On-Page SEO Optimization for Law Firms

Search engine optimization (SEO) for law firm websites is a way to help your site rank higher on search engine result pages (SERPs). When discussing SEO for law firms, we generally talk about two different types of optimization efforts—on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

On-page SEO, as you might expect, consists of optimization that happens on and to the website itself. On-page elements are directly controllable through either the site’s content or its coding. A good on-page SEO strategy helps Google better understand and evaluate a website.

Elements of On-Page SEO

On-page SEO for law firms optimizes elements such as these:

  • Your law firm’s web design
  • Images, video, and graphics
  • Content writing (including practice area pages, landing pages, blogs, and more)
  • Title tags
  • HTML tags
  • Meta descriptions
  • Alt image tags
  • Keyword usage
  • Internal linking
  • Overall page layout (including wordcount, bullet points, headers, and sub-headers)
  • And more

In contrast, off-page SEO applies efforts to outside elements that can improve your website’s rankings in an online search. This may include social media marketing campaigns, link building campaigns, Google Business Profile optimization, and other tactics to drive website traffic and increase visibility.

On-Page Search Engine Optimization for Your Law Firm’s Website

If you want your legal website to show up in Google search results, a good on-page SEO strategy is fundamental.

Attorney SEO marketing begins and ends with a robust and well-designed website.

Most law firms have a website, but many are lacking in areas that matter most. After all, the purpose of your website is to help bring potential clients to your office. If your website isn’t doing that, it may be time to reexamine your on-page SEO.

On-Page SEO Tactics To Help You Rank Higher

Search engines like Google use hundreds of ranking factors to understand web pages and decide which ones deserve the top spots for certain search terms.

Here are some ways to optimize on-page elements so your law firm website increases its position in search engine results.

Optimized Website Design

So maybe you don’t know much about HTML code. But you do know what a bad website looks like. And so does Google.

Law firm websites that are slow-loading, difficult to navigate, visually unappealing, and too clunky for mobile screens will never be looked favorably upon by search engines.

Whether you’re building a website from the ground up or adding pages to an existing website, the user experience (UX) should always be prioritized. Paying attention to even minor details of your website design can make a big difference in your site’s rankings.

Content Written for People—Not Search Engines

High-quality content for lawyer SEO marketing means writing what people actually want to read. Keyword stuffing to satisfy search engines is an ineffective tactic that will only decrease your website’s E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness).

Every practice area page, legal blog, guide, and article on your website should be written with a human readership in mind. Knowing your target audience’s questions and providing answers in the form of high-quality content will tell search engines that your law firm is an authoritative and trustworthy source of information.

Clear and Data-Driven Keyword Strategy

If you never use any of the words your searchers are using, it’s hard for a search engine to know if your website matches search intent.

Keyword research is a big part of on-page SEO strategy. If you’re a personal injury attorney in St. Louis, your website should probably mention that you’re a “St. Louis personal injury lawyer”—because that’s one of the phrases your potential client is likely to use when searching locally for someone like you. This also works toward your local SEO by connecting your online presence with your physical location in the geographic area you serve.

But keyword use is also about finding a natural balance.

Optimizing Titles and Tags

While it’s easier to remember to incorporate keywords throughout website content, don’t forget that other areas of your website should be word-optimized as well. Aim for natural, relevant, helpful phrasing whenever writing:

  • A title tag
  • Image text
  • A meta tag
  • A webpage URL
  • Anchor text for internal links
  • Subtitles for videos

Paying attention to these descriptors isn’t just good SEO. It’s also a thoughtful and inclusive way to make website navigation easier for all users.

Descriptive, well-written image alt text, for example, will make your website much more accessible for blind or low-vision users who require audio cues to understand the purpose of an image. Similarly, subtitles that consider users who are deaf or hard of hearing will allow viewers of all abilities to benefit from the content of your videos.

Photos, Graphics, Video, and Images

Nobody wants to open up a webpage and see a looming wall of text. Interactive, multimedia webpages are now the standard in the legal industry.

On-page elements like:

  • High-resolution photos with appropriate image descriptions,
  • Cinematic-quality videos,
  • Graphs and charts,
  • And other visual images

are powerful tools in lawyer SEO. When done right, these can help establish your brand persona, convey information in a memorable way, and make your website more appealing and understandable to search engines.

Technical SEO for Lawyers

Technical SEO may not be something you think about often. But it plays a central role in the overall quality of your law firm’s website. When your technical design suffers, your rankings do too.

The basics of technical optimization aren’t that complicated, the putting it into action can be fairly complex. Most law firms turn to an SEO expert to execute tasks like:

  • Making your website crawlable to search engines
  • Canonicalization and indexing
  • Updating external and internal links
  • Adding schema markup
  • Improving core web vitals
  • Enhancing mobile-friendliness
  • And more

In combination, all of these on-page tech elements make a huge difference in how Google sees your law firm website.

While something like on-page content and video is pretty obviously good or bad, these technical aspects may be dragging your site down without you even knowing it.

Conducting Website Audits

Many law firms looking to boost their ranking in the SERPs make the smart decision to start with a website audit.

This allows an SEO analyst to take a good, hard look at the innerworkings of your site. From there, we can work together to devise a plan for on-page SEO optimization that helps your law firm achieve its business goals.

Where Is Your Law Firm on the Search Engine Results Pages?

Try Googling your target keyword phrase. Maybe you’re a “Wilmington workers’ compensation lawyer” or a “Dallas divorce lawyer.” If you don’t see your legal practice’s website on the first one or two pages of the organic search results, it may be because your on-page SEO is lacking.

As part of our comprehensive law firm SEO services, GAVL provides exceptional on-page optimization for attorneys and firms across the nation. We are a digital marketing agency cofounded by and for lawyers—a unique fact that very few legal marketing companies can boast.

Our industry knowledge and years of experience in the field give us keen insight into the best ways to use your on-page elements to send your SERP ranking skyrocketing.

From writing quality legal content to crafting optimized meta descriptions to building internal linking structures, we pay attention to every detail so you don’t have to. All you’ll see are the results you’re looking for.

Contact GAVL to schedule a consultation with an on-page SEO expert.