As a law firm, you understand how important it is to gain a reputation in your local community and find new clients who are within your geographical range. Getting found locally is essential for businesses that depend on local clients, such as law firms, so having the right strategies for local marketing is key. However, getting to the top of the results page is easier said than done.
Potential customers tend to explore businesses that meet their search requirements at the top of the results page rather than diving deep into the later searches. That’s why digital real estate is so important to stake out. In order to accomplish this, you need to understand how Google Map Pack strategies for law firms can help improve your online visibility. These strategies can help you gain a strong local reputation for your business and help take your law firm to the next level.
Understanding the Google Map Pack
When you Google a term like “law firms near me”, the results that display include a map search at the top of the search results page.
Within that initial search, there will be a few businesses that take up space without needing to click on the map or be redirected to another website. This is the Google map pack, also known as the Google Local Pack.
These highlighted maps-based results are the most sought after search positions on Google. Most searchers will pick from those results and begin their consideration with those three results. Local businesses are all in competition with each other to rank higher on these listings and gain the traffic that comes from appearing in those listings. In fact, the Google maps pack will grab as much as 44% of all clicks on the results page.
Each listing on the map pack will have the same type of information displayed:
- The name of the business
- Google reviews
- Business summary
- Location and address
- Business hours
- Featured photo of the business
- Business services
Ranking high on the Google map pack is the best way for local businesses like law firms to get ahead of the competition and gain that important position on the search results page. In order to achieve this, you need Google map pack strategies for law firms.
How Do You Improve Your Ranking in Google’s Map Pack?
Getting to the top of the results page requires thought-out strategies. After all, your law firm is in competition with all other local law firms to get higher on the search results and become a part of the Google map pack. Thankfully, there are tried and true Google map pack strategies for law firms that can help you rank higher and expand your business’s reputation in order to gain more traffic. Here are a few of the best approaches for ranking on the Google map pack.
Optimized Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is one of the most important factors when it comes to ranking on the map pack. This profile is your business listing on Google, and making sure that it is optimized for local searches is a great way to get ahead. Here are a few tips that you can use in order to improve your profile and ensure that you are taking steps to rank higher in search results and in the map pack.
- Make sure your address, hours, and contact information are correct and updated regularly
- Include your city name and location, but don’t stuff keywords into your profile
- Have detailed information, such as map location, business category, and website URL filled out
- Be consistent with your location information
- Upload high-quality photos to your profile
- Use a local number for your contact information rather than a toll-free number
- Write an original, compelling, and grammatically correct description
- Update your profile regularly with new content, images, and information
Reviews on Your Google Business Profile
Another important component of your Google map pack ranking is your reviews. Reviews are a powerful conversion tool that searchers will use when finding the best results for their needs. If your business doesn’t have reviews, it’s an indicator to search engines and readers that there is no way to verify the quality of your services. Having reviews helps people trust your business and build authority in your brand.
As you work to gather reviews, focus on recent and high-quality reviews. These will include things like a high star rating, a clear description and title in the review, attributes, and uploaded photos. It’s also important to consider the quality of the reviewer. If a top contributor or trusted local guide leaves a review, it’s more impactful than a first-time reviewer.
Listings in Business Directories
While your Google Business Profile is the most important online business profile to claim and manage, there are also other business directories that you can get listed in. These directories might include business listings on secondary search engines like Bing or local business pages, city and township websites, law firm directories, and review sites. Having a presence on these different directories helps to strengthen your entire online presence.
By building a strong online reputation and claiming all the space that your business has access to, you can increase the reach of your brand. The more citations and listings you have, the more likely that Google will respond to your business presence and pull you up the rankings into the Google map pack.
Website SEO
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is another important aspect of your rankings. Your website is the hub for incoming traffic, so you want to make sure it is optimized for local searches. By helping your website focus on local searches, you can increase your general rankings on search results, which can help you get into the Google map pack. Some general tips that you can use to improve website SEO include:
- Making sure your website is mobile-friendly
- Including indicators of your location, like state, town, region, or district
- Having a location page or clear location indicators on an “about page”
- Adding a schema markup to your website
- Identifying your local search terms and creating content around those keywords
- Increasing crawlability and submit your website to Google
Community Engagement
As a law firm, you are connected to the community you work in. It’s important to improve your reputation because that is one of the keys to improving your search rankings. You want to become a part of the local community and encourage engagement. You can begin by asking your clients to ask questions on your profile so you can answer them, upload photos as they visit your law firm, and write high-quality reviews using the factors listed above.
Having communication with your clients through social media efforts or email campaigns can help encourage them to leave a review or increase their engagement with your brand. It’s also a great way to increase your goodwill in the community and become more of a consistent presence in the area.
Attend a Surefire Local Marketing Platform Demo
When you follow these steps, you can optimize your brand presence for the Google maps pack search results. It’s one of the most important and effective ways to attract nearby customers in your area, so it’s important to focus on Google maps pack strategies for law firms that can increase your chances of ranking within the top three results.
To help you manage online marketing activities, you need the right tools that can monitor your local marketing efforts. Surefire Local provides law firms with business intelligence marketing software at a fraction of the price of other tools and agencies. The Surefire Local platform helps you manage the most important online marketing activities within one platform. Rather than logging into different tools and trying to manage separate applications, Surefire Local helps you create a single source of truth for your online marketing activities and avoid silos of information.With the help of Surefire Local, you can manage your Google Business profile, monitor and respond to reviews, run social media campaigns, gather information about your competitors, analyze traffic data, and communicate with your audience from a single platform. To learn more about the different features of Surefire Local and how it can help your law firm become part of the Google map pack, get a demo of the Surefire Local marketing platform today. There you’ll learn all about the steps you can take to use Surefire Local to your advantage and become a part of the Google map pack to grow your business and gain more clients.