the example our questionnaire provided. If anyone wants an e-commerce or other topic, feel free to send it and I’ll be happy to answer.

Why SEO Formulas Don’t Work for Law Firms

The reason why the same SEO formula doesn’t work, even if they are the same type of attorney, is because every firm is unique.

Unique in this regard is having nationally licensed attorneys and providing full coverage.

Some may be multi-location versus one location in a city or state, and others may be a boutique law shop specializing in a single niche. Each will have different needs and different abilities, so the formula must change.

If you’re not creating original and unique strategies for each law firm client, you’re not giving search engines like Google a reason to show them. That’s why the formula doesn’t work, and your clients are at a disadvantage.

Larger law firms have additional people to talk to the media; they can go out and litigate and get backlinks from cases.

Businesses with multiple locations have more opportunities for a Google Business Profile and more opportunities for community service and increased exposure.

They will also need individual location pages versus one location, which provide them with more localized content for city-based queries. And companies that get cases that go viral in their space can get media attention.

This results in an increase in branded searches and backlinks, leading to easier SEO for competitive conditions.

The clientele is also different. If an employment firm deals with small business or personal injury compared to business corporations and large accounting, the language levels and terminology must change because you are writing for people who use different jargon and language levels.

If it’s a non-governmental organization versus a for-profit organization, there are different phrases and rules they must follow. This means that the levels of writing, the types of sources and the information they provide must differ because they have different clientele and the type of audience they want.

Going into huge corporate accounts means having content for assistants that meets their needs as they research, and executives where you have summaries that make sense of why they’re looking for a law firm.

They have a general counsel who will review your case and look for something completely different.

If it’s a small business, it’s easier to adapt to a single page that talks to the owner and builds his trust. Same niche, different target audience, different website experience need a unique strategy.

Here are some of the ways I would adapt an SEO strategy for law firms, if I only worked in one specific niche. Then on top of that I would implement unique strategies based on attracting their specific target clients rather than being generic.

Build digital PR and trust

I’m not talking about link building here; I’m talking about brand building. When attorneys and partners are well-known entities, that carries over and can help build brand trust.

Bigger cities like New York, Chicago or Dallas have more opportunities than smaller cities, but every region has media opportunities.

Make a list of media companies, bloggers and community resources, including city and town government forums, and see who’s talking about employment and employment law.

Now check out the topics they cover. This can be anything from discrimination to employment, job loss and dismissal or employee and employer rights.

These are hot topics throughout the year and opportunities to showcase your clients. Once they’re media trained, get them on TV, in the columns as experts, and on stage at community forums as experts.

This results natural backlinks when executed correctly, it leads to people searching for them by name and brand, which can signal to search engines that there is something to it.

If your client receives a case that is relevant to the topic the reporter is covering, highlight it as a recent blog post or PR article to give the reporter an added incentive to use him as a subject matter expert.

Once your client becomes a well-known entity and a leader in their field, their profile on the law firm website will become a link attractor, perhaps a knowledge panel, and there may be bookmarks available to help you do this.

Improve visibility with schema

You will want to organizational chart with legal department (also applies to local businesses) and the area served. For individual locations, cover their city, state, or location where they are licensed and provide services.

If there are multiple locations, implement the service area schema on each location page. And don’t forget that it exists lawyer scheme, too.

Since you work with employment law firms, you may want to add references to them this page on Wiki data or corresponding Wikipedia data from an additional type to build relevance to the type of legal services offered.

Optimize your company profile on Google

If they have a physical location, create company profile pages and do your best to get customers to leave reviews and feedback.

You want to fill out all the pages as usual, and if clients want to know if you want them to say something, highlight specific tasks and common situations you’ve handled for them.

And if others have asked questions about their law firms, your clients can answer questions based on their own experiences.

Be sure to fill in all the offered services and fields. The more accurate and up-to-date information you give the search engine, the better it can show your customers.

Develop distinctive copy

Content should not be the same strategy for every client even if they have the same types of customers.

You, as an SEO, need to create a completely unique content plan and ensure that others are not doing the same thing.

Google only needs one resource, so the same strategy for two similar law firms means that only one can win or neither will if they are both the same because the third firm will be unique and take over.

It’s easy to develop strategies for a unique experience.

Some law firms publish their success stories as informative guides on both the client’s reading and writing level.

Both will have unique brands and voices and will use them to satisfy their potential customers.

Don’t make them talk about what they’ve done for their clients; have them discuss the problem the client had and the steps taken to solve it.

By sharing the problem they face and using the words their clients use, the law firm speaks their clients’ language.

This helps create a resource that potential clients will find when looking for solutions to their current situation.

By providing a resource that includes common misconceptions, pitfalls to avoid, and how a happy client came to a solution, the law firm builds trust and can create a lead when the person is done reading.

Ensure the testimonials are relevant

One of the biggest failings I see with SEO and conversion optimization law firms is outdated and irrelevant testimonials.

This can also be unique copy and build trust. Make sure all statements are:

• Aligned with the theme or theme of the page they are on, not site-wide.
• The customers are similar to the customers the company wants by name, company size and type of work.
• Explain the success of a specific legal situation that matches the call to action so the prospect knows you have experience solving legal issues for their needs.
• Each is up-to-date and accurate. You don’t want potential clients to think that your law firm hasn’t won a case in years or that it’s unfamiliar with current best practices in employment law.

The bottom line is that you can’t use the same strategy for every practice because each is unique and search engines only need one experience.

All of your law firm’s clients will need title tags, schema and content, but the PR work, on-page copy and authority building must be original and play to their strengths so that the pages meet the needs of their prospective clients.

If you’re not creating original and unique strategies for each law firm client, you’re not giving search engines like Google a reason to show them.

That’s why the same SEO formula doesn’t work when applied to multiple clients. Hope this helps.

More resources:

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Featured Image: Paul Poetry/Search Engine Journal