How can your law firm optimise social media for search engine optimisation (SEO)

What are the benefits of social media for law firms?

From raising your firm’s awareness, to giving your firm a personal touch, allowing potential clients to get to know your values and team and creating new enquiries, the benefits of social media for law firms shouldn’t be in question.

We appreciate that you are a busy firm, and quite often social media posting falls to the bottom of the list. But, if your firm is looking to generate new leads, social media could be the platform that your firm is missing out on. If your firm is new to social media, check out this blog post on five social media post ideas for law firms before reading on.

If your firm is already utilising its social media platforms, this blog post is for you. We will discuss how to optimise your social media for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes.

How does social media impact SEO?

First up, by adding your FAQs, blog posts and content about your firm’s services to social media, you increase the chances of gaining new links to your website as the reader might see your website as a valuable source of content.

In addition to links, by connecting to members of the local community, using the location settings in-app and using local hashtags, potential clients can find out where you are based in the app too.

Another benefit of being active on your firm’s social media and optimising your posts for social by answering frequently asked questions and using keywords in your captions and hashtags, is that your company pages will show up when a potential clients search for specific things on social media. In the below, I searched ‘Conscious Solutions’ and you can see that on the first page of results, our social profiles show up.

This means that any competitors are likely to show up before us for this search result. Of course, if our profiles started showing up for search queries such as ‘law firm marketing’ and ‘digital marketing agency for law firms’ this would be even better! We’ll be taking our own advice and adding this to our to-do list.

And, a new collaboration that is currently being discussed according to Search Engine Journal, is that Google, Instagram and TikTok are currently in talks for short-form video content to show up in the SERPs too.

So, we hope you can see some of the benefits of using social media for SEO purposes already!

What are the benefits of optimising social media for SEO?

But if your firm still isn’t convinced, what are the benefits of optimising social media for SEO?

Although social media platforms aren’t technically classed as search engines, social media is where a lot of consumers go to find products, information and services. Have you ever used Instagram to look for a new outfit or a holiday destination? Have you ever searched for a hashtag of a topic of interest on LinkedIn? The possibilities of searching on social media are endless.

Especially because Search Engine Land recently reported that TikTok is creating a search ads platform that will allow businesses to bid on specific keywords and phrases related to their products or services, just like they would on Google.

Another benefit of using social media for SEO is content amplification. By sharing your content in different ways, on a different platform, you’re more likely to receive more engagement and have more ways to show up on the SERPs, beating competing law firms.

And a continued benefit of social media in general is brand awareness. By building your firm’s online presence, you are developing the trust and credibility of your firm which will ultimately lead to more enquiries.

So, how can your law firm optimise its social media for SEO?

1.     Use the features available

Remember, the features that social media platforms offer are there for a reason. Ensure you fill in your contact details in your bio, add a link to your firm’s Linktree* (or website at the very least!), use the buttons available to you, add a location and more.

*If your firm isn’t already using Linktree, we’d recommend setting up an account. Linktree enables you to add multiple links all in one place meaning you can send your followers to your website, blog posts, upcoming events, individual service pages and more.

2.     Use keywords

Keywords are a great way to get found in the SERPs for your website content, so why wouldn’t you use them in your social media content too? There are different best practices for each platform, but as a rule avoid keyword stuffing, make sure the content makes sense and add your main keyword in the first couple of sentences of your caption.

3.     Use hashtags

And on top of putting your keyword in the caption, you can also use your preferred keyword as hashtags making them searchable in-app. As well as keyword hashtags, make the most of local hashtags about your community, location hashtags relevant to the areas you operate in and other relevant hashtags to your services.

4.     Ask other websites and journalists for backlinks

Backlinks are a great way to build up the domain rating (DR) of your firm’s website, therefore increasing search engine rankings and, by default, traffic.

5.     Add alt-text to images

Alt-text on images is not only good for accessibility but it benefits your SEO too. The importance of alt-text on images can’t be ignored. It provides context to what an image is displaying, informing search engine crawlers and allowing them to index an image correctly.

6.     Add locations to your posts

As previously mentioned, make sure you are utilising all the features on each social media platform. With platforms like Instagram and Twitter, make sure you are using the features which allow you to add a location to your post. These will help your posts to be seen when someone clicks on that location helping your firm reach new people.

7.     And finally, don’t forget about your analytics

This is a key part of the process! Analytics are a necessity in identifying what is and isn’t working with your current strategy, allowing you to make changes that therefore boost your firm’s SEO efforts.

Need help with your law firm’s social media?

Hopefully, this blog has explained the benefits of optimising your social media profiles for SEO purposes and given your firm a few pointers on where to start.

If you need more advice on standing out on social media, take a look at this blog post.

Conscious Solutions have over 19 years of experience in helping law firms to become more successful online, so if your firm needs a hand on where to start give us a call on 0117 325 0200 or email sales@conscious.co.uk.