Complete 12-Step Guide:
How to Audit Your Law Firm Website for SEO
This is a step-by-step guide for auditing your law firm’s website for SEO. Apply these techniques to your home page, practice area pages, FAQ pages, attorney bios, and other web pages.
1) Research the keywords and key phrases
You want the article to rank highly for these words and phrases. Use free keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest to identify target words and phrases people will likely search for. Ensure your title, headings, and content use these keywords and phrases.
Identify Long-Tail Key Phrases
Use Google’s autofill feature to identify long-tail key phrases. Type simple search terms into Google and check Google’s auto-fills. Auto-fills are the most common searches, so they are good key phrases because people will likely search for them. Use these key phrases in your headings and content. Long-tail key phrases perform better in competitive markets.
Check for location keywords
Each web page should contain location keywords. Location keywords target clients in your area and help you perform better in local search results. Clearly defining and targeting your location is key to your website’s effectiveness.
Check the keyword density
Use SEO tools like Rank Math to ensure the article has the appropriate keyword density. Use synonyms and alternative keywords and phrases if your keyword density is too high. Your keywords should be 1-3 % of the article (1-3 keywords per 100 words).
2) Check link placement, text, and functionality
Ensure that each page on your website has at least one internal and external link. External links should be to authoritative sources like .gov websites. Make sure each link works correctly and is up to date. Replace broken links. Look for missing links. Look for places to add links to your blogs or web pages.
Check for link stuffing
Link often, but only where it makes logical sense to do so. Don’t gratuitously stuff your web page full of links, thinking it will help search results. It won’t. Google penalizes link stuffing.
Check link texts
Link texts should be short but descriptive. The link text should provide context for the link. Google scores for context. Be concise but as descriptive as possible. Use as few words as possible, and no more than four. If you link to a source multiple times in the same article, use the same link text each time. Using different link texts to the same source confuses Google.
Include a sources section for blogs
For blogs, include a sources section at the end of the article. Include a description and link to each external source. The sources section is for authoritative external links only. Do not include internal links in your sources section. Use a sources section for blog articles, but not for your home page, practice area pages, or other web pages.
3) Check for plagiarism and content cannibalization
Use a plagiarism tool like Grammarly to check each web page for plagiarism and content cannibalization. Replace repetitive language until each page is 100% original. Google scores for originality and penalizes for plagiarism and content cannibalization.
4) Check for style and readability
The easier your article is to read, the likelier it is to be read and rank higher on Google. Write your content at an 8th-grade reading level. Check the readability score of your web pages for free using Microsoft Word.
Check word, sentence, and paragraph length
Improve readability scores by using short words, sentences, and paragraphs. Using plain language makes your article easy to read. Choose words with the least number of syllables and avoid words with four or more. Keep sentences to 20 words or less. Keep paragraphs to 3-5 sentences (6-7 max) and less than 150 words. Choose one topic per paragraph. Break longer paragraphs up into smaller ones. Use a WordPress plugin such as Rank Math to identify paragraphs that are too long.
Add transition words
Use transition words such as, ‘’and, so, because, therefore, but, thus, as such’’ to link thoughts together and make the article flow. Transition words improve readability scores.
Eliminate passive voice
Use active voice in your writing. Do not use passive voice. Less than 10% of your sentences should be in passive voice. Use a grammar tool like Grammarly to identify and eliminate passive voice from your writing.
Check headings and subheadings
Use headings and subheadings every 1-2 paragraphs (or three paragraphs if they are short). Use descriptive headings that include keywords, key phrases, and alternate keywords and phrases. Use long-tail key phrases in the headings and subheadings. Use location keywords in the headings when it makes logical sense. It’s good to phrase headings and subheadings as questions because people often type searches in the form of questions.
Eliminate lists and bullet points
Eliminate long lists separated by commas. Instead, make each item on the list a subheading and write a sentence or short paragraph about it. Likewise, make minimal use of bullet points. Instead, make each bullet point a subheading and write a few sentences about it.
5) Proofread for errors and omissions
Every article must be free from misspellings, typos, and grammatical errors. It’s best to have someone else proofread your article for you. If you don’t have someone else to proofread, use grammar-checking software like Grammarly to ensure your article is error-free.
6) Check for length
Your blogs and practice area pages should be long enough to establish you as an authority on the subject matter. Your practice area pages should be 2,000-5,000 words and cover each topic in detail. For blogs, it’s best to focus on long-form content that can dominate search results. Thus, we recommend that blogs be 1,000 words or more. The correct length of the article is the number of words it takes to establish you as an expert on the subject matter. If an article is too short, one way to make it longer is to choose a broader topic that requires more content to establish you as an expert. However, write every article tightly with no unnecessary ”fluff.”
7) Check for missing pages or blogs
Your website should contain at least a home page, attorney profiles, practice area pages, a case results page, an FAQ page, a blog, and a Contact Us page. If it needs any of those things, add them.
Check for missing blog topics
If your website has a blog, review all of the topics you have covered and see if any important topics are missing. Write out a list of suggestions for future blog topics and focus your topics on the types of cases you want to see more of.
Multi-lingual website and blog
If you are a multi-lingual law firm, you should have a multi-lingual website and blog. Publishing content in your client’s native language is crucial for providing value and developing a relationship with them. If you are a Spanish-language law firm, we can help you. We can translate your website into Spanish and write Spanish-language blogs and web pages.
8) Check for formatting
Formatting is important for Google rankings, especially the headings. Ensure each heading and subheading is appropriately labeled H1, H2, H3, and H4—this helps Google understand the article’s purpose and improves search results.
9) Check for images and alt text
Each blog and practice area page should have a professional photo related to the subject matter. Each attorney profile should have a recent, professional photo. Each page on the website should contain at least one attractive image. Make sure each photo has alt text that is descriptive and related to the subject matter. The alt text should be explanatory enough that someone would know what’s in the photo without seeing it. Use keywords and location keywords in the alt text whenever possible.
Using alt text in every photo is important because it improves search results. You can add alt text to pictures in WordPress. Do not use the words ‘’photo’’ or ‘’image’’ in your alt text. Google already knows the file is an image because of the file type.
10) Check for the call to action
Every page on your website, including each blog, should have a clear call to action, such as ”Contact us today” or ”Schedule a Free Consultation.” The call to action should make it very easy for the reader to contact you immediately and provide a contact form. Ensure your contact information is visible and easy to find on every page.
11) Check the Backend SEO
The backend SEO is the part that the reader doesn’t see. Use an SEO plugin like Rank Math to check your article’s backend SEO. Use your plugin to ensure the article has the correct keyword density, tags, title readability, Google snippet, alt text, and metadata. Optimizing backend SEO is necessary for optimizing Google search results.
12) Track how your content is doing
Google has several tools for tracking web page performance. Use Google WordPress Site Kit to view data from Google Search Console, Google Ads, and Google Analytics from your WordPress Dashboard. Use this guide to audit low-performing articles and update them accordingly.
Hire a professional to audit your website
Auditing a law firm’s website for SEO is a detailed process that takes time. If you want to audit your website for SEO but don’t have the time, hire a professional. Make sure you hire someone specializing in legal content and with a proven track record of gaining traction in competitive legal search fields. We will audit your website and provide a Complete SEO Audit Report with detailed findings about each web page. These findings are the key to improving your website’s search results and maximizing your website’s ROI.
Contact us today for a complimentary consultation. You will be able to talk with an expert legal content writer and learn strategies and techniques to get the results you want. You will receive a customized legal content plan for free. Schedule your free consultation today as we have limited space available.