Building Authority and Trust Online as a Law Firm

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Trust is a crucial part of getting new law firm clients and retaining them. Legal clients are going through some of the worst patches of their lives. They’re depending on you to help them through a difficult time. Attorneys need to come across as trustworthy in order to succeed.

Just the same as law firms need to come across as trustworthy to succeed with their online marketing endeavors. We all know that the marketing landscape is known to change rapidly, especially since the explosion of AI search, but one thing will never change even as the industry shifts and explodes: Trust proceeds all.

SEO is all about building trust. SEO essentially asks, “What information online  is trustworthy, accurate, and ideal for humans?” Google makes changes to try and keep up with the ever-changing shifts of digital marketing and SEO, but trust remains at the forefront of every single algorithm change they make. What sites are trustable? What companies are among the most trusted? What information can be trusted most among all of the content available online? The answers to these questions are found on the websites that rise to the top.

We all know that the legal market is one of the fiercest when it comes to competing online. How do you even begin to compete with what’s out there? 

That’s the million-dollar question. Let’s phrase it another way, through the lens of what we already know about the importance of trust: How do you build trust? 

What Does Trust Look Like?

Let’s start with the basics. What do we mean when we talk about this notion of “trust” online? All of the following can be seen as signals of trust:

• A safe, human-friendly website. Is your law firm’s website properly updated? Does it look and perform well on all devices? Is it secure? Does it load quickly enough? All of this may seen basic, but trust starts with the basics. If your website hasn’t been updated since 2005 and has technical limitations holding it back, there’s no way it’ll be seen as trustworthy to Google.
• A site organized for humans. Is your site easy to navigate? Is your content organized in a way that makes sense for human searchers and bots? Website structure is more important than ever in an era where AI makes a ton of recommendations to folks looking for answers online. AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude like websites with a clear structure in place. This means having foundational practice area pages and subpages in place with a set hierarchy. It means having internal links that make sense and show the site’s intent clearly. Clear content intent shows authority because it mirrors the intent behind the business. Gone are the days of spamming keywords in random blogs. The keywords not only need to have meaning, but they need to be organized and set up to convey trust. If your law firm is blogging about topics that have no connection to the legal industry whatsoever, this is probably a bad sign.
• A site featuring humans. With how simple it is to create a website using AI tools these days, it should come as no surprise that we’re seeing an increase of importance in website features that portray the people behind the business. Folks want to know that their attorneys are good, real people. This means that firms with online videos featuring their offices and attorneys tend to be trusted more. Telling your firm’s story through video can be extremely compelling as a marketing tool. Good photography on a website can similarly have a large impact on trustworthiness. Don’t be afraid to show the faces behind your firm.
• Solid brand awareness. Does your firm have good reviews available online? Is your Google Business Profile updated? Is your firm talked about positively online? Are you taking advantage of the positives of social media? Are your lawyers featured in online press in a good view? Positive mentions about your firm help prove that you are as trustworthy as your content says you are. Brand awareness takes time to build, but it can have a tremendous positive effect on how well your firm is seen online.
• Backlinks. Does your website have natural backlinks leading to it? Backlinks aren’t as huge of an authority signal like they used to be (fun fact: brand awareness now pulls way ahead), but they remain important. When they’re built naturally and over time, they signal that your business is prominent in your community and can be consistently trusted.

If you’re curious how Google and other search algorithms can tell which signals actually make a difference and which don’t, the answer’s pretty simple. When a viewer likes and trusts a website, they’ll stay on it longer. They’ll read some of the content or watch a video. They may browse a couple of pages. They may fill out a form to get in touch with someone who works at that business. If the link to that page shows up in Google, they’ll click that link and check out the page and not immediately leave. This information is all trackable. Marketing agencies like GAVL use this information in a similar way to see how improvements can be made to websites. Time, in a matter of speaking, often signals trust.

Trust Leads to Authority

Trust and authority go hand-in-hand. If a website builds trust with its viewers, it has authority. If its content is trusted by viewers, it has authority. Essentially, authority can be seen as a natural inflection of trust that’s built up over time. If you trust a website for its valuable information, you’re going to return to that source. That’s authority.

And that’s exactly the type of trust you want to build with clients and potential clients. If someone in your local community needs a lawyer, you want to be the first law firm they consider calling. That’s what it means to be trusted.

If you’re looking for marketing help that is centered all around trust, GAVL has your back. We look to build strong, lasting relationships with all of our clients. You’re never just a number to us. Your success is our success. Learn how we can help you meet your goals.