According to statistics from the American Bar Association, there are more than 1.3 million active lawyers in the United States. These people work at thousands of different law firms throughout the country. Even though each lawyer has the goal of protecting their clients’ best interests and helping them achieve the outcome they hope for with their legal cases, each person offers different services, techniques, and skillsets. When it comes to landing clients, lawyers must be able to be competitive.
Law firms need to stand out from all other firms in their areas that are best able to secure clients and help them with their legal needs. One of the best ways to market your services is by using adequate and relevant citations on your websites. Although this may seem like something with minimal impact, providing citations throughout your site can help to prove your mastery of legal topics and let readers know that you offer top-quality services they can depend on.
Our team at Actionable Agency, LLC has extensive experience crafting reliable citations that are effective in helping our clients secure top ratings on Google and other leading search engines. Contact our team today to discuss your law firm’s needs and how we can help you achieve your goals.
For years, many businesses have turned to Google Map Citations to help their business stand out from the competition. Whether you are trying to assert your services locally or aiming for the national explosion, this invaluable tool is available to help you get recognized. Google Map citation is essentially data about your business location. This information is published across the web. Including key contact information about your business – like your law firm’s name, street address, city, state, zip code, and website URL – can help to maximize the exposure of your firm and bring clients to you. This information will appear in various directories and on numerous website resources that Google and other large search engines use to determine the relevance and the accuracy of your business location as specified.
Google Map citations are another useful tool that can help propel your business to the top ranks of search engines around the world. The most dependable Google Map citations that utilize local SEO are consistent with your Google business page. The information contained on your Google Business page should be an exact match to your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on all external websites and directories.
When it comes to boosting your law firm’s reputation, directories play a key role. Large search engines like Google prioritize some directories over others. For this reason, links to your business must be real and function properly. Including your business’s NAP in a more esteemed directory ultimately increases Google’s opinion of your business, thus boosts it higher in Google search results. When local directories that feature your NAP become more reputable, it will place higher in search results, thus presenting information about your firm to a larger audience.
The key to higher visibility isn’t just in the number of local citations that feature your business’s NAP, but rather the total number of high-quality local citations that feature the NAP for your business. Google’s unique algorithm not only focuses on bringing up citations for users but more on high-quality citations that are going to provide them with reliable and accurate information that can help them.
Given the unique way Google sorts citations, your business’s NAP is likely to appear in multiple reputable online locations in any given area. As a result, more people in that specific area will be able to find your business through the use of Google searches. Google, in particular, uses three types of searches that are more likely to be affected by the number of local citations. These include Google Maps searches, searches with the “near me” feature, and general searches. After a user submits a query for a law firm through Google Maps, the interactive map features only high-quality law firms listed in local directories. The first set of law firms to appear on the interactive maps will be the ones that have the highest ratings. Those with less visibility are seen when users access the zooming-in feature or pan throughout the map. The law firms that pop up as users move around the map are those with lower rankings on Google search.
Users who use the “near me” feature to search for law firms will be presented with a list of three law firms during their initial search. A general search for a law firm will show similar results. However, a Google Map and an abbreviated list of law firms near to the user will produce a series of links to law firms that work across the nation. It is important to note that the law firms listed on the search pages are more reputable, those in local directories and have received some of the best reviews among users in comparison to other law firms.
That being said, local citations within directories only go so far when it comes to boosting your website’s ranks. It is crucial that you set a presence in your area. Doing so effectively will help create the foundation that you need, combined with a strong word of mouth, to increase your law firm’s staying power. Online reviews can help to encourage others to retain your law firm for their legal needs. Although the proximity of a business to the user performing the search is important, a large number of positive reviews can have a major impact on whether your website ranks highly on their search results. With the guidance of marketing specialists from Actionable Agency, LLC, first-party reviews (including those on your law firm’s website) will appear on Google search results pages right below the link to your firm’s site. Allowing others to see the high-rankings that real clients provide your firm, you are more likely to increase the click-through rate for people looking for legal services such as what your firm provides by around 154%. Our services can help your firm more than double the number of visits to your website and help you secure clients.
In addition to reviews provided on your website, our team can help your website show reviews from Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook, and others that are not typically considered in Google’s algorithm. These reviews, combined with reviews on your website, can help let potential clients know that they can trust you for legal guidance. Having a consistent rating across all platforms can help to enhance your firm’s credibility. For this reason, having people leave reviews on both your website and a variety of others can help strengthen the appearance of your business online.
At any time, you can pull out your phone or sit down at your computer and search “top lawyers in Dallas, Texas.” Google will produce a list of law firms that best fit your search. Google uses intricate criteria to sort law firms and display them according to various factors. Local citations are those made up of a total of seven different points of data. This data is used to produce a local citation that best fits your search needs. The seven points of data used to create local citations include:
Collectively, this data is used to create the local citation for your law firm. This helps Google rank your website among others when users search online. More specifically, searchers will use local SEO citations to find your business.
Local SEO citations are those which incorporate your law firm’s seven points of data combined with the specific terms that people are using for their Google searches (remember the “top lawyers in Dallas, Texas” above). Local businesses utilize Google Map citations to help build authority and consistency for their business across the web. Engaging in local SEO citation building can help launch your website to the forefront of Google search results pages and help your firm get noticed. To learn more about Google Map citations and local SEO citations, contact our team at Actionable Agency, LLC. Our team is available to discuss ways that we can help your business succeed.
Citation link building simply refers to you incorporating your website URL into local SEO citations to help draw potential clients to your site. Building citations for your business that include an accurate URL to your website can help you reach more readers and draw them into your law firm. After all, what good is seeing the name of your law firm, and all you have to offer, without telling people how to read about your firm and how to contact you for a consultation or to retain your legal representation?
By placing your local SEO citations with links across an array of websites, you are essentially creating a citation portfolio. The more reputable and reliable web pages you place your information onto, the more people are likely to find your law firm. Although we want to believe that we can simply go to a hundred different web pages and list our information on all of them, this may have some negative consequences on your business. When you place your information on blacklisted web pages, spammy websites, and untrusted URLs, you are likely to harm your law firm’s reputation. In some ways, Google Map citations are similar to backlinks we see across the World Wide Web. Google utilizes citation analysis when determining how websites rank for local search results. Rankings often take into consideration the relevance and authority of the website and the citation sources, the number of citations your business has, and the consistency of NAP provided in your citations.
Instead, you must source reputable platforms to incorporate your business citations onto. One of the most effective tools available online for law firms are legal directories. These directories, commonly referred to as lawyer directories, can help you reach hundreds of thousands of unique users daily who are interested in services that you offer directly.
Before jumping ahead and listing your website on law firm directories, it can help if you research these platforms, what they have to offer, and what websites are reputable. Our team at Actionable Agency, LLC has extensive experience helping law firms rank higher than their competition by building effective citation portfolios through the use of Google Maps citations and legal directories.
In 2012, Google began de-indexing directories that appeared to be filled with spam. They also began to devalue links that are present on these websites. When it comes to ensuring that your firm’s site ranks highly on Google search result pages, your website must be submitted to quality legal directories. Taking this initiative to expand your online presence can help more people discover your firm, view your website for information, and seek legal assistance from you.
Given the fact that there are hundreds of law firm directories, and more popping up every day, it is important to note that no two directories are the same. Each offers its take on the information, sorts firms to their standards, and incorporates an algorithm that not only helps you get recognized but helps their directory stand out as well. Working with a qualified and knowledgeable law firm marketing team can help to ensure you know what legal directories are, what they have to offer, and how you can use them to effectively market your firm. Furthermore, our team at Actionable Agency, LLC can provide insight as to whether a particular directory is good. If you are interested in learning more about ranking your lawyer site highly on Google’s search engine results page, contact our team today.
Without a doubt, many lawyers are unaware of the benefits that law firm directories can provide to them. Our team at Actionable Agency, LLC would like to help you better understand what law firm directories are, how to find them, how to determine whether the directory is reputable and can benefit you, and how you can choose the right directory for your firm.
What are legal directories? This is often the first question that lawyers across the United States ask when the term is mentioned to them. Understandably, this is a valid question, and understanding what they are and have to offer can help you determine whether you want to take advantage of what they have to offer.
Web directories are websites that are used to list and catalog other business websites. The listings are divided under specific categories or sorted by location. Each category has a subcategory that contains more information about the business. Law firms, for example, can be sorted by area. Subcategories may then include practice areas, years of experience, ratings, and other information. Although web directories can be extremely beneficial, they are abused quite often by marketers and SEOs to gain rankings and easy links to boost their rankings on Google and other search engines. Google can devalue links and has been able to do so since 2012. Some types of directories remain valuable and contain genuine links to help boost the popularity of businesses. This is an excellent platform that lawyers can utilize the help expand their business and gain popularity.
Legal directories are now filled with endless opportunities that lawyers can depend on to help expand their firm and build clientele, including:
Using legal directories provides two key benefits for your law firm SEO. First, it helps you get your name out thereby creating a more thorough web presence filled with your knowledge, information, and what you can provide. Additionally, legal directories help get links to your website out on the web. Having your site link out there can help drive more potential clients in, help you become more recognized, and help expand your firm.
How can directories help my law firm? Lawyer directories are an exceptional tool that helps attorneys building authority and increases visibility to their website and their brand. Although having your link on web pages can be helpful to you, directories provide far more benefits than simply bringing people to your website. Lawyer directories provide you with a platform where you can asset your experience and knowledge. People can provide reviews to let others know that you provide quality services and that you can be trusted to help them obtain the outcome they expect for their legal cases. Although you can publish these on your website, having the information in a directory can help prove to others that your clients are authentic and are providing true and accurate descriptions of how you helped them. Furthermore, personal websites require substantial marketing. Instead, directories allow you to utilize the platform for marketing and expand your reader base. Simply bringing people to your website comes with no promise to convert. Instead, these effective measures help you build your base and draw users in.
Although some directories require payment, a handful of others allow lawyers to be listed for free. Each type of directory offers an array of benefits and some cons. Learning what some of the top directories are can help you decide where you want to be listed. Our team at Actionable Agency, LLC is available to discuss options with you and to help you determine what options will benefit your firm the most.
Not only do many potential clients use legal directories for research purposes, but lawyers further benefit from using legal directories to increase the number of times their links appear in major search engines. The ultimate goal for any law firm is to rank highly on Google. Google will typically display one result from each website. This creates missed opportunities to gain exposure and help expand your firm.
By creating an expansive profile surrounding your skills, experience, knowledge, and abilities, and sharing it on high-quality directories, you are increasing the number of times that it can appear in search results for others searching for what you have to offer. As users research online, increasing the number of times your firm appears can increase your chances of having users view your site and retain you for their legal needs.
There are hundreds of law firm directories spanning across the World Wide Web. However, certain directories perform far superior to the rest. Dofollow rankings show the total number of descriptors of links that search engines crawl and count. In some sense, the Dofollow ranking shows how many votes of quality each site achieves. After taking into consideration what lawyer directories have to offer, their SEO metrics, and the overall features they offer, some of the domains that we found to be top directories include:
FindLaw: FindLaw is home to more than 3.4 million keywords, driving in more than 3.4 million visitors a day. Placing your information in this directory is sure to help increase exposure and expand your client base. FindLaw offers both paid and free services for lawyers and visitors. FindLaw has a Dofollow rank of 105,666.
Avvo: This well-established directory utilizes over 1.2 million keywords, which drives in more than 628,000 visits per day. Avvo offers both free and paid services for lawyers and has a Dofollow ranking of 39,473.
Super Lawyers: This website has a large base and sees around 843,000 visits per day. With over 538,000 keywords, Super Lawyer offers both free and paid services. Super Lawyers boasts a Dofollow rank of 22,407.
Justia: Justia offers an array of free and paid services for lawyers. With a Dofollow rating of 70,540, this website incorporates 5.9 million keywords and has more than 3.3 million visitors daily.
Nolo: This website has a Dofollow rank of 38,987 and sees more than 2.5 million visitors. With more than 1.6 million keywords, Nolo offers both free and paid services for lawyers.
Martindale: This prestigious directory has a Dofollow rank of 20,015. Martindale incorporates more than 417,000 keywords and sees more than 218,000 visitors.
Lawyers.com: Lawyers.com incorporates more than 1.1 million keywords and sees more than 691,000 visitors. With a Dofollow score of 20,785, this website provides both free services and paid services for lawyers.
HG.org: With more than 456,000 visitors, HG.org uses more than 549,000 keywords to encourage users to visit and browse their directory. This website has a Dofollow rank of 12,287 and offers both free and paid services.
Mediate: With a Dofollow score of 5,743, this website has more than 68,000 visitors and uses more than 70,000 keywords. Mediate offers free and paid services for lawyers that help increase their visibility on the web.
Lawyer.com: Lawyer.com is a website that offers a lot to lawyers across the country. This website has a Dofollow score of 2,983 and uses more than 283,000 keywords to help drive more than 119,000 visitors in.
Adding your name, website, and contact information to these directories can help you gain exposure to tens of thousands of potential clients in your area.
Exposing your firm to potential clients is a crucial part of marketing your services. You should always take advantage of free and reputable platforms to increase your rankings in Google and other large search engines. As listed above, Avvo, Justia, and HG.org offer a variety of services to law firms across the country that are entirely free. Some other free legal directories include:
Whether you are a personal injury attorney, a family law lawyer, or you specialize in criminal defense, these reputable directories can help you.
The quality and the quantity of inbound lines directing users to a specific website is one the top factors Google takes into consideration when ranking web pages on search results pages. By submitting your website to various directories, and remaining active on the platforms, you can increase your rankings on Google and other major search engines. Attorneys must be cautious when selecting directories to submit their information to. Some basic questions you should ask before submitting your law firm’s information to a directory are:
If you can answer yes to the majority of these questions then it is a good idea to include your law firm information in this directory. Performing a quick good search with the keyword and your location can help you locate directories, determine if they are of high quality and reliable if your competition is listed on the directory, and whether you should list yours there. Working with a marketing specialist from Actionable Agency, LLC can help you determine what legal directories are of high quality and whether you should include your law firm’s information on the directory.
When it comes to marketing your law firm and expanding your client base, both legal directories and Google Map citations can be extremely effective. Having a solid presence online is essential when it comes to the success of your law firm and your ability to boost search rankings and secure future clients. Working with our team at Actionable Agency, LLC can help to ensure you are able to rank higher than the rest and prove your superiority when it comes to legal services providers in your area.
Building and benefiting from citations is something that every law firm should do. Incorporating your link across US business directories can help build your client base and assist others in discovering your firm and the services you offer. It is crucial that you take advantage of the opportunities that citations and legal directories have to offer you. By fully completing your profile and sharing your information with reliable and reputable sources, you can best take advantage of all these platforms have to offer.
Our team strives to help our clients reach their business goals, secure clients, and expand their presence online. If you are interested in utilizing citations to boost your law firm’s rankings on Google and other large search engines, and growing your firm, contact our team today. Contact Actionable Agency, LLC online or at (855) 206-9689 to discuss how we can help you.
