Building quality links to your law firm's website is critical to obtaining good position in the search engines. Even though your firm may use a marketing firm or SEO firm to handle online legal marketing it is a good idea to understand a bit about link building so you can find and identify good linking opportunities. When we begin SEO work for a client and start to build some links the first place we start is in the attorney or law firm's community and we work out from there. Some of the best links at are available are right in your backyard.
Here a some suggestions for finding high quality links for your law firm:
- Bar Associations - Check to see if any of the Bar Associations that you belong two offer a listing for your firm on their website. Be sure to check your state bar association as well as any local bar associations you belong to. Some bar associations charge a fee for the listing but the links are usually worth it.
- Local Organizations - Many chambers of commerce and other local organizations offer listings to members on their website. These are also high quality links.
- Alumni Associations - Check and see if your alumni association offers any directories on its website. Some alumni association websites offer web profiles or listings for association members.
- Legal Associations - Are you a member of a state or national legal association such as the American Trial Lawyers Association? Check with any other legal associations that you belong to and see if they have a member directory that offers web links.
- Better Business Bureau - If you are a member of the better business bureau be sure you are included in their online directory of members. If you aren't a member consider joining.
- Traditional Referral Sources - Do you have an accountant, banker, or other person or organization that sends your regular referrals? Why not ask them to list your firm as a resource on their website?
- State or Local Only Directories - There are some pretty decent directories out there that only accept listings from businesses that operate in their city or State. These directories are usually of higher quality. Search Google for directories in your city or state.
This list is a good place to start but any solid link building and SEO campaign is an on going effort. Always keep link building in the back of your mind and be on the look out for link opportunities all the time. Once you've gotten some easy links from your community try submitting your site to some of the better directories such as Best of the Web or the Yahoo Directory.
