3 Tips for Writing Good SEO Content for Lawyers

SEO Content for Lawyers

Quality SEO content for lawyers is as valuable today as it was 10 years ago. Understanding how to write top-notch optimized content is a great way to boost search traffic and ensure that potential clients know your firm exists.

What are three of the most important things you can do to ensure your firm’s site features quality SEO content?

1. Know What Goes Into Creating a Great Title

The body or meat of the content you post is important, but so is the title. Just as it would be with a newspaper article or book, the title is used to grab a reader’s attention and pull them in. To get potential clients’ eyes on your content, it needs to have a great title. Search engines also appreciate good titles.

The best titles are:

Unique: It’s impossible to come up with a title that isn’t at all similar to other titles online, but it is possible to phrase it in a unique manner. Once you find a topic you want to address on your blog, check out what other blogs are saying about it. Whenever possible, come up with a title that doesn’t duplicate what everyone else is saying.
Appropriate length: The length of your title is one of the most important ways you can make it appealing for search engines. The length of your title also affects what your potential readers will know about your post in advance. Google shows the first 50 to 60 characters of a title tag, which means the main point about your topic must appear near the front. SEO experts point out that approximately 90% of your titles will appear correctly in Google search results if your titles are under 60 characters.
Focused on a single primary keyword: Make sure the main keyword appears in your title. Put this keyword early in the title and make sure the focus of your content deals with this keyword.

One final tip: If you are struggling to come up with ideas for titles, search your topic and see what other people are doing. Do the top 10 search results include a lot of lists? Are there how-tos about your topic? Did the results share a common factor? Make sure you use this information as a basis for writing your titles and creating popular content.

If you’d like more information about creating great blog titles, check out this article from HostGator.

2. Avoid “STOP” Words

Search engines avoid stop words. They take up space and take additional time to process. They cause search engines to pause and they don’t treat them the same as other words. Some of the most common stop words include:

It’s impossible to stop using these words completely, nor should you try. You want your content to make sense and appeal to human readers.

However, you need to balance this with appealing to search engines. There are some places you should avoid them. Whenever possible, avoid using stop words in title tags and URLs. Replace stop words with descriptive words when they appear at the beginning of your titles.

For example:

“The Reasons You Should Work with an Attorney” would fare better in search engine results if it were “Smart Reasons to Work with an Attorney.”

3. Make SEO Content a Priority

It’s tempting to think you can create great SEO content and call it a day. Unfortunately, great SEO content turns stale and unhelpful fairly quickly if you don’t keep at the process.

Search engines love fresh content. You’ll get better results when you address trending topics and create new content that is relevant to your industry. It helps to set up Google alerts so you know what’s happening in your field and incorporate these topics into your content.

Finally, come to terms with the fact that creating great content isn’t the final step in establishing your blog and getting your firm noticed online. There’s a wide variety of things you can and should be doing to promote your content and make sure your online presence is growing.

The idea of creating good SEO content and making the most of your website is overwhelming for business attorneys. We can help. If you have questions about how to create better content that gets noticed by search engines or you want to hand the reigns over to someone else while you focus on your clients, call us today to schedule a consultation.