What does Advocate SEO do?
We are advocates for attorneys and primarily focus on Personal Injury Attorneys. Recent statistics show that most people, as many as 93%, search online for local businesses when they need them. Attorneys showing up in the Local Pack, ads, and organic rankings on the first page of Google get the vast majority of the leads. We help attorneys show up there.
What’s Unique about Attorney SEO?
We explain some of this on our page about SEO for Personal Injury Law Firms. Basically, it’s a niche. SEO varies drastically from niche to niche. How you do SEO for an eCommerce store selling sneakers, a local hotel, a local restaurant and a local attorney is totally different. For example, eCommerce stores have thing content issues to content with. Hotels need to be linked up with Expedia. Restaurants need to feed their menu to Google. Attorney websites have specific Bar regulations they must comply with.
When did you begin Offering SEO for Attorneys?
We have always been interested in SEO and got started a long time ago. Prior to offering SEO for attorneys we worked with a slew of small businesses and news organizations with their SEO. As for attorneys, we shifted our focus to them around 2013.
How long does SEO take to get Cases?
As we say in the SEO business: it depends.
Just the other day we saw an attorney in southern Louisiana who had very little competition in a city of about 40,000 people. He had 10 reviews, mediocre content, and the only links to his site were from Yelp, Facebook and maybe a few attorney directories. He was actually ranking on the front page! In that case, anyone could probably get decent results with very little effort. Now you have to keep in mind, in that area, even if you crush it there, you’re not going to get a ton of cases.
On the opposite end of the spectrum you have places like Los Angeles where it can be impossible to get traction unless you’ve been at it for many years and are already operating a major firm with 50+ employees.
The sweet spot is really in the middle in unsaturated cities of 100,000 – 500,000 people. In general, with GOOD SEO, you can make it to the front page in under a year and it’s usually very cost effective. That said, most SEO agencies care about their own bottom line, not yours.
What do Attorneys Spend on SEO?
A Workers’ Comp lawyer in a town of 50k people can often get by with a smaller plan which might run around $2,000/mo. I’ve heard of SEO campaigns by personal injury firms who are targeting the entire state spending over $200,000 per month. Those firms usually spend millions on Google Ads every year as well, and often even more on TV advertising.
Any Advice for the DIY Attorney?
Yes. Get reviews, everywhere. Currently, the most valuable place to accumulate reviews is on Google. Having a niche may help you immensely. Be active in your community. Build a referral network. Always be on the lookout for backlinks – sponsoring a local bicycle race? Ask for a backlink. Joining the local Chamber of Commerce? Ask for a backlink. Setting up your AVVO profile? Add a backlink to it. Need help? Visit us online at AdvocateSEO.com.
