Tag: local seo

SEO_for_Law_Firms

How to Take Advantage of Local SEO for Law Firms

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For How to Take Advantage of Local SEO for Law Firms

The legal field can be tricky to navigate, but with the help of localized SEO strategies, it doesn’t have to be. Local search engine optimization (SEO) is a process that helps law firms rank higher in organic searches for certain locations. It differs from traditional SEO because it focuses on specific geographic areas rather than keywords and phrases. While it may seem intimidating at first glance, local SEO is quite simple—and it can be an incredibly effective strategy for generating leads and new business opportunities for your firm! 

Understanding Local Lawyer SEO 

If you’ve never heard of local SEO, that’s okay. It’s a relatively new form of online marketing—and one that has the potential to be especially helpful for law firms. The basic idea behind local SEO is simple: it allows you to rank highly in Google searches when someone types in your city’s name or zip code while searching for legal services. Search query examples are “lawyers near me” or “Dallas law firms.” 

While this may sound similar to traditional paid advertising, there are some key differences. First, with paid ads (such as those on Google AdWords), you pay every time someone clicks on your ad and visits your website. With local SEO, there are no costs associated with each visit—as long as the person typing in their information correctly matches what they’re looking for. Second, paid ads tend to appear at the top of search results based on how much advertisers have spent; local SEO means appearing at the top simply because people want what you offer nearby! 

Start With Your Google My Business Listing 

Google My Business listings are essential for local SEO because they’re how you get your presence on Google Maps. 

Google My Business listings aren’t automatically created for you when you set up a business, so if you don’t already have one, create one here. 

Once you’ve filled out all the required fields and submitted your listing, it may take up to 30 days before your profile appears on Google Maps. In addition to creating a listing on Google Maps, make sure that any other platforms (like Facebook) where people might look up information about your law firm also display accurate information about its location(s). 

Work On Your Law Firm Website 

Your website is the most important tool to get new clients and keep existing ones. There are a lot of things you need to consider when developing your website, including: 

  • Content—What kind of content will be on your site? Is it helpful or just a bunch of legal jargon that no one can understand?
  • Design—Is your website intuitive and aligned with your brand image?
  • Usability—Are all your links and features accessible across all devices and browsers? 
  • Navigation—Can people find what they’re looking for quickly and easily?

Get Your Website Reviewed by a Professional 

One of the best things you can do for your law firm’s local SEO is to get a third party to review your website. You may have a local SEO specialist or a local law firm that you’re already familiar with, but hiring someone with experience in both industries might make sense. If none of those options fit the bill, consider working with an SEO agency, like Agency Partner Interactive. Getting a new perspective will help ensure your site is up-to-date and functional and that your website architecture is optimized, especially if you’re new to local search optimization or updating an older site. 

Use Geotags 

If you publish any social media content, ensure you include geotags. Geotagging is simply labeling your posts with the location of your firm. Doing so is a simple way to increase your brand awareness and let potential customers know where to find you. 

Geotags for videos are equally important. When someone shares a video on Facebook or YouTube (which both use Google Maps for location data), their audience can see where the video was shot if it was uploaded with appropriate tags. 

Ways to Incorporate Local SEO for Law Firms 

You can incorporate local SEO for your law firm in several different ways. Local SEO, or lawyer SEO that focuses on getting exposure for attorneys in front of their prospective clients in their primary business location(s), is a part of internet marketing that many firms overlook. 

Optimize Your Website 

This will help people find you when they’re searching online and ensure that you’re properly indexed on search engines like Google and Bing. Most importantly, it will improve your chances of ranking well on those searches when someone types in keywords related to what you do (e.g., “personal injury attorney” or “criminal defense lawyer”). 

Create Geotargeted Content 

People will be looking for your services nearby, no matter what industry or location you’re in. A way to target this market is by creating useful content related to your location and services. Some content topics can include: “How much does an average personal injury case cost?” or “Which attorneys specialize in green card cases?” By answering some of the most asked questions your audience searches, you can establish credibility and call them to action. After creating your content, post them on social media channels like Facebook or LinkedIn so they rank higher when people search for relevant terms.  

To summarize, if you want to appear in local search results, you must optimize your website and content.  

Agency Partner Interactive 

Local SEO benefits many businesses but offers key advantages for law firms. Potential clients will always search for lawyers to take on their cases, and ensuring you’re top of mind is essential for generating new leads. A successful strategy means optimizing your law firm website for local SEO and publishing any content with correct meta tags, descriptions, and geotargeted keywords. Whether you’re just getting started with local SEO or have an established practice, improving your outreach and visibility will help your firm stay agile and successful. The SEO experts at Agency Partner Interactive have worked extensively with law firms of all sectors and sizes. We can help you develop a data-driven local SEO strategy to accelerate growth and drive revenue. Schedule your free consultation today!

google_my_business

Why Your Google My Business Page Might Be Suspended

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Google My Business Pages

Having a Google My Business (GMB) page is a must for local SEO, local optimization, and to help you rank locally on Google. These free profiles are now ubiquitous. All your competitors have them, and the most relevant profiles display at the top of Google search results when Google users are searching for your type of business in their specific area.

Because Google My Business is so important to local SEO and helping your rank locally on Google, it makes getting your GMB suspended all the more frustrating because GMB suspensions instantly decrease your business’s online visibility.

If you try to log onto Google My Business and see that your profile is suspended, you are likely wondering, “Why is my GMB suspended?” The first step to answering this question, and to getting your GMB reinstated, is to find out if you have a soft suspension or a hard suspension.

Why Is My GMB Suspended with a Soft Suspension?

While no business owner wants their Google My Business page suspended, if it’s going to happen, you want it to be a soft suspension. This is because with soft suspensions:

  • You still show up on Google search results, so you can still rank locally on Google.
  • Mobile searchers can still call your business by tapping your phone number.
  • You won’t suffer from the visibility issues associated with hard suspensions.

The most likely reasons for soft suspensions are quality issues. Examples of quality issues may be an incorrect address (which can happen if you abbreviate your street name type from “Road” to “Rd.” or use “Ste” instead of “Suite” to note your suite number), or if you have accidentally created duplicate pages for the same address.
Soft suspensions are generally easy to correct.

Why Is My GMB Suspended with a Hard Suspension?

When it comes to having your business rank locally on Google, hard GMB suspensions are much more serious. That’s because, with a hard suspension, your Google My Business page won’t display at all. And while you can rectify issues that caused hard suspensions and get your page reinstated by appealing to Google, after a hard suspension you’ll lose all photos and ratings that your customers have previously posted.

There are several reasons why you may receive a hard suspension. These include:

  • Having Account Issues

When you have a Google My Business page, you get to assign users who can access and edit your page. At a very minimum, your users should include you or your internal marketing person, and your digital marketing agency.

Sometimes, however, certain users can cause your page to be flagged and receive a hard suspension. This is especially true if a user who has permission to modify your page has a recent activity that Google considers spammy.

If you recently added a user to your page and your account was quickly hard suspended, immediately remove that user and file an appeal to Google. If you’re the only user on your page, go to https://www.localguidesconnect.com/.

If you see that your account is no longer a part of the “Local Guides” program on Google, then your account is the reason for the hard suspension.

  • Using a Rented Mailbox as Your Business Address

If your Google My Business page is going to list a business address, it has to be an actual address of a business.

Rented mailboxes, such as post office boxes, FedEx mailboxes, and UPS boxes aren’t eligible addresses for Google My Business. If you attempt to list one of these types of rented mailboxes as your business address, you can expect a hard suspension

  • Listing Service Areas if You Have a Physical Address or Vice Versa

Google recognizes that some businesses have physical addresses, while others don’t but instead are service area businesses. Google wants to help both types of businesses rank locally on Google. That’s why you have the option to either display your physical address or your service area. Listing both, however, looks spammy to Google and is a surefire way to get a hard suspension.

  • Google Algorithm Updates That Don’t Work in Your Favor

Unfortunately, sometimes Google algorithm changes affect your ability to rank locally on Google and cause hard suspensions. In this case, you need to contact your digital marketing agency, make sure your Google My Business page meets all appropriate criteria, and submit an appeal to Google.

How to Appeal a Soft or Hard GMB Suspension

Whether you’ve received a soft or hard Google My Business suspension, you can appeal the decision in attempts to improve local optimization and rank locally on Google once again. To do so, first, rectify any issue that you’ve identified that may be causing the issue. If you work with a digital marketing agency, reach out to them for help with this. Digital marketing agencies frequently manage Google My Business pages for their clients and are well-versed in how to fix issues that result in suspensions.

Once your profile is updated and accurate, go to the “learn more” button that appears in the red suspension box on your profile to submit your appeal.

Rank Locally on Google By Getting Our Professional Help with Your Google My Business Page

As a leading digital marketing agency that specializes in local SEO and local optimization, we help several of our customers rank locally on Google by managing and optimizing their Google My Business pages. Many of our clients turn to us for GMB help because they don’t have the internal resources to manage digital marketing, they’ve tried optimizing their Google My Business pages on their own but still don’t rank locally on Google, or they simply want to be working with the best of the best in order to have the highest Google rankings possible.

We can help you with your Google My Business page all year long and are ready to go into crisis mode if you receive a soft or hard suspension. To learn more about how we help you rank locally on Google and manage your local SEO efforts, reach out to us today. You can call us at (214) 295-5845 or fill out our online contact form.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “Why Your Google My Business Page Might Be Suspended” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

 

google_my_business_page

What Addresses Can You Use on Google My Business Pages?

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For Google My Business Pages

Google My Business is a free Google listing  – with no paid upgrades – that Google encourages all businesses to use to its fullest to help them rank locally on Google. The goal of this free listing is to provide Google searchers with the best, most relevant local information when they are searching for businesses in a specific area, especially when they’re on mobile devices and using search terms such as “gas station near me.”

One of the most important aspects of having a Google My Business (GMB) page, aside from helping you rank locally on Google, is to make it easy for Google users to find you. This means that in order to show up in search results, you need to make sure your business address is entered accurately so customers can find you, and you can enhance your local SEO. And of course, this means you must understand address use for GMB.

But what address works for GMB? Continue reading to learn tips from Google itself on how to make sure web searchers can find you and so that you rank locally on Google.

Address Use for GMB When You Have a Physical Storefront

If you serve customers at a physical location, that’s great! You need to make sure that you accurately enter in all the details of your postal address, including your:

  • Street number
  • Street name
  • Street type (like Avenue, Drive, Road, etc.)
  • City name
  • State name
  • Zip Code
  • Suite, unit, or floor number

Entering all this information accurately on your Google My Business page both helps with local optimization and also allows Google to place a map marker on Google Maps at your exact location. This makes it easier for Google searchers, especially those who are on the go and searching on a mobile device, to find you and go to your business.

Examples of What Address Works for GMB

If your address is:
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA, 94043

You want to enter that exactly on your Google My Business page. Even doing something that may seem harmless like abbreviating “Parkway” to “Pkwy” may make it harder for Google to accurately pinpoint your physical location and mark it on Google Maps. And you definitely don’t want to do that!

Address Use for GMB if You Are in a New Development or Rural Location

Sometimes, certain addresses are hard for Google Maps to find.  In these instances, Google Maps won’t accurately pinpoint your location, which could affect your ability for you to rank locally on Google or for customers to use Google Maps on their mobile devices to get directions to your storefront. This is especially true if your business is part of a brand new development that hasn’t yet been added to Google Maps, or if you are in a rural area.

If entering in your address as per the instructions listed above doesn’t accurately pinpoint your location on Google Maps, then you should include directional information like cross streets or nearby landmarks that Google Maps is able to accurately pinpoint. Doing so will help your location appear more clearly on Google Maps.

Address Use for GMB if You Have Multiple Locations

If your business has multiple locations, you should have Google My Business pages for each location to improve local SEO, enhance local optimization, and rank locally on Google for each of your business locations. You can manage your multiple locations by simply signing into your Google My Business Account.

Address Use for GMB if You Don’t Physically Serve Customers at a Location

Some businesses don’t serve customers at physical locations. Examples of these types of businesses include eCommerce sites, grocery delivery service providers, tutors who meet with students at community locations like local libraries, mobile notary publics, and more. This list really goes on and on.

Even if you don’t serve customers at a physical location, Google My Business still wants to list your business so that you can enhance local SEO and rank locally on Google. After all, Google is all about helping web searchers find the relevant information they want.

If you don’t serve customers at a physical location, then when you create your Google My Business page make sure to leave your business address blank and fill out the “Service Areas” field instead. Be thorough, and list all cities, towns, suburbs, etc. that you realistically service in order to best rank locally on Google and improve your local SEO and local optimization.

What Else Should You Include on Your Google My Business Page to Make it Easier for Customers to Find You?

Google My Business pages allow all businesses to add photos to their free profiles. You should definitely take advantage of this feature to, at the very minimum, add photos of the front of your business so that those who are searching for you on the go can easily spot your location from the street.

Make sure to keep these storefront photos current. If you paint your building, add window awnings or other architectural elements that change the appearance of your storefront, you want to update your business location photos so that customers don’t get confused by outdated images.

Get Help Ranking Locally on Google by Optimizing Your Google My Business Page

Because Google My Business pages are free profiles, they’re ubiquitous. Virtually all your competitors have one, and they’re using their best efforts to enhance local SEO and local optimization so they rank locally on Google. This means that having an updated, optimized Google My Business page is extremely important so that your GMB ranks higher than your competitors’ profiles.

As a digital marketing agency that specializes in local SEO, we help several customers every year optimize their Google My Business pages. If you’ve tried everything for local optimization but find you still don’t rank locally on Google, we can help. By using our SEO expertise and specialized SEO tools, we can find the best search terms to include on your Google My Business page to help you rank locally on Google.

For help with GMB, contact us today. You can reach us by calling (214) 295-5845 or filling out our online contact form.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “What Addresses Can You Use on Google My Business Pages?” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!

 

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A Complete Guide to Local SEO for Small Businesses

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips on Local SEO For Small Business

Local search is extremely important for small businesses. In fact, 80% of consumers utilize local search to find local businesses. This means if your business if your website isn’t optimized for local search, you could be missing out on 4 out of 5 of your potential customers.

Luckily, optimizing your business for local search is a straightforward process. Taking the necessary steps to ensure that your website is found for corresponding local searches will make sure that your business flourishes.

After all, 88% of all local searches result in the web user calling or visiting the business within 24 hours. If you want to learn more about how you want to build a strong foundation for your business, read this guide to achieve more online visibility from local searches. 

Create a Google My Business Listing

It’s surprisingly shocking that only 44% of small businesses have claimed their Google My Business (GMB) listing.

Considering that an average consumer will check local map listings to find a business near them, it would seem foolish to ignore setting up a listing.

That is how things currently are, but it doesn’t mean you have to neglect this very important process.

As you can see, the listing on the right of the image has all of the information that’s valuable to a potential customer.

People can use these listings to visit a website, receive directions, look at online reviews, and make a phone call. 

Creating a GMB listing is simple. Follow these steps to get the job done properly.

  1. Create a Google account or log in.
  2. Click here to visit Google My Business. 
  3. Fill out the required fields, such as your phone number, address, etc.
  4. Verify the information.
  5. Claim your listing and submit.

This is the most basic step in optimizing your business for local search. Your GMB listing is the gateway where unrefined prospects become loyal customers.

Leverage Effective Internal Linking Strategies

Backlinks are the crux of every internet marketing strategy. Though, internal links are just as important to boost your SEO ranking. Generally speaking, internal links are essential for the following reasons:

  • They support efficient website navigation
  • Streamlines website hierarchy and information architecture
  • Reinforces ranking power and page authority throughout your website

If you ever want to see a prime example of an effective internal linking strategy, visit a Wikipedia page. It’s not a coincidence that Wikipedia pages often rank highly in search engines.

They are highly-resourceful and have countless internal links to aid your comprehension and navigate to other useful pages. This increases the time you spent on Wikipedia, which lets search engines know that the site is valuable.

To the same effect, you should utilize sound internal link strategies to help your site rank sufficiently for local searches. 

Optimize all Metadata

Metadata is information that describes other data. This includes URLs, title tags, meta descriptions, and all the like. 
 metadata
You see metadata every time you conduct any type of search. Just take a look at this standard search.
dentist

 

Do you see the headers indicating what each web page is about? 

This is metadata. 

Do you also see the descriptions below the headers? 

This is also metadata. 

It’s important to optimize the metadata of your entire website architecture to show up for local searches. The best way to do this is by adding high-volume keywords in the URL, title, header, meta description, and body. 

This will make sure that your website is found by consumers using the same high-volume keywords you’re including in your site’s metadata.

Add Location Pages to Your Website

If your business operates in multiple locations, you should reflect this on your website. The only way is to create separate location pages for each city or region you do business in. 

For example, if you run a restaurant in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, you need to create different pages for both.

Keep in mind that you can’t replicate the same city pages and change the city names.

This is frankly lazy and Google won’t rank them. Instead, put forth the time and effort to create custom location pages that provide information unique to the city the page is mentioning.

Develop Stellar Local Content

If you want to attract local leads, then you’ll need to develop a consistent local content strategy. Ranking your local content isn’t as difficult due to the low amount of competition compared to worldwide search results.

Therefore, all you need is a great content writer and marketing team on your side to craft stellar local content. For example, if you run a law firm, you can write a post about how readers can select the best firm in your city.

Finally, you can add tons of local keywords. This will help your content rank high for local searches and provide a lot of value to your audience – that’s effectively killing two birds with one stone.

Make Sure Your Website is Mobile-Friendly

More than half of all online searches happen on a mobile device. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile devices, then you could be running potential customers off before they can even convert.

A website doesn’t appear the same way on a computer as it does on a tablet. Therefore, you will have to ensure that your website has a fast and convenient mobile version.

The important thing to realize here is that your desktop version should still provide the same features as your mobile version. It can be frustrating to be forced to use a computer just because the mobile version of a website stripped certain essential features.

Improve Your Local SEO Today!

Local SEO is vital for the online presence of any small business. Since people mainly conduct business online, building a strong foundation on the internet isn’t an optional task.

If you need help in jumpstarting the local SEO strategy of your business, give us a call at (214) 295-5845 to learn more about how we can help you today.

Not big on reading? That’s okay. Watch “A Complete Guide to Local SEO for Small Businesses” instead.

Using the power of Artificial Intelligence, we turned this blog into a video for you. Check it out below!