Law Firm SEO 101: 10 Tips to Build your Law Firm’s Link Authority Online & Improve Search Rankings

Your online authority – that is, your law firm’s SEO ranking — is largely based upon who is linking to your website.  The more people that link to your website, the higher your law firm will rank.
Here are 10 easy ways to boost your SEO results and get your website more links:

1. Social Media.  Get signed up, fill out your accounts and get easy links back to your website.
   • Twitter – http://www.Twitter.com
   • Facebook – https://www.FaceBook.com
   • LinkedIn – http://www.LinkedIn.com
2. Free Directories & Local Citations
   • Avvo – http://www.avvo.com
   • Google Places – http://www.google.com/places/
   • Bing Local – http://www.bing.com/
   • Yahoo Local – http://local.yahoo.com/
   • Manta – http://www.Manta.com
3. Paid Directories
   • Universal Business Listing – http://www.UBL.org
   • Cornell Legal Information Institute – http://lawyers.law.cornell.edu/
   • Yahoo! Directory – http://dir.yahoo.com
   • BOTW.org – https://botw.org/
   • HG.org – http://www.hg.org/
   • Findlaw.com – https://www.findlaw.com/
   • Lawyers.com & Martindale.com – http://www.lawyers.com
4. Press Release.  Write a press release and syndicate it on PRWeb.com and other websites.  It will be picked up by all search engines and social media. Make sure to include important law firm SEO keyword phrases in the press release (these are usually your key geographic term(s) + key practice area(s) + lawyer(s)/attorney(s)/law firm; for example, “Dallas DUI lawyer.”)
5. Current customers and vendors.  Contact all your current customers and vendors to see if they would link to your website.  Often they will.
6. Guest Blogging.  Write an informative article and offer it for free to trade websites, vendors and anyone willing to post.  Make sure to include biographical information with links to your website, using your law firm’s SEO keywords in your anchor text.
7. Research Competitors. Find the top 5 competitors in your field that rank highly for your desired law firm SEO keyword phrases.  Use http://www.OpenSiteExplorer.org to find your competitors links.  Create a spreadsheet and visit the websites to see where they are getting their links.
8. Link bait.  Write something informative. Use charts, graphs and pictures to help display your information.
9. Hold a Contest.  Create a contest on your website or social media pages.  Get links to your contest page and main website.
10. Become an Expert in your Area.  Not exactly easy, but the we find that the true experts in their area often get great inbound links from trade publication websites, newspapers and other media outlets.  They are featured at conferences, which link to their websites, are quoted in social media and more.  This is more of a long-term tactic, but it is important to understand that you should want to be an expert in your core practice.

As an added bonus, here are some extra link building resources and reporting tools that can be used for law firm internet marketing and SEO:

1. SEOMoz – Great resource on SEO. http://www.seomoz.org
2. The SEO Engine – A solid tool for analyzing your website. http://www.seoengine.com/
3. Nibbler – Free test for your website, by the same people as SiteBeam. http://nibbler.silktide.com/
4. Alexa Site Audit – Another report for your website. http://www.alexa.com/siteaudit