If you have been running SEO campaigns and have yet to achieve your desired results, you may be wondering why such efforts are not yielding new clients and cases. There are many reasons you may be struggling with search engine optimization. Thankfully, you can easily identify and remedy the issues that prevent your SEO success as long as you know what exactly to look for. The following are the reasons search engine optimization for family law attorneys may not work:
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Failing to Manage Expectations
Your SEO efforts may not pan out if you fail to manage your expectations properly from the get-go. As you start your SEO campaign, you need to develop realistic timelines and goals according to competition conditions in the market together with your current online presence. Factors such as market competition, content volume, and website history will affect how quickly your SEO efforts will yield results. Not accounting for these factors when setting objectives usually results in premature frustration regarding the futility of your SEO efforts. However, this can be right on track as long as you stay patient and persistent. To increase your chances of achieving what you expect from your SEO efforts, take the time to understand your competitive landscape and the full SEO process. Keep in mind that there are different factors that affect search visibility and SEO is not magic. This process involves defined, sequential steps such as indexation, ranking, driving traffic, and transforming this traffic into leads and clients.
Progressing through every stage can take time depending on your starting point and the competitiveness of your niche. What’s important is to understand the steps that your SEO efforts fall under, so you can set appropriate expectations. Otherwise, you could quit before a breakthrough takes place.
Not Having Enough Authority or Trust
Your website’s authority and trust signals in the eyes of Google significantly affect your SEO progress. Your firm will compete with reputable family law firms that have higher authority metrics. When measuring authority and trust, Google considers the following:
- Backlinks from reputable websites. The search engine giant views backlinks from other websites back to yours as a strong endorsement that you provide valuable, credible information. Your site can carry higher authority in rankings when it has many backlinks from authoritative niche websites.
- Reviews on major directories. On localized search terms, the number, positivity, and consistency of reviews across major legal directories signal authority. A firm that boasts many positive reviews from clients may outperform firms that have little to no review volume.
- Trust through thought leadership. For Google, trust is functional authority established over years developing niche expertise through conferences, firm-branded content hubs, author credits in journals, media placements, and podcast interviews. The more your family law firm contributes knowledge the greater trust it builds.
Not Following an Updated Strategy
Your SEO efforts may not yield your desired results if you are depending on an outdated search strategy that does not align with the results priorities of Google. If you built your SEO approach several years ago without improvements to it, it may no longer reflect Google’s favoring of map packs, paid ads, and local services ads over conventional organic blue links.
Hiring the Wrong SEO Provider
Because search algorithms and results have a complex nature, you may seek out expert support for SEO instead of going it alone. However, you need to hire the right provider for the job. An unqualified agency will mass-produce content and link-building. They may run cookie-cutter SEO campaigns, do not have the legal specialization you require, and may overpromise fat results. To find the right SEO experts, make sure to ask the right questions when searching for them.