Law firms looking to outperform local competitors on Google must focus their efforts on Google Business Profile optimisation, according to legal marketing expert Annette Choti.
Choti, founder and CEO of Law Quill, argues that effective optimisation requires working on two distinct fronts simultaneously to produce meaningful results.
Those two fronts are human perception and behaviour on one side, and the algorithmic selection processes that govern search engine rankings on the other.
A law firm’s Google Business Profile must signal relevance and value in a way that is clearly intelligible to search engine bots crawling and indexing local business listings.
At the same time, firms cannot afford to ignore the user experience element that comes into play when a potential client actually encounters a profile in their search results.
Simply treating a Google Business Profile as a static directory listing is a missed opportunity that leaves many law firms trailing behind more digitally savvy competitors.
The distinction Choti draws is an important one, because satisfying an algorithm and satisfying a human searcher require different but complementary approaches and techniques.
Appearing in relevant local searches is only the first step, and converting those appearances into actual phone calls from prospective clients is where many firms fall short.
Both elements, visibility and conversion, are essential to building a pipeline of new business through organic local search in an increasingly competitive digital environment.
Choti brings over two decades of legal experience to her marketing work and authored the bestselling book Click Magnet: The Ultimate Guide To Digital Marketing For Law Firms.
She also hosts the Legal Marketing Lounge podcast and founded Click Magnet Academy, and is a regularly sought-after speaker for bar associations, legal associations, and marketing conferences.