Links are the currency of the web. The simple explanation is, getting other websites to link to you is like getting votes for your site. The more votes you get, the more trusted you become in the eyes of search engines such as Google. Of course, there are other factors to consider such as the authority and relevance of the sites linking back to you as well.
1. Link Building Will Help Your Law Firm's Site Rank Better For Individual Keywords - Links pointing to a specific page on your site, that include keywords you would like to rank for as anchor text, will help improve your rankings in the search engines for that keyword. Take for example a personal injury law firm in New Jersey. Let say they are trying to improve their ranking for the keyword phrase "New Jersey injury lawyer". The firm needs to establish a page on their site that is optimized for "New Jersey injury lawyer" and then the firm needs to get other sites to link back to that page with links that contain "New Jersey injury lawyer" in the text such as the link in this sentence. This will help let Google know what the page on your site is about and will establish authority because other sites are linking to that page with descriptive link text.
2. Building Links Establishes Domain Authority - As you build more links to various pages of your site, your entire domain will gain authority and trust in the eyes of the search engines. As opposed to this helping one of your pages rank for a keyword phrase, your increased domain authority will help all of your pages rank better. This is why when a site like www.cnn.com publishes an article or new page, it ranks quickly and higher than most other sites. This will obviously result in more traffic for the site. The same principle applies to your local law firm site.
3. Your Website Pages Get Visited More Often & More Pages Get Indexed - The only way someone searching Google can find your website is if your site is indexed in Google's search engine. As you site gains more authority and trust, through links, your site becomes "more important" in the eyes of Google. The result is that Google visits your site more frequently to check for updates. In addition, more pages of your site get added to the Google index. This gives you more opportunity to get visitors searching Google for your services.
Here's a recent Google SERP for "๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ." Ads? โLSAs? โLocal Pack? โLinks? โ ๐ท AI Overview? โ 6 firms listed. Only one tiny ๐. Click the ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ button? ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐: Here's a more detailed look at some of these firms: THE PEARCE LAW FIRM, P.C.Edith Pearce, […]
On April 22, 2025, Google sent an email updating Local Services Ads Additional Terms for Providers: Subject: Action required: important updates to Local Service Ads Additional Terms Many people are arguing that lawyers cannot participate in Local Services Ads, as this would constitute a per se violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct related to […]
Conrad and I recently joined Zack at Lawyerist to record a conversation about AI and marketing. You might think that we spend the whole time on how lawyers can use AI to publish content. You'd be wrong. While AI can certainly support publishing, there are many more interesting ways to use it in legal marketing. […]
As more legal services consumers turn to ChatGPT for local law firm recommendations, a fascinating intersection between AI, search, and maps unfolds. While Google remains the undisputed leader in local business data, ChatGPT is increasingly becoming an entry point for searchers seeking legal representation. But hereโs the kicker: instead of keeping users within its ecosystem, […]
When law firms contact us, they usually want to talk: โข PPC Ads โข SEO Rankings โข Lead Generation Very few want to talk: โข Brand โข Trust & Recognition โข Emotional Connection Admittedly, much of this concerns that AttorneySync is known for lead generation across those common digital channels. But even when we start […]
According to an October 2024 study by SE Ranking: "The legal niche triggers the highest percentage of AIOs (77.67%). The average number of links matched between the AI Overview resources and the top 20 search results was 6.49 for legal topics. AI Overviews for legal topics most frequently link to NYCourts.gov (114 links), YouTube.com (48 […]
I'm grateful for my friend, Charley Mann of Law firm Alchemy. If you're a lawyer, subscribe to his Free Email List. In a recent email, Charley calls out bad guru advice on hiring: "Trying to execute a major SEO improvement? You need to find people who will help you, instead of trying to DIY it […]
If youโve spent any time on LinkedIn, youโve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an โup and to the rightโ trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And itโs not just the agencies celebratingโ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ […]
Meh, links! All things being equal, links still tend to move the dial more than any other factor in legal SERPs. Maybe links are having a diminishing impact internet-wide. But in my experience, quality links, especially relevant links (both topically and geographically), tend to improve law firm visibility in search more than most everything else. […]
Thanks for this post about the importance of links. Where would you recommend that someone begin with creating links? Some of the basic link building strategies that I have been using are:
article writing (to exine articles, etc)
blog commenting
Classified ads
Squidoo pages
Forum posting
Is there anything you would add? How do you go about finding link building prospects?
Nina
Nina-
You can find a lot of good link building information at http://www.seomoz.org
We also have a free guide you can download on basic link building principles:
http://bit.ly/bBsdjA
Thats a good way of explaining it, is your book available in the UK anywhere?