How do you do local SEO for bankruptcy lawyers?
Follow these SEO techniques, and you’ll grow your online presence and attract more bankruptcy clients from Google.
Search Demand Data for Bankruptcy Lawyers
According to Semrush, there are 2,942,2000 searches per month for keywords related to “bankruptcy” in the United States.
And when you go down to the local level, you’ll see hundreds of searches every single month:
Prospective clients are searching in your practice area right now who need your help.
Here’s how to get in front of them:
SEO 101 for Bankruptcy Law Firms
The goal of search engine optimization is to rank #1 for the keywords your ideal clients are searching for.
And here’s the beauty of SEO:
When you do it right, the traffic from Google is extremely qualified. That means you won’t waste your time with tire kickers, and you’ll be able to close more cases fast.
That’s all because of the concept of search intent.
For example, when someone searches for a “bankruptcy lawyer in St Louis,” it’s clear what they’re looking for. That means you can create a relevant page that perfectly satisfies the searcher’s intent.
This differs from social media platforms, where you must interrupt someone watching cat videos to get their attention. The intent piece is missing, which means your conversions will be substantially lower.
There are two ways to drive potential clients from Google:
1. Your Google Business Profile
It used to be called Google My Business, but it refers to the local pack you see on Google. In most cases, three law firms will show up right away.
You need to be in the top three in the local search results to attract the most qualified leads. I’ll share how to do that in a second.
2. Traditional Organic Search Results
The local pack sits above the traditional search engine rankings and will drive most leads.
However, you want to blanket the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) to occupy as much real estate as possible.
That means you’ll need to rank your website:
You’ll also want to list your bankruptcy services in directories like Avvo, FindLaw, Justia, Nolo, Super Lawyers, and Lawyers.com.
This will ensure you’re covering as much ground as possible.
Now that you know the basics.
Let me explain how to rank in Google’s Local Pack and the traditional organic results so you can start getting new clients.
Complete SEO Process for Your Bankruptcy Firm
All law firm marketing and digital marketing strategies should start with SEO. And there are over 200 Google ranking factors, so it might seem intimidating. But I can assure you that as long as you understand the core pillars, you can succeed in SEO.
Does this mean you should try to do it on your own?
Not necessarily. But knowing the core pillars will ensure that you work with an SEO company that knows what they’re doing.
Let’s dive in.
Keyword Research
The goal of keyword research is to find relevant keywords that your potential clients are searching for. The quickest way to find keywords is to use a tool like Semrush.
Go to the Keyword Overview, enter your city + bankruptcy lawyer like so:
And now you’ll have a good idea of the search demand. Keep in mind that this is just one variation of your keyword. When you combine all variations from people searching in your location, it could be in thousands every month.
You may also want to target some information keywords like “Bankruptcy Statistics in St Louis” because it may appeal to your target audience. I’ll explain this more in a second.
Conversions
It doesn’t matter how good your SEO is if your website design is not built to convert. You must take your bankruptcy law firm website design very seriously.
Here are some quick techniques to use:
Optimize Page Speed
Go into Google PageSpeed Insights and test your website. If you score below 80, it must go on your priority list. Loading speed can affect bounce rate (or engagement rate, which is the new Google Analytics 4 metric) in a negative way. Don’t take this issue lightly!
Make Your Phone Number Prominent
Your phone number should be above the fold and on every page. This makes it easy for someone to become a lead by eliminating friction.
Understand Conversion-Focused Landing Pages
A landing page is designed to do one thing: convert users into leads. You already know how to make your phone number prominent, but you should also add lead capture forms above the fold, multiple calls to action, and social proof.
Analytics
A conversion-focused design is a great first step, but you also need tracking to ensure you’re getting an ROI. I recommend installing Google Analytics 4 for tracking traffic and conversions. Then, install Google Search Console to track your SEO performance. Both are 100% free to use.
Google Business Profile
No asset is more important to SEO marketing efforts than your Google Business Profile. It is the king of lead generation in the legal industry. The good news is that it’s easy to optimize by following some best practices.
You just need to understand three core ideas: relevance, distance, and prominence.
Relevance + Distance
These two are the most critical because nothing else will matter if you don’t have an address in the target location.
Once that’s established, then just make sure it’s clear that you’re a bankruptcy attorney in the specific location you’re targeting.
Then make sure you optimize the following elements correctly:
First, make sure you pick the right business category (“Bankruptcy attorney” is the best option):
And add services as well:
Prominence
Once you’ve nailed the Google Business Profile basics, all you need to do is collect as many reviews as possible. This is the most important factor aside from your address.
One technique you can use is to create a QR code that takes your customers directly to your business profile so they can easily leave a review.
Here are some other techniques to get more local reviews:
- Ask customers to leave reviews: One of the best ways to get more local reviews is to ask your customers for them. You can do this in person, through email, or by providing a link to your review page on your website. Use Whitespark’s free tool to generate your Google review link.
- Provide incentives: Providing incentives or discounts in exchange for reviews can be a great way to encourage customers to leave reviews. Keep in mind that this is against Google’s guidelines.
- Run a review campaign: Running a review campaign on social media can be a great way to get more local reviews. You can ask customers to leave reviews and then reward them with a discount code or other incentives.
Once your local SEO pieces are together, it’s time for on-page SEO.
Leverage On-Page SEO to Unlock Your Rankings
On-page SEO is critical for ranking on Google because it helps ensure that your content is optimized for search engines.
Some on-page SEO includes techniques include:
- Make sure the page loads blazing fast.
- Place your keyword in the most critical spots like the URL, title, H1, first sentence, H2, and last sentence.
- Using a tool like Surfer to optimize for NLP (Natural Language Processing)
All these techniques help Google understand the content on your page and can help you rank higher in search results.
Now, here’s the deal:
You can do everything right and still get the best SEO results possible. That’s because you’re missing one critical part:
Why Every Bankruptcy Lawyer Needs Backlinks
Off-page SEO is important because it helps to improve your website’s authority and organic visibility. And link building is the primary method of doing off-page SEO.
The goal is simple: get as many high-quality and relevant backlinks as possible. If you do so, you’ll grow your site’s authority, making ranking in Google much easier.
Here are three techniques you can use to score more links:
- Guest blogging: You can reach out to blogs and websites in your industry and offer to write a guest post. Search “write for us + bankruptcy” in Google to start finding prospects.
- Influencer marketing: Reach out to influencers in your industry and offer to collaborate on a project. I recommend starting on the local level and then expanding out. Start with a Google search like “CITY + law blogger.”
- Broken link building: You can use tools such as Broken Link Checker to find websites that link to broken or outdated content. You can then reach out to those websites and offer to provide a working link to the content.
And now, you might think: “I get how to do SEO, but how do I measure performance?”
How to Measure the ROI of SEO
What’s the best way to measure the ROI and value of SEO? First, you need to understand the critical SEO KPIs, such as organic traffic and total leads from organic search. You also need to benchmark your KPIs to see how much you’ve grown over time.
Review these SEO benchmarks to get started. Here are some of the basics of measuring SEO performance:
Start with Google Analytics
Website analytics is essential to measuring SEO’s value for a bankruptcy lawyer. Google Analytics can help you track and measure the performance of your website, content, and campaigns. It can also provide insights into user behavior and engagement, helping you understand what content is working and what needs to be improved.
Track Your Conversions
Conversions are a crucial metric for determining the success of an SEO campaign, as they measure how many leads your website generates. By tracking conversions (in Google Analytics), you can determine which of your SEO efforts result in more leads and, ultimately, more clients.
Always Track Your Backlink Profile Growth
As you know, backlinks are an essential part of any SEO strategy, and tracking them can help you understand what content is working and what needs to be improved.
Use Ahrefs or Semrush to track your backlink growth over time.
Your backlink profile should grow consistently over time.
SEO for Bankruptcy Lawyers: What’s Next?
You’re now equipped to get started with SEO. The key is actually to get started. The longer you wait, the harder it is to beat your competitors. You have two choices:
Do it yourself with the help of an SEO training program.
Or:
Work with an SEO company that can get results for you (so you can focus on being an awesome bankruptcy lawyer).
The choice is yours. But please, do something because yesterday was the best time to plant a tree!
