Here’s what close to 2 decades of doing SEO for law firms has told us: approximately 70% of law firms are approaching SEO entirely backwards. They’re obsessing over tactical minutiae like keyword rankings and meta descriptions before they’ve even established who they’re trying to reach or what success looks like. It’s the equivalent of trying to build a house starting with the paint colors.
What we know with absolute certainty: you need proper diagnosis before strategy, and strategy before tactics. Yet what do most law firms do? They hire an agency that promises “page one rankings” and starts creating content before understanding the first thing about the firm’s positioning or objectives.
That’s 95% of SEO agencies out there! We know, because in the early days we use to outsource SEO to them, before seeing what mayhem they caused, so we had no choice, but to bring it in-house and do the job properly.
Let us break down what actually matters, and I suggest you take notes because this will save you significant budget:
- Market Orientation This means genuinely understanding your potential clients and what they want. Not what you think they want, not what your partners assume they want, but what they actually want. Most law firms are remarkably poor at this. They sit in their offices making assumptions about client needs instead of doing proper research.
- Proper Strategy You need to answer three fundamental questions:
- Who are you targeting? (And more importantly, who are you NOT targeting?)
- What position do you want to own in their minds?
- What are your specific, measurable objectives?
If you can’t answer these questions with clarity and precision, stop spending money on SEO immediately. You’re just throwing good money after bad.
- Zero-Based Budgeting Start from zero and build up based on what you actually need. Don’t just copy whatever budget you had last year or benchmark against competitors. This requires more work, but it’s the only way to ensure your spending aligns with your objectives.
The technical aspects of SEO – meta tags, backlinks, content calendars – that’s all tactical execution. Is it important? Of course. But it’s utterly pointless without the strategic foundation. It’s like having a beautifully engineered car with no destination in mind.
Let us share something that might surprise you: those agencies promising quick results? They’re either being disingenuous or using tactics that will eventually harm your search rankings. Proper SEO, like proper marketing, takes time and requires strategic thinking. It’s a marathon, not a sprint!
Consider your current “thought leadership” content. Be honest – is anyone actually engaging with your “10 Things to Know About Commercial Law” blog posts? Your potential clients care about solving their problems, not reading your insights unless they’re directly relevant to their needs.
Here’s what typically happens: law firms will ignore this strategic approach because it’s harder and takes longer. They’ll hire the most affordable SEO agency they can find, one that promises quick results and high rankings. Then they’ll wonder why they’re not seeing meaningful results 12 months later.
If you want to do this properly – and I mean properly – start with comprehensive market research. Understand your clients deeply. Build a proper strategy. Then, and only then, should you start thinking about SEO tactics.
The evidence is clear: firms that take this strategic approach see significantly better results than those who jump straight to tactics. In fact, our data shows that strategically-driven SEO campaigns outperform tactically-driven ones by a factor of three to one in terms of qualified lead generation.
We’ve been looking at this for nearly 2 decades, and we can tell you with certainty that this approach works. It’s not quick, it’s not easy, but it’s effective.
The choice is yours: continue with the tactical approach that most firms take, or step back and do it properly. Just don’t come complaining when your competitors who took the strategic approach start dominating the search results that actually matter.
