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Growing A Strong Backlink Profile For Your Law Firm’s Website


To help your law firm rank within Google’s “3 Pack” (local listings) and organic web results, you must execute a variety of online marketing tactics. Publish monthly posts in the form of blogs, incorporate video marketing and link building. Most importantly, always remember to social share your posts, engage with your audience and be consistent.

Our focus today will be on link building, where we will provide a small list of top quality directories where you should list your legal website and/or profile.

What Does “Quality” Mean?

Whether you have launched a brand new legal website or have an existing one, quality backlinks play an important part in your law firm’s online marketing plan. When jump-starting on your link building efforts, remember one simple (but extremely key) rule: “quality over quantity”.

Not all directories and websites are created equally. This means you must avoid listing your website on spammy directories, purchasing backlinks or obtain any through link networks. Google’s Penguin Update penalizes websites that do these things. Instead, you should aim to obtain links naturally by producing valuable content which encourages others to link to your site as a resource. Another valuable way is to find industry specific directories to list your website on. By targeting these industry “niche” websites, you are meeting and pleasing Google’s relevancy criteria, which ultimately helps increase referral traffic to your website.

Not Sure If A Website Is Quality?

When researching websites for linking opportunities, ask yourself the following:

  • At first glance, does the website look spammy?
  • Does the website have a low domain authority?
    • Anything below 30 is considered low
  • Does the page have a low page authority?
  • Is the website bombarded with above-the-fold ads?
  • Is it slow to load?
  • Is the website outdated?
    • View the blog section for a good indication of updates
  • Is it missing an About Us or even a Contact page?
  • Is it missing social signals?
    • Any signs of social interaction on sites like Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn/Yelp?)

If you answered “yes” to these questions, you should avoid listing your company on these websites.

determine quality of links

A List of Quality Attorney Specific Directories

When we take on a legal client, we like to evaluate their backlink profile to ensure that they are listed on attorney-specific directories.

The following is a compilation of both paid and free directories. We always suggest that your website incorporate a combination of both. Most paid directories offer additional features such as better placement in the directory, showcasing your website link, the ability to add related links and company photos, and more.

Make sure to link to your own profile on your website and not just the home page:

Free

  • Avvo.com
  • Justia.com
  • Lawdragon.com
  • Lawyercentral.com
  • Lawyerlegion.com

Paid

  • Nolo.com (Quote)
  • Americanbar.org
  • Findlaw.com (Quote)
  • Hg.org ($195 /year)
  • Lawyer.com ($99 /month)

No matter which directory you sign up for, always make sure to provide as much information as possible to make your profile complete. The more complete your profile is, the more optimized your listings will be for ranking. Plus, this is an easier way to put yourself in front of your target audience.

Link Building Is Only One Part of a Much Larger Plan

Keep in mind that in order for an internet marketing plan to produce successful results, it must encompass different marketing tactics; this means the creation and sharing of resourceful blogs, social engagement and video marketing. If you are interested in learning more about link building and SEO services for lawyers, please contact us to schedule a 1-on-1 consultation.

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