You, as a lawyer, are aware that online visibility is important. You must be present when your prospective clients search for legal services. And people are increasingly using Google to find local businesses. It is essential to have a Google Business profile for this reason. This blog post will explain what a Google Business profile is and how it can boost your law firm’s local search rankings and digital marketing. We will also provide tips for optimizing your profile for maximum impact!
What is a Google Business Profile?
A Google Business profile is a free business listing directory that lets you make a page about your law firm and choose what information potential customers can see. It lets you add important details like your address, contact information, legal services you offer, opening hours, photos, and more. When someone uses Google Maps to search for local businesses, if someone types “lawyers near me” into Google or uses voice search, your profile will appear in the search results. This lets you stand out from other law firms in your area and be more visible online.
Improving Your Google Business Profile Through Local Search
Google Business Profile will take your law firm’s information and run with it for free. After you enter your address, your firm’s location is highlighted and labeled on the local map search results.
Your Google Business Profile for Lawyers listing includes prominent links to your website and the Google Maps directions page. This promotion is a great way for local search to show how easy it is for potential local clients to find you and how to get in touch with you for more information.
When displaying search results, the Google search engine takes into account a variety of factors. Although no one knows how it works, search engine optimization (SEO) experts have discovered methods that improve rankings. Relevance, location, and authority are the three most important factors when conducting a local search.
Relevance
Relevance measures how well your content’s keywords match the search terms entered into Google. One of the most important sites where relevance matters are the title tag, which tells Google what the site is about.
For example, the Morgan Legal Group PLLC demonstrates this by incorporating “personal injury lawyer” in their title on Google. Incorporating this keyword into both the title tag and the body of the description confirms to Google that your page is relevant to the search, allowing the business to naturally rise in the rankings and gain more visibility.
Another way to benefit from SEO is to use similar keywords to the business category on your Google Business Profile platform. It’s also a method for ensuring that you appear high on relevant search results.
Location
The location is self-explanatory, and it is arguably the most important aspect of a lawyer’s Google Business Profile. Your firm should emphasize this fact as a local law firm serving a local community by including accurate location information in your online profiles and on your website. The Google Business Profile admin area allows you to verify and correct your geographic information, as well as control how it appears on the map.
Authority
High interest or a quality link is referred to as authority in SEO. In general, websites gain authority in SEO by having other sites link to them, though Google considers many other factors. With high authority, your website is likely the best place for someone to find information related to the search query.
More Google Business Profile Features Equals Greater Opportunities
Google Business Profile for Lawyers provides several additional features that will boost the prominence of your law firm in search results. Here are some of the major ones:
Local Finder
When someone searches for “local law firms in Houston” on Google, a highlighted box known as the Local Finder appears in the results. The Local Finder will show your law firm (among others) and a small map with a flag indicating its location.
Mobile Listing
Google Business Profile for lawyers promotes your law firm on mobile devices with Local Finder. On the search page, there will be a box like the Local Finder below the main results to make it easy to see and click on links.
Google posts
Google Posts is the newest feature for My Business users. Google Posts takes the idea of a business listing and takes it one step further. They’re like blog posts on your website but for Google Search. They let you share new information about your business, like news and current events, on the search results page. Even though it might not seem necessary for Google Business Profile for lawyers, adding photos is a powerful way to improve SEO ranking.
How to Claim Your Google Business Profile
The first step in optimizing your Google Business profile for local searches is to claim it. First, you must create a Google account if you do not already have one. Simply search for your law firm and click “Claim this business” once logged in.
Verify Your Google My Business Listing
When you claim your listing, Google will verify that the appropriate business owner is claiming it. Google will send a postcard with a unique PIN to the location of your business. Once you receive the postcard, log in to your Google account and use the PIN on the postcard to verify your Google Business listing. Once you enter the pin, your Google Business listing will be activated, and you will enhance your listing.
How Can You Optimize Your Google Business Profile for Lawyers?
Optimizing your Google Business profile is essential for achieving the best local SEO results. Here are some things you can add to your law firm’s profile to make it stand out from the rest:
Include Keywords in Your Google Business Profile
Incorporating keywords in your profile’s title and business description will help potential clients find your firm when searching for specific legal services.
The description of your law firm is an excellent chance to explain what you offer and how you can help potential clients. This concise description (maximum 750 characters) should be as convincing as possible. We recommend that our legal clients include their most important keywords at the beginning of the description. But don’t use too many keywords, and make sure the content is Informative about your business and highlights your experience and what makes you different.
Build Out Categories
The category is essential to any legal practice’s Google Business Profile. Google and users rely on this to understand the services you provide. It is essential to choose a primary category that is relevant to your company. Google has predefined categories; select the one that best suits your practice. If you do not want to select a specific practice area as the primary category, you can select “law firm” as the primary category.
Here are a few category examples:
- Civil Law Attorney
- Divorce Attorney
- Personal Injury Lawyer
After you’ve chosen your primary category, Google Business allows you to add additional services that you provide. If you are a personal injury attorney, you can include services such as auto accidents, truck accidents, wrongful death, and medical malpractice.
You can add up to a 300-word description to each service to further optimize your secondary categories, giving Google and users more context on the legal services you provide.
Upload High-Quality Photos
Visuals are essential for providing customers with insights about your law firm and the work you do. You can add your logo, a cover photo, and any additional photos to Google Business. Include images of the office and its staff and any relevant legal documents or processes.
Create Google Business Practitioner Listings for Individual Attorneys
Google Business outlines the following guidelines for individual practitioners/attorneys who want to create their own Google Business profile:
- They work in front of the public. Support staff must not create their Business Profiles.
- They can be reached directly at the verified location during the hours stated.
Acquire and Respond to Google Reviews
5-star Google Reviews are by far one of the best things you can collect to boost the ranking of your Google Business profile. You can never have too many 5-star Google Reviews! The more 5-Star ratings there are, the better. Encouraging customers to leave reviews and comments on your services will help you build trust with potential clients and improve your profile’s ranking.
Whether you receive a positive or negative review, it is critical that you respond to each one, thanking your client, being open to all feedback, and encouraging dissatisfied customers to contact you directly to resolve the problem.
Utilize Google Business Posts
After you’ve optimized your Google Business profile, it’s critical to keep it current and up to date. One way to do this is to post regular updates on your profile. Google provides you with three options:
- Add update
- Add offer
- Add event
If you have recently won a case, added new staff, or have business updates, these are all excellent opportunities to post informative, relevant content that can also help increase your visibility and traffic to your website.
Remember, your company’s Google Business listing is completely free! Google Business for Lawyers is a powerful tool that should be part of your overall law firm SEO strategy.
Contact Us
Contact our digital marketing company if you have any questions or concerns about using Google Business Profiles as part of your marketing strategy. We can help you place your law firm in the best possible position for success.
