When getting links becomes too difficult, lawyers have a distinct advantage. Law firms that leverage this expertise correctly stand out from their competition, attracting links from high-authority publishers.
Link Building for Law Firms
When it comes to link building, law firms should focus on creating authoritative resources that can be referenced in other content. They could also use guest posting or digital PR as strategies for generating links back to their sites.
Firms can attract links by proactively sharing content that they know webmasters and journalists will find useful. However, this type of outreach is typically much faster than waiting for natural link-building opportunities.
Law firms need to take several factors when considering sites to build links from:
Sites Authority: The authority of the site can affect website ranking. A link from a high-authority publication like New York Times will have more effect on your web page rank than one from a small blog, so use tools to see how authoritative websites are before sharing links.
The relevance of a site: The site should be relevant to your business. For example, a link from a law news publisher will typically hold more power than one from an unrelated website with the same authority because it’s related to topics discussed on yours. Links can improve your profile regardless of where they come from as well.
Content quality of the targeted site: Everyone wants that their link to come from authoritative sites that publish original, well-written articles. Before starting your outreach, check the content on websites you plan to target by looking at their posts and checking if they are poorly produced or not because it will decrease your chances of getting a backlink for them.
The profile of the links you already have: You need to try and use a variety of methods in order to build up your website’s link profile. One way is by using niche edits or submitting yourself into free directories, while another option would be guest posting or digital PR.
How to Build Law Firm Backlinks: 9 Strategies
Here are ten ways you can increase your law firm’s search visibility through building backlinks. We know these strategies work as we have seen them be effective for other lawyers and legal firms in the past:
1. Create Linkable Assets and Perform Outreach
When your content starts to rank and people find it, they also start linking naturally. This helps you rise in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) which attracts more links from relevant websites that can benefit their audience.
Here are some examples of linkable assets that have already brought in backlinks for other law firms:
In-depth guides: Law firm have the access to a trove of specialist information, which makes them appealing sources for journalists and writers. Which posts make this knowledge easy to understand may result in your content being referenced by these writers or journalists as they create their own arguments.
Useful resources: The Irwin Mitchell page has a long list of resources that people can use at the time facing human rights and public law issues. These include easy to understand fact sheets people can use to make requests or complaints. The resource also highlights backlinks from 44 domains including government websites and non-profit organizations for added value to readership.
FAQ Pages: FAQ pages are great resources for users who want to know about a topic. They also attract backlinks from non-experts who reference the authority of an FAQ page in their post.
Statistics Pages: It’s always good practice to reference the original source when using statistics in your articles. If you create a list of relevant stats for your sector, people might link to them and give credit back—helping promote both yourself and others.
Outreach Increases the Chance of People Linking to Your Content
If you create an engaging resource, people will organically find it and link to it. But actively reach out to websites or authors if they write about your niche topic because mentioning them may increase the chances of them linking back.
Here is the strategy to find other websites that may be interested in linking to us:
2. Guest Post on Other Websites
Guest posting is a great way to get backlinks on high-authority, relevant sites. Lawyers can use their expertise to provide unique perspectives on many issues while gaining exposure from quality blog posts and increasing industry authority.
3. Become a Source for Journalists
A relationship with the media is still important for bloggers, however, it’s now more common to see reporters reaching out directly via Twitter or by emailing their contact information. As a blogger if you can help journalists give stories authority through quotes or expert opinions they may link back to your website in return.
4. Community Mentions
Community mentions are a great way to get backlinks and it can be even very much easy. Just ask people in your connections or those you have previously worked with. They will appreciate the opportunity and help promote what they like best. It’s an easy strategy for getting relevant links.
Some times are given below when it may be appreciated to ask people for a link:
- If you notice that a client has written about their experience with one of your firms then request them to include to your site.
- Collaborate with other websites to share the details of your partnership and include a link back.
- Many events and conferences have websites. If you’re attending one, it is possible that when the site advertises your attendance you may get a link.
- Sponsor a group or an event. Your company could receive links from their site.
5. Get Easy Wins From Free Directories
A free directory is a great way to get backlinks for your law firm. There are plenty out there, and they’re easy enough that you could even do it. These include:
There are smaller and less popular directories that you can find. Embassies local news publishers or colleges may have sections where your company can be listed.
6. Discover Unlinked Mentions
This is an easy strategy to implement that can result in significant returns when other websites mention your business.
If you spot this happening, just ask for a link and watch the enrichment.
7. Leverage Your Contacts
Asking is often the best way to get a link. You are sure to know some people and businesses who own websites, so it’s only natural that they would want their site recognized by others as well! Offer them something in return – such as writing an article for you or sharing some of your content on social media—and make sure any links coming from those sources have contextually relevant text linking back towards your post/website. Make this easy for Google’s algorithm: avoid adding random anchor text anywhere outside posts.
8. Start a Blog
Blogging is a great way to attract links if the content you write about has value.
The Insights section on the Kingsley Napley website provides an excellent example of this. They have produced authoritative posts that are linked from high domain authority sites while also being featured by other websites in their content when referencing trending topics.
9. Use Niche Edits
Niche edits are a great way to get backlinks quickly and easily without having create any content.
Niche editing is when you contact another site with relevant content and ask them if they would like your page in exchange for providing value through linking back. This strategy works because there isn’t much effort required-all that needs doing on the other side of things are agreeing or not.