SEO for Estate Planning Attorneys

SEO and estate planning are both a zero sum game. If a competitor ranks number one in Google’s search results, you don’t get that spot; if a different law firm lands an estate planning client, that means yours doesn’t. Bottom line: You don’t get paid being a client’s second choice. As top SEO specialists, we understand that the stakes are high when your livelihood depends on winning. It’s all too easy to bend under the stress of competition and resign yourself to taking whatever clients trickle in—especially if you don’t know much about SEO. Here’s what you may not realize: Online success is a solvable problem. Marketing your law firm isn’t like painting a masterpiece or winning the lottery—you don’t need inspiration or luck to get more online leads. What you do need, however, is a digital business strategist who specializes in SEO for estate planning attorneys. If you’re ready to attract more leads, better clients and greater online prowess, Fuelist Digital is your ticket there. Keep reading to learn the what, why, how and when. “If you want more leads than you know what to do with, Fuelist is the place to go! Eric is an SEO expert. He taught me that my website is not just a business card, it’s a tool!” – Nikole Mackenzie

It’s Not About Your Brand. It’s About What You Offer.

SEO is vital for estate planning attorneys, but it’s often misunderstood or misrepresented. That’s why we should get one thing cleared up right away: Google doesn’t care about your brand. You could be called Lawyers-R-Us and have a neon pink gavel in your logo—it doesn’t matter. The only thing Google cares about is the quality of your products. But what does ‘quality of products’ even mean? As far as Google is concerned, quality products are assets that meet Google’s ROI requirements through metrics like page speed, structured data, keyword target content and core web vitals. Your ‘products’ are all of your online assets, from your law firm website to your services and other offerings. With those definitions in mind, perhaps you’re starting to see SEO for what it really is: superior product marketing based on measurable factors. As SEO specialists, we analyze your competitors KPIs to pinpoint specific deficiencies in your digital presence and design your customized SEO strategy accordingly.

Why SEO Matters for Estate Planning Law Firms

Even if you’ve never committed to an SEO strategy before, there’s a good chance you’ve participated in some type of digital marketing campaign. Maybe you hired a marketing team to arrange a photoshoot, design new promotional materials and launch social media and pay-per-click ad campaigns. In the days during and following your ad campaign, you probably saw a slight uptick in traffic to your website, and maybe you had a few more calls than usual. But if you’re like most of the clients that come to us, those results were short lived, and the only thing you had to show for the small fortune you spent was a cache of branded photos. If you’ve experienced something like this, rest assured you’re not alone. In fact, many estate planning law firms go through the digital marketing ringer before trying SEO. If you’re one of the lucky few who didn’t, let us explain why you’ve made the right decision. Simply put, the vast majority of paid channels only yield short-term results. Paying for leads is never going to be a cost-effective strategy because it does nothing to increase your website’s value or to incentivize Google to prioritize it in the search results. In contrast, SEO is all about making your products (website, services, etc.) more attractive to Google and increasing your ROI over time. In the world of digital marketing for lawyers, it is hands down the best strategy for sustainable growth, especially when you find the right co-conspirator to your success.

The Fuelist Approach to Estate Planning Marketing

Not only do 70% of online interactions start with search, but 46% of all Google searches are geared toward local services and information. That means that when someone in your city needs estate planning help, they’re likely to search for something like “estate planning attorney near me” or “estate planning lawyer in _______.” Google will then provide what it deems as the best-fitting, highest-quality links, and it’s critical that your website is among them. Luckily, Fuelist Digital can get you there. After thorough research, we target your exact services within your chosen local areas and push the keywords that are most relevant to your practice area. We consider every factor that’s important to Google, from trust and credibility to schema and local reviews, in order to position your estate planning law firm as the best answer to online queries. At the end of the day, it’s simple: Google wants to provide its users with the best local information and services. Our local SEO strategy positions YOU as the best answer, and funnels more relevant, viable leads to your law firm than any other marketing tool. “Eric and Logan were insightful in pointing out to me how I could improve my presence on Google. I would not have known how to do this without their help. I greatly appreciate the expertise that they brought to me and to my business, Writer For Hire, in helping me gain better visibility!” – Pat Kramer

The Parts That Make the Whole: Estate Planning SEO

Estate planning SEO is extremely effective, but the results aren’t immediate. Rather, they accumulate over time as you gain more and more traction with Google. If you’re looking for a quick hit of leads, you’re better off paying for clicks. But if you have a little patience to spare, you’ll find that SEO is well worth the wait. As a comprehensive, sustainable strategy, estate planning SEO isn’t just about one technique. It is a multi-layered process that should incorporate every metric that matters to Google. We focus on the most vital factors: local SEO, content, page speed, schema and backlinks.

Local SEO

You know when you search for restaurants in your area and the top results are listed by Google Maps? That place at the top where the prominent spots are listed with directions is called the Google Map pack, and it gets between 44% and 61% of total clicks for local searches. It’s where you want your website to appear, and local SEO is how you make it happen.

Content

We wouldn’t necessarily agree with the “content is king” folks, but the value of high-quality content cannot be overstated. That’s because content, from landing pages to blog posts to special web pages, is your chance to work in your keyword strategy. And ultimately, your keyword strategy will help identify you to Google and, hopefully, solidify you as an authority on estate planning.

Page Speed

Most people don’t realize how important page speed is, not just to your website visitors, but to Google as well. Remember: Google wants to provide the best search results to its users. If your site is poorly optimized and loads slowly, Google may deprioritize it in the search results. Ensuring page speed is just one of the ways our specialists will optimize your site.

Schema

We tend to talk about search engines as if they think like us, but they don’t. Google needs help understanding the information on your website, specifically the meaning and relationship between entities, in order to deliver quality results to its users. Schema markup is like a code that translates your website into a language that search engines can understand. Google understands 32 types of schema, and each one represents an opportunity for you to add greater clarity to your offerings.

Backlinks

There are a lot of backlink vendors out there who will try to convince you that’s all you need. Let’s be very clear: Backlinks are only one piece of the puzzle. As links on other websites that point back to a page on yours, they can help increase your authority—but they can also tank it. To be useful, backlinks need to come from top-quality sources and be used in conjunction with the above-mentioned strategies.

The Time to Start Is Now

The sooner you start a task, the sooner you accomplish it. Estate planning SEO takes a little longer than paid advertising to work, but the payoff is much, much bigger. If you’re interested in estate planning SEO, we have some advice: Start today, and start with Fuelist Digital. As top digital business strategists who specialize in SEO for lawyers, we know exactly what to do—and what not to do—to build your long-term success. It’s not a secret, but it is a skill, and we happen to be pros. Contact Fuelist Digital today to take advantage of a free SEO consultation.