How Do I Dominate Local SEO?

[MUSIC PLAYING] How do I dominate local SEO? Welcome to Legal Marketing 101. I'm Toby Rosen. It's 2023, so if you don't already have a Google My Business profile for your firm, you may want to just turn this episode off right now and go get some work done. We're going to dive into a couple of the key tactics I use to help firms dominate Google's local rankings. and we will have a detailed series coming soon on local SEO, but for today, we're just gonna dig into the key elements of a successful local SEO strategy and get you started. So first, why does local SEO matter? And here's the real scoop. Over 90% of consumers use online searches to find local businesses, including law firms. When they search for legal services, they're looking for nearby solutions. If your online presence isn't optimized for local, you're missing out on a goldmine of clients. And that's not proverbial, it's a literal goldmine. There are a lot of stats I could rattle off here that prove my point. But if you're not convinced that you need to be working on local SEO, you've really just, you've missed the last 10 years of marketing and I can't help you. So let's get right into it and break down the key components of local SEO that make the magic actually happen. Number one is Google My Business. Obviously, you should know what this is, but you should imagine Google My Business as your firm's invitation to your local digital party. It's your online profile where potential clients can find essential details like your address, your phone number and reviews. You basically can think of it as your digital storefront or your front door. There's a lot more to it, but that's where we'll start. Number two is citations. And these aren't tickets, they're actually references. Citations are mentions of your law firm's name, address, phone number, or website across a bunch of different online directories. You may have seen some of them, Yelp and Avvo, Super Lawyers, and Lawyers.com, and even the US News Directory. Consistent citations though, these tell Google search engines, and they tell every search engine really, that you're the real deal and they will help your local SEO ranking. Google is looking for consistent NAP information, or name, address, and phone number across a huge range of online directories depending on your practice area or your type of business. If you're not listed everywhere, Google's not going to list you as high on their own page. So these citations are really critical. At Rosen Advertising, we actually offer a service to specifically tackle this problem. But number three is online reviews. This is a big one. And just like word of mouth, online reviews can make or break your reputation. reviews, showcase your expertise, your trustworthiness, your experience. Responding to these reviews is also really good for showing your engagement with your clients, not just in the office, but online as well. Google Local Services ads even had a limitation on whether or not you were qualified to run the ads based on the number of reviews you had. And sure, the current online review system is definitely flawed, but it is still absolutely critical to our firms. Number four is localized content. Now we're talking both about what's on your GMB profile, but in other areas as well. You want to tailor your content to address local legal concerns. You're not just a lawyer, you're a local advocate. You want to write about recent local legal changes and create videos discussing common local legal issues, things that are relevant, not only to the type of client that you want, but to the clients that you want that are in your area. You know them better than anyone else. This content is super beneficial in boosting your local rankings. It's really important. And number five is website optimization. Now this may not seem like the most related one, but I promise it is. This is like renovating your office for a professional inviting vibe. You need to ensure your website is user friendly, that it loads quickly, that it's mobile responsive. That's really important. And obviously this is a much bigger issue than what we're going to cover today, but but it is still absolutely a big part of local SEO. You need to imagine GMB or Google My Business as the digital storefront of your law firm. When potential clients search for legal services in your area, your GMB profile becomes the first impression that sets you apart from the competition. This is your moment in the spotlight, and given how short the attention span of the average Google searcher is, we may only have a few seconds to really capture their attention. To truly optimize your GMB profile, every little bit of information, from your firm's name, to the address, to the phone number, to the business hours, this should be meticulously accurate and up-to-date constantly. But it's not just about the facts. It's also about forging a connection through this content. You need to showcase your firm visually with a collection of high-quality photos, things like those 360 tours, and these photos should mirror the professionalism of your firm. They should help to invite potential clients to envision where they'll be when they deal with these issues they're going through and why that's a good thing for them. Moreover, engage with your audience by consistently posting updates about your services, posting any special offers, recent accomplishments. Google isn't really great at providing a lot of different formats of content for GMB, but these posts not only keep your profile fresh, but they also offer potential clients a glimpse into why your legal expertise is unmatched when they're looking through listings of other lawyers. If you Google around your local market, you're going to find examples of firms who are doing all of these things right. They've got complete info, lots of photos, and maybe this 360 photo tour of their office that's like Google Street View. That's for someone who has anxiety or can't understand what's going to happen in the legal process, being able to just walk around the office virtually can be helpful. If you don't match up to these other firms, it means you have work to do. So now, let's delve into the world of citations. These are a really powerful tool that can significantly enhance your local SEO efforts, and frankly, they're good for general SEO purposes as well. There's a little bit of a difference, but you can follow along. Citations in the digital world are like the signposts that lead potential clients directly to your door. They're essentially just mentions of your firm's NAP information, that name, address, and phone number information across all of these various online platforms. But they're more than just that. They're more than just these mentions. They're a signal to every search engine that your business is not only reliable, but also legitimate. They're basically reputation building. You can imagine these citations as the breadcrumbs that guide search engines to your firm, kind of like how you submit a site map to have your to have the search engine guided through your website. The citations ensure that this digital trail is reliable, and it's essential to maintain NAP consistency. This is really important. NAP, which stands for name, address, and phone number. Again, it's really, really critical to be consistent. This uniformity across all the online platforms sends a much more powerful message that your business is genuine. If there are different names, different addresses, different phone numbers out there, search engines don't like that. Beyond that though, consider getting listed in reputable local directories and legal specific platforms. The legal ones are really important too. You can think of these directories as modern day references that vouch for your firm's credibility and expertise. It's even more than the Yellow Pages was. They act as a bridge connecting potential clients to your valuable legal services. And lastly, remember that this maintaining accurate information thing, This is an ongoing task. The internet changes, you may move your office, you may have turnover in staff or bad reviews. You need to be continuously auditing and updating your citations to reflect any changes in your firm's details. If you're not moving or not changing, it's easier. Over time, things like inconsistencies can arise though, so it's good to have a check and beyond what we're doing here with Google, if you have incorrect information on your profiles, that can lead to potential client confusion. If you have questions about these citations, how to fix them, how to build new ones, etc., reach out to me. Rosen advertising can help you. But now, let's put a spotlight on the content. This is really the heart and the soul of your online presence anyways. Crafting content that's tailored to your local audience not only is educational and helpful for people, but it's going to start to engage clients who are in your local area in a much more meaningful way. Every community has its own set of legal concerns that are unique and specific. By addressing these local matters, you're not just showcasing your legal expertise. You're proving that you're a trusted local guide through whatever process this person is going through. Here's how to really bring this to life. Start by working on content that dives into recent changes in local laws or regulations, whether it's for a blog or an email list or LinkedIn or Facebook. Start to share these common insights on legal challenges that your community frequently faces. something's happening to multiple people, maybe it's happening to more people. This starts to demonstrate that you're not just an expert, but you're also a reliable source of information for very specific local legal matters. But don't stop there. Don't stop at just written content. Embrace other things with video, with podcasts, with photos, doing anything you can to really embrace multimedia content. These formats bring a personal touch that resonates deeply with potential clients. starts to show them the human side of your firm. It might not seem relevant, but a photo of you and your dog can make a lot of people interested. That personal content, whether you're sharing it on social media or on local SEO sites, it's really powerful. But before we go, I do want to mention one more item that's really important here. And it's something that sort of gets baked into all of the content. It gets baked into what we're doing with our GMB profiles and with our citations. Remember the power of keywords. You want to incorporate local keywords naturally, not only into your content, but into all of your marketing. If your focus is to handle local issues in your community, think about what your potential clients in your community are searching for and start to weave these keywords into everything that you're doing. Local SEO is an ongoing journey. The landscape is constantly changing and we're always trying to find new tactics to dominate our competitors. Today is really just the tip of the iceberg and like I mentioned, we will have a series coming out on Local SEO and how you can do more for your firm. But before we wrap this episode up, let me leave you with a question that may be echoing in your mind a little bit. How are you going to harness the power of Local SEO? Will your focus be on dominating content? Will you focus on dominating the review game? What does this look like for you? That's it for Legal Marketing 101. Check out rosenadvertising.com for more. Thanks.[MUSIC]