Case Study – Law Firm SEO So Good You Might Think It’s Illegal!

Ten Golden Rules has been perfecting digital marketing strategies for law firms for over 15 years. One of our valued clients, Silver Law Group, a Securities Fraud attorney, recently shared a case study of their Search Engine Optimization – SEO and  Pay Per Click – PPC success in our monthly webinar series!

One of the best measures of success for a digital marketing client is by comparing their results to a hockey stick. As you can see, Silver Law Group followed this stark upwards trajectory throughout our months working with them. We would consider this overall increase in site visitors and interested leads (over 400%) a massive success. 
So, how did we do it?
We’re going to take you through the methods that worked, and show you how you may be able to replicate this success. 
 
Ring the 7 Alarm Fire Drill!
One of Scott Silver’s main concerns in attracting qualified prospects was the limited awareness of his area of law. Being that he represents clients who have been subject to investment fraud, most of his clients don’t know who he is, or what he does, until they need him. 
To combat this lack of awareness, Scott and Jay developed the Seven Alarm Fire Drill.
When Scott sees a report citing a corrupt investment manager, he puts the wheels in motion with the Ten Golden Rules team to begin to publicize this information. 

1. First, the Silver Law Group team will write a summary of the breaking industry news – for example a stock broker in South Carolina was accused of mismanaging funds for several senior citizens – then this information becomes a blog post on the Silver Law website. This will help with their SEO, but will also serve as the catalyst for the Fire Drill method of capturing new leads. 
2. Once this blog post is live, the TGR team runs a Google ad linking to the post with the name of the fraudulent investment banker included in the headline. Those scrolling through Google who have invested with this person will hopefully recognize the name and click on the ad.
3. The next step in the Fire Drill is to position this ad both locally and nationally. TGR will target the area where the fraudster operated, and where most of his clients likely are. TGR will also run national campaigns to capture those outside of this local area. 
4. If the news is really big, we will have videos prepared, develop additional pages of content, pay per click landing pages and add information to a newsletter.
5. The final step in the Fire Drill is to gain press coverage.The team will formulate a press release to publicize the information and point to Scott Silver as an expert in this type of fraud. Ideally, a local or national publication will ask Scott for an interview and include some of his expert advice in a story. 

Through this process, the most important aspect is time. Especially in the instance of investment fraud, those who have been burned are likely to begin searching for solutions as soon as they are made aware that the fraud occurred. This Seven Alarm Fire Drill enables the Silver Law Group and the Ten Golden Rules Team to act fast and begin implementing the above tactics as soon as the news breaks – capturing those timely leads at the top of Google. 
At Ten Golden Rules, we ring the 7 Alarm Fire Drill for all kinds of law firms. We have used this strategy for train accidents, boating deaths, COVID nursing home tragedies and other news items.
 
Location! Location! Location!
The most important location for a law firm in the 2020s is right at the top of a Google search. And the first free / SEO result is now Google Maps which comes up right after the Paid Ads.
So, it is critical to optimize your Google Maps location listing – which Google calls GMB or “Google My Business”. 
On GMB, businesses can publish updates, offers, images, answer questions and more. This information improves your SEO for Google Search Results, which is a vital tool for business owners looking to top rank on local searches. 

This has worked extraordinarily well for the Silver Law Group. Year over year, the organization’s GMB page has seen a 45% increase in views, a 22% increase in queries (meaning 879 people found them on Google Maps), and a 93% increase in actions taken on their page. 

This result is extremely valuable, because an indirect query indicaes that someone found this page by searching for a topic related to Silver Law Group rather than searching the name directly. This proves thatt the measures taken to increase awareness and drive traffic worked – and worked very well!
Check out our article on Google Maps and Google My Business here.
 
Master the ABC’s of SEO
One of Scott Silver’s major reservations in the early days of digital marketing, and what he cites as the main reason TGR was able to help his business, is the shift in the marketplace from traditional forms of advertising to digital marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). 
Scott, like most business owners, knew what his ideal clients were looking for, looked like, and how to attract them. However, he did not know how to use SEO to put this knowledge to work.
Since Ten Golden Rules took on SEO strategy for Silver Law Group, the business saw an increase from roughly 60 free Google SEO search results to well over 1,100. Now, they frequently rank on the first page of Google for many key desirable terms. 

We simplify the complex topic of Search Engine Optimization to three principles, the ABCs of SEO.
A = Architecture. We analyzed and improved several key components of the Silver Law website code or architecture, including the site maps, the code ratio, page speed, mobile site architecture and the meta tags.

Silver Law Group has benefited greatly on several strong Backlinks (the B in ABC’s). These are links that exist on other websites linking back to your site. Silver Law now has multiple valuable and relevant sites linking to his website, such as Cornell Law School and the legal website Justia, as well as multiple legal blogs.

The C of the ABC’s stands for Content. There is no substitute for adding excellent articles to your website and your blog (sorry, that is why this article is so long). We continuously add relevant articles and timely blog posts with advice, legal news, updates and more that would be relevant to Silver Law’s readers and would appeal to his ideal client. 

Outside of content that Scott considers valuable, the TGR team identifies keywords that are relevant to his business but he is not ranking high for on Google. We then write articles utilizing these keywords, like “securities fraud class-action lawsuit,” and increase his ranking for that keyword. The TGR team also analyzes the business’ competitors and suggests topics that they are ranking for.
Check out our article on the ABC’s of SEO here.
 
Performance Analytics
Silver Law Group and TGR utilized two main tools to track and review performance: Google Data Studio and a Lead Tracking Sheet. 
Google Data Studio provides rather in-depth insights into a business’s marketing and advertising data. The TGR team looks at this data and uses it to track what ads are generating leads and what ads may not be performing as well. 

The Lead Tracking Sheet is useful to provide insights on how well certain methods have been working to increase prospects. TGR and Silver Law Group collaborate on a Google Sheet weekly – the TGR team will list the leads that we’ve seen come through the various methods of lead generation that we use, and the Silver Law Group team will add an update on how each lead panned out for the business. 
This helps the SEO team determine which leads actually led to clients, and where they came from. If one effort is leading to more conversions than others, the TGR team will enhance it and replicate that ad or post in every way possible. 
 
Make videos
A great tool for lawyers to use to create a more personal connection with a potential client is videos. These videos can be no-cost, simple productions, but can greatly enhance a lawyer’s online presence and endear more clients to them before they meet face-to-face.
Scott often creates videos explaining specific legal situations, covering hot topics, and offering legal advice. These have increased overall engagement and have led to more leads and increased awareness. 

Our collaboration with Silver Law Group has been extremely successful. We hope you can adapt some of these strategies for your own business! Watch the recording of the webinar here. If we can help you, and you are interested in working with Ten Golden Rules, and getting results like Silver Law Group, contact us for a free consultation!