How Long Does SEO Take to Get Results for Law Firms?
In a world where society has many tools at its fingertips and things can stop on a dime, it’s easy to anticipate quick marketing results. However, modern conveniences can only go so far, and some efforts take time. SEO results fall into this category.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ever-evolving strategy to get your web pages to rank at the top or toward the top of Google and other search engine listings. SEO is what gets the attention of Google’s algorithm as it crawls and indexes webpages, deciding where to rank them. In today’s digital market, it’s arguably the most crucial aspect of marketing a law firm to ensure you show up when someone searches for the services you provide. Still, it’s a long-term investment that won’t provide overnight results. You won’t be able to see the fruits of your labor for at least several months; however, making an effort now is essential.
Why Do SEO Results Take Time?
Waiting for SEO results may seem counter to the culture that we live in. Still, there are many good reasons why you shouldn’t expect immediate results. The primary reason is that Google is continually improving and updating its algorithm to boost the functionality of its search engine capabilities.
When SEO first hit the marketing world, there were many tricks law firms could use to get Google’s attention and land near the top of a search. Keyword stuffing was one of them. It didn’t take Google long to realize what businesses were doing to rank toward the top and that this didn’t make for quality search engine results for its users.
Since then, Google’s algorithm has significantly improved user experiences. Instead of relying on keywords or other simple SEO basics, the algorithm relies on a combination of factors, such as:
- Content quality
- Page speed
- Safe browsing (no history of viruses or hacks)
- Interactive elements
- Quality images
As the complexity of Google’s algorithm has grown, so has the time it takes to see results from SEO improvements.
How Long Does it Take for Law Firms to See SEO Results?
You should expect to commit to improving your SEO for months. You will likely see some traction within several months, but you’ll need to continue tweaking various aspects of your SEO. It can take a good 4-12 months to really see the fruits of your labor.
Track Your Metrics
While there’s not much you can do to speed up this timeframe, you can take steps to help make your SEO more effective. For example, set up your SEO reporting to check your results on an ongoing basis. You won’t know what you need to tweak unless you track and evaluate your results. The following metrics are helpful to track:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Organic Traffic
- Ranking Pages
- Backlinks
- Referrals from other websites
- Domain authority
- Page authority
- Brand mentions
- Conversions
Leave it to the Experts
Really understanding SEO and perfecting yours to see results requires a time investment you might not have. Between the necessary knowledge and time, it’s wise for lawyers and firms to outsource their SEO management to a trusted expert team. A lot goes into SEO, and you want to work with someone who has their finger on the pulse of what’s working in SEO and stays abreast of recent updates.
An SEO management team, like the one at Martindale-Hubbell, can tailor an SEO plan to your law firm based on your specific goals and vision for your firm. They can then execute that plan, making any changes along the way based on your results and further updates to Google’s algorithm. Your SEO management team can also observe your metrics and track your results to show you what is working.
Whether you hire an SEO management team or not, be prepared for the lag time between your efforts and your results. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a good SEO strategy.
