Have a look at the picture below. This guy is responsible for a massive wave of change in 2021. A change that will decide the fate of law firms up and down the country.
His name is Jeff Dean and he is the head of Google’s AI team.
Essentially, his life’s work is designed to analyze your law firm and choose whether or not to send you clients.
When someone goes to Google and searches for an attorney in your area, their AI compares your law firm to dozens of others.
And Google’s eerily human-like AI has changed the game once again.
The attorneys who ignore the coming changes risk falling off a cliff in their search rankings.
However, the attorneys who embrace this new way of acquiring clients will suddenly find themselves dominating their local markets.
I understand that these are some pretty bold claims. That’s why I have packed this article will plenty of marketing case studies. You see, we’ve been testing Google’s new system for a while now. And today we’re spilling the beans.
In this article you’ll discover:
- How Google’s AI is using human psychology to determine where your website ranks.
- The four human-like factors we uncovered that influence Google.
- Several case studies of how attorneys shot to the top of Google by following these four human-like factors.
- How you can quickly adopt this information and use it in your law firm.
How SEO For Lawyers Will Change In 2021
The change actually secretly began in 2020. However, it is only going to accelerate.
Now, there is a big problem in the legal industry.
By reading this article you’ll understand how woefully unprepared attorneys are for Google’s new AI. An AI that keeps getting more and more sophisticated and humanlike by the day.
However, an industry-wide problem is an opportunity for individual firms, like yourself.
Due to the vast majority of attorneys ignoring these developments, you have a chance to jump ahead of the curve.
And the great thing is, once Google puts you ahead of someone, due to the techniques I’m describing today, your competition will struggle to catch up.
So, you have a small window of opportunity to get ahead (and stay ahead) of your competition.
Let’s get started with an example.
When humans get something, we are more likely to give something back. It is a well-established way of influencing someone’s decision. It is called Reciprocity.
Even a small gift can go a long way.
A team of researchers examined the prescribing behavior of 280,000 doctors. They found that even very inexpensive meals (less than $20) resulted in more brand-name prescriptions, even though they are more expensive than the generic versions.
Waiters who offer diners a mint with their bill, receive a 14% bigger tip.
We simply can’t help it. Humans are influenced by reciprocity. And now so is Google.
Google’s new AI is actually looking at how much you give to your visitors and other website owners like you. Google wants to see you ‘giving’ before it gives back to you.
Believe it or not, Google can measure how valuable people find your content.
Everything from how often they click, stay on the page, scroll, and highlight will give them an accurate indication of whether or not someone got something out of it.
What your visitors do next counts too.
- Did they continue the research?
- What did they search after they consumed your content?
- What did they do in the 30 days after?
There are thousands of factors they take into consideration when assessing how much you actually gave.
In one study they found that links to external websites with helpful content is considered ‘reciprocity’ by Google.
According to the research:
“The results are presented in a series of graphs, each one showing that the 5 pages containing outbound links all ended up ranking ahead of the pages with no outbound links.”
It’s kind of like, if someone comes into your restaurant and they ask for a burger. Instead of just saying “yes” and giving them the menu, you tell them about your burger AND about another place that also does good burgers.
By not only promoting yourself, you come across as more honest.
Therefore, when someone visits your website looking for some questions to legal answers. If you helpfully point out some other resources that could help them, Google will pick up on that kindness, and reward you.
Just over a year ago we decided to experiment with some of these new human-AI elements.
The image here details the rapid 30-day change:
This attorney moved up 87 spots, instantly giving them more traffic from people searching for legal services.
What’s even more impressive, they got ranked for 63 new search terms.
After 60 days, this happened:
They moved up 98 spots above where they were before and were found for 139 new search terms.
All because we treated a super-computer like a human.
Law firm SEO just got a whole lot more interesting don’t you think? Keep reading, because we have many more case studies to share.
SEO For Law Firms Tip #1: How To Replicate The Reciprocity Strategy
Here’s a quick strategy you can use to replicate reciprocity on your website so that Google rewards you with positive SEO rankings.
Every single time a potential client calls, or meets with you in person, write down the questions they ask.
- What genuinely confuses them?
- What concerns them?
- What scares them?
By writing down the questions and concerns your clients have, you’ll have a huge collection of genuinely valuable content to put online.
Next, write down the answers to all of these questions in a linear fashion.
Break down the answer into a series of small steps that need to happen to help the client.
Hand over those steps to a copywriter and post it on your website. Make sure that you link out to other helpful resources.
Let me give you a quick example.
This is an article on the website of Fitzpatrick & Associates.
He’s a worker’s comp attorney in Boston.
We wrote a helpful article and we turned it into a YouTube video. The YouTube video automatically links to other resources they may find helpful.
This is a quick and simple way to hack into the reciprocity system Google’s AI is designed to reward.
Richard Fitzpatrick’s law office has received about 189 inbound calls from marketing.
Although, I must confess not all of them are because of this SEO strategy, but a good portion certainly are.
Now, this is just one piece of the puzzle.
Reciprocity is simply one of four mechanisms that influence humans to make decisions.
And in today’s article I’ll reveal what the other three are.
If you can tap into the psychology of what influences humans, you can tap into what influences Google’s AI.
Every single year, Google gathers more data and makes their AI more human-like.
So, these SEO strategies won’t just withstand the test of time, they will mature and get better over time. Kind of like a fine wine.
Whatever you do, keep reading. It only gets better.
SEO For Law Firms Tip #2: Using Scarcity To Influence Humans And AI Alike
Scarcity is the rocket fuel of all the influencers. It helps people to act quicker than they usually would.
It also helps people to appreciate and value something more. You and I already know that adding value to something helps Google to rank your website.
Making that valuable asset scarce is even better.
You probably already know that there are reams of research supporting this claim. For example, according to a scientific study published by Psychology & Marketing, there is a built-in desire for things that are unique. No surprise there.
People spend millions on art that is ‘unique’ and ‘scarce’.People stand in line for clubs that are difficult to get into even though it’s freezing outside.
Google is no different.
Google knows that people get influenced by scarcity and wants the same from your online presence.
So, how can you implement this to take advantage of Google’s need for you to be unique?
This part is easier than you can possibly imagine, yet hardly any attorneys do it.
By using the framework outlined in the previous tip about reciprocity, you can create truly unique content.
However, you have to add something else in order to make it stand out more.
Most law offices have websites that read like a deposition. Long, boring, and unnatural.For example.
Here is an excerpt from an average blog post from an actual attorney:
“On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the DACA program would be terminated effective March 5, 2018. This 6-month period gives Congress a chance to enact legislation to protect the Dreamers.”
It isn’t unique. It doesn’t even sound like a human wrote it. In fact, Google actively punishes websites that use AI to write posts. Ironic, I know, but it is true.
Humans are already unique. The way we all talk and communicate is different. So why are attorneys trying their best to sound like each other?
Google started focusing on this ‘natural language’ years ago.
Rebecca Sentence wrote about it for Search Engine Watch back in 2016. She states:
“Search engines like Google, Bing and others are making efforts to bring searching for information in line with everyday conversation with a type of search called ‘natural language search’.”
And more recently, Google has been cranking up their natural language AI.
According to Think With Google, most natural searches have increased by 85% in the past 2 years.
This allows people to “ask more pointed, specific, and personally relevant questions about the products and services they’re interested in.”
‘Pointed’, ‘specific’, ‘personally relevant’. In other words: unique.
Bottom line. Writing in a voice that is the actual voice of the human writer makes the content scarce.
That scarcity and natural language is like candy to Google. Here is another case study.
After just 90 days, this personal injury attorney ranked right at the top for one of the most profitable search terms in existence: “personal injury attorney”.
Remember, Google loves local results. They attract clients who are nearby your office.
Here you can see an image of what it looks like to come up as #1 in your city for the keywords Personal Injury Attorney.
This article is already getting a little long, so here is a quick summary of what we’ve covered:
- Reciprocity: Give something useful and be selfless.
- Scarcity: Be natural and unique.
We have a few more SEO strategies to cover and plenty more case studies of attorneys to reveal.
SEO For Law Firms Tip #3: Build Authority
When I had my first run at success, where I built a sales team of 145 and sold that company, something really strange happened.
I felt, all of the sudden, people listened to me. I got more respect and compliance from my family and friends. People would argue with me less.
In the back of my mind, I always wondered if there was something to that.
It turns out, that feeling I had was correct. It was the third known human influencer, known as Authority.
And simple things can make all the difference.
In one experiment they found that people are more likely to give money to a complete stranger, if that stranger is wearing a suit.
Those wearing normal clothes achieved much less compliance. People dressed as the homeless got nothing.
The same is true of attorneys. When someone calls your office and asks to speak to an attorney, how the receptionist pre-frames the prospect is critical.
What they say will determine what the prospect thinks about you.
Let me explain.
By getting the receptionist to mention the credentials before the prospect talks to the attorney, we saw both an increase in appointments and retainers.
If your receptionist picks up the phone and says: “A divorce attorney? Let me connect you with Alex, who has over 15 years’ experience in this area and is highly regarded by other attorneys.”
That simple change has the ability to increase your bottom line. Simply because it increases your perceived authority.
This led to a 15% increase in appointments, and a 20% increase in retainers.
You can even use review booklets, displaying what other clients have said about you. Or you can display your law degree above your desk in the office. The latter is often used by physiotherapist, where it is shown to increase the likelihood of clients sticking to exercise programs.
The bottom line is, being perceived as an authority increases compliance. Therefore, it is something that Google looks at.
So, how can you use this to your advantage?
Demonstrating your credentials on your website helps, but case results and reviews help even more.
The problem for most attorneys is that Google compares them with hundreds of thousands of others.
Your credentials blend in like a single tree in the amazon rain forest. Every attorney has a degree, every attorney has some experience, just like every tree in the Amazon rain forest is green.
Therefore, online reviews are a quick and easy way for Google’s computer to see how humans view an attorney. It is feedback that Google’s AI can easily use. This feedback will supplement your credibility.
According to a recent study by Moz.com, online reviews account for 15% of your rankings within search. That is up from 8.4% in 2015, almost doubling its importance in 5 years.
However, that’s not all. Links from other reputable websites recommending your content gives a further indication of your authority. They account for up to 25% of your ranking in Google. With reviews and links, you’ve already covered 40% of all ranking factors.
Someone would only link to you, talk about you, or share your content if it’s worth it.
That’s why seeing your posts on Facebook gives Google such a good impression.
Quick Hack #1: Retargeting On Facebook
Here’s a quick hack for you. By using a simple strategy, you can give Google a bunch of positive authority signals while increasing the number of appointments you get.
When someone visits your website, we ‘cookie’ them. This puts them into a Facebook audience. You can then promote your content to people who have visited your website.
However, instead of offering them a sales pitch, you offer them a helping hand in the form of useful articles instead.
Not only does this genuinely help you and build your authority, but Google sees that people are visiting your website more than once. You’ll also be talked about on Facebook with posts shared.
Quick Hack #2: Getting Reviews
Now, in order to increase the number of reviews you get, we use a simple review system called the Reputation Builder. It automatically reaches out to your happy clients and asks them for a review.
We’ve seen a huge increase in reviews for our attorneys using this system. And Google loves it.
The Results FromIncorporating Authority Into Your SEO
Here we have 73 five-star reviews and spot #2 in Google for the search term ‘personal injury attorney’.
Just a quick question. Who do you think the prospect will click on? And who do you think Google will see as the authority? The attorney with 73 reviews, or the one with zero?
SEO For Law Firms Tip #4: Consistency
This was inspired by a study from a Healthcare clinic.
They reduced missed appointments by 18% by getting the patients to fill out the appointment card.
As a law firm you can increase consistency by getting the same kind of micro-commitment from prospects.
Simply asking the prospect “Are you sure this date and time works for you?” while scheduling an appointment gets them to make a micro commitment.
To take this to the next level, you can send them an automated text reminder, stating:
“Hi [John Doe] this is [Attorney], thanks for agreeing to meet with me on [X Date and time]. I have blocked that time out for you and told my secretary to hold my calls. You’ll have a full [hour] for me to help you out.”
People want to seem consistent in their decision making.
They also want that same consistency from you.
Google wants the same. Google wants to see that you are consistent with the things you do online.
Getting the prospect to commit, and then making sure they know you also committed, will fill up your appointment book.
It is exactly the same here. If you implemented these strategies for a year and committed yourself to it, you’ll see the same commitment from Google, and they will fill up your appointment book.
So far, I’ve shown you some impressive case studies with 30-90 day results.
Have a look at what happens over a 6-month period.
This is an image of an attorney on day one of their commitment to executing these strategies.
Google will show different results based on where your prospects are. This tool demonstrates that with a local map. On this occasion it shows results for the search term ‘Bankruptcy attorney’.
There is a very small radius in the middle where this attorney is in the top 10 results in Google.
This is what happened after 180 days (about six months).
Every single green circle you see there is where they rank in the top 3 for their search term.
In real life it looks like the image below. Right at the top with 47 reviews online.
Can you see how Google judges your online presence with a human touch?
Can you see why this is getting such fantastic results for law firms up and down the country?
It makes sense, doesn’t it?
There is a new way to do SEO in 2021, and it all boils down to making your online presence more human.
SEO For Law Firms Tip #5: Liking/Affinity
I won’t lie. This one is a little tricky.
It is common knowledge that people are more likely to be influenced by things they like and trust.
We can build trust with our Authority SEO tip, but how do we get people to like and know you?
The answer lies in the usability of your website. It sounds odd but bear with me. It’ll make perfect sense in a moment.
Think of it like a holiday resort. Let’s use the Four Seasons as an example.
They think of everything. As soon as you step foot on their premises, you’re taken care of. You don’t have to guess what to do, they just do everything for you.
They do such a good job it sometimes feels like they are reading your mind. When you are thirsty, they’ll magically conjure up a glass of ice-cold water.
When you are hungry, you’ll see some a menu arrive in front of you.
So on and so forth.
The seamless experience makes you like them. It makes you trust them. It makes you want to go back.
You need to think of your website like a holiday resort. When someone lands on your site it needs to be a seamless experience.
You have to answer the series of questions in a specific sequence to make this happen.
Generally, there are four questions entering your prospect’s mind when they come to your website.
- What can you give me? Make a promise.
- I don’t believe you. Immediately prove that you can deliver on that promise with case results.
- What do others think of you? Immediately show proof that people like working with you in the form of testimonials.
- How do I contact you? Instantly give them a way to contact you. Preferably something that is easy and takes away the risk of them wasting their time.
Not only will the visitors love you, but so will Google.
Recently, eCommerceCEO interviewed Google experts. Their main topic of conversation was about how the user experience affects your ranking in Google.
According to Moz.com, usability has a huge impact on search results:
“[…] through linking patterns, user engagement metrics, and machine learning, the engines make a considerable number of intuitions about a given site. Usability and user experience are second order influences on search engine ranking success.”
By giving your prospects a good user experience, you are essentially entering the conversation they are already having in their mind.
Here is a case from an attorney in Scottsdale, AZ.
After six months, they got to the first page for Law Firm Auto Accidents Scottsdale.
Here’s another example. This law firm’s SEO got them to the top spot for debt defense attorney.
I know this is a lot of information. At the end of the article, I’ll give you a quick and easy cheat sheet so that you can use these SEO strategies for your law firm.
SEO For Law Firms Tip #6: Consensus
Did you know that pedestrians are 250-350% more likely to cross the road if they see the person next to them go?
When people are unsure of what to do, they look to others and copy them. You may have done this yourself at times.
It is an incredibly common trait among humans.
Google’s AI knows this.
It falls under the category of consensus.
There is a consensus that Warren Buffet is a great investor, therefore people listen when he speaks about it. There is consensus that Elon Musk is great at building rockets, so people hang onto his every word when he talks about going to Mars.
How can you do this for your law firm? How could you possibly use this human trait online?
Fear not, we have the answer.
Google’s AI measures consensus in a pretty clever way.
When someone searches for your law firm by its brand name, you can safely assume that they know about you.
It is a foregone conclusion that this person is looking for you specifically.
Why are they doing that?
The simple answer is, they know what they want. They know about you, and they don’t care about comparing you to other lawyers.
Now imagine, one hundred people search for your law firm specifically.
Why would one hundred people do this?
According to Google, there is consensus among those one hundred people that you are the only attorney for them.
Therefore, the more brand searches your law firm gets, the more consensus there is that you are a great attorney.
Google’s AI will measure your consensus against those of other attorneys.
The Quickest Way To Implement Consensus For Attorneys
Advertising on Google.
Not only is PPC advertising profitable for attorneys who do it right, but it can help with organic brand searches.
People will remember your brand name and they will come back 2-3 times before calling you. To do that they need to search for your firm in Google – helping your consensus score.
You can help this along as well with another underutilized strategy.
When a prospect calls your law firm, part of your sales pitch can be to refer them to your reviews.
Here’s a quick example. Sometime during the phone call, you can say something like:
“Absolutely, the consultation with the attorney is 100% free. You’ll actually really like him. He’s helped so many people like you. You should Google ‘ABC law firm reviews’ and you’ll see what I mean.”
Now you’re using consensus on an actual prospect over the phone while demonstrating it to Google as well.
I know I have bombarded you with different screenshots and case studies, however, here is one more.
This attorney is ranking at spot #1 for the search term ‘bankruptcy attorney’. I’m not sure if you have noticed, but they are #1 on Google desktop, Google maps, and Google mobile.
That’s what a 12-month period of consistent SEO can do for your law firm.
Using Law Firm SEO To Increase Leads
You can optimize for Google until your face turns blue, but none of it matters if you can’t convert those new visitors into leads.
You want (and need) high converting leads who are ready to spend money with you right now.
I’m talking about the kind of lead who is so desperate to hire you, they simply can’t help but pick up the phone and call you. In a time of social media and texting, that’s a pretty valuable prospect.
After 5,000+ marketing tests, we’ve gotten pretty good at creating lead generation pages and websites that convert for attorneys.
Below is a screenshot of the number of calls received by Dan Hill, a criminal lawyer in Las Vegas.
That’s 1,056 calls. If you scroll to the bottom of this page, you’ll see that we’re giving away the lead generation page template we used for Dan.
Basically, it boils down to the same six laws of influence we described to help you with your SEO.
#1. Reciprocity –Create actionable content. Every single time a potential client calls, or meets with you in person, write down the questions they ask. Answer these questions on paper and get a writer to write them for you. Publish this content and distribute it to your audiences. Also, link out to other reputable websites.
In other words, make it about them. How can you best speak to the problems they are facing?
#2. Scarcity – Make your content natural so that ordinary people can easily consume it. This will have the added benefit of making it unique and scarce.
#3. Authority – Demonstrate your authority with social proof. Gather online reviews and embed them on your website.
#4. Consistency – Be consistent in your reviews, content, and external links. Add a call to action on every single page. Have a consistent layout. Don’t stop marketing.
#5. Like/affinity – Increase the usability on your website by entering the conversation your prospect is already having in their mind.
#6. Consensus–Make sure you convey the fact that there is a consensus you are the best. Tell people to Google your reviews.
The point is. Whatever convinces Google that you deserve the top spot will actually convince your prospects that you are the best attorney.
Google is becoming more and more human-like. This is a fantastic opportunity to impress both Google and actual humans. After all, Google is just the middleman who sends you the humans who in turn send you big fat checks.
How To Use Our Law Firm SEO Services
You can’t simply win Google’s approval by chance. You need an SEO company that specializes in helping law firms reach the top.
If you want to move up the Google search rankings, get more visitors who want to hire you, turn those visitors into eager prospects, and turn those prospects into happy clients, then listen up.
I want to give you a tried and tested system that gives you the power to methodically pull ahead of your competitors.
Not many attorneys know about the fact that Google is fine-tuning its AI. And if they do, they certainly haven’t run all the tests and collected all the data they need to make it work.
Therefore, you have a small window of opportunity to get going before your competition realizes what’s going on.
In the spirit of reciprocity, I’m going to give you an unfair advantage for free.
I call it the Customized AI SEO Blueprint.
- Set up a time to talk with my team one-on-one.
- You’ll discuss:
- Your firm.
- Your local area.
- Your current assets.
- And just generally get to know about your current situation.
- My team and I will map out exactly what you should do next.
- We’ll meet with you again and give you precise execution options.
To be fair, I should be charging north of $1,000 or even $2,000 for this information. After all, a single new client coming through your doors will make up for it.
However, there’s no charge and no obligation to retain us.
Take control of your law firm’s income with a proven Customized AI SEO Blueprint
Add a Comment