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Attorney Marketing 101: Local SEO

If there’s one thing to understand about the practice of search engine optimization (SEO), it’s that it’s all about appeasing the search engine gods. Of course, knowing what they want is half of the battle. While the particulars of what they want can change drastically and without notice, the overarching theme of their wishes and desires is simple: Give users relevant and important results for every search query they make.

The Importance of Local Searches

Different search engine users, however, have different needs. Someone Googling “nearest coffee shop” while standing at the intersection of College and North Presa Streets in San Antonio is looking for something completely different than someone Googling the same thing in Times Square, New York.

Search engines realize this, and alter the results they give each person, based on where the search is being conducted. In fact, search engines even give recommendations for local businesses in their search engine results pages (SERPs), based on the searcher’s location.

Local SEO and Your Law Firm

These recommendations present an opportunity for your law firm to tap into. By targeting local searchers, you can promote your firm’s services to a niche audience that is far more likely to be interested in what you have to offer. This can attract more local clients, building your firm’s reputation in the area and padding your bottom line.

How to Score on the Local SEO Front

Local SEO is a lot like regular SEO. However, the overall goals are slightly different, and how you can get there includes a few new points.

First, while the goal of SEO, as a whole, is to reach the top of the SERP for targeted searches, the goal of local SEO is to “get in the box” of local results. Of course, the box of local listings on many search engines is right there at the top of the SERP, so this difference is often little more than a matter of semantics.

Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.
Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

The differences between how you can succeed at SEO and at local SEO is more practical. Sure, focusing on geographical keywords in your content – like referring to your firm as a “personal injury firm in Portland, Oregon,” rather than just a “personal injury firm” – is a part of it. But getting cited by local directories online doesn’t play a part in SEO: It’s a huge aspect of a local SEO campaign.

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Local SEO campaigns are a crucial aspect of a law firm’s online marketing efforts. Most of your clientele is going to come from the surrounding area, and local SEO is how you can make sure you’re at the top of the list that they’re looking at.

Contact the legal bloggers and advertisers at Myers Freelance for help starting or executing your local SEO campaign.