Google is the dominant search engine. And when you want your website to rank well and your woman owned law firm to succeed, using Google’s products is a necessity. Google loves to see businesses taking advantage of the services they offer. And one of the most important you should be utilizing is Google My Business.
Using Google My Business effectively will boost your law firm’s online presence and keep your clients, peers, and potential clients up to date. Here’s how you can benefit from a strong Google My Business listing, improve your listing, and avoid some of the most common GMB mistakes.
Benefits of Google My Business
If you haven’t already claimed your Google My Business listing, now is the time to do so. When someone is online searching for a lawyer in your area focusing on a specific practice area, you need to be sure that your law firm will display in the top of Google’s search results.
If you were to search for a top company, say Apple, on Google, their Google My Business listing would be prominently displayed on the right hand side. You want the same thing to happen with your law firm. Your Google My Business listing provides opportunities for you to gain exposure, remain connected with your audience, and even generate leads. You’ll also see reviews of your business pop up there when clients have left them.
Improving Your Firm’s Google My Business Profile
It is important that you update your Google My Business listing regularly. Though you may not have a lot of time to spare when your women owned law firm is busy with clients, these updates are essential. You can check for updates by simply logging into your business profile on Google Maps. Google often adds new features to GMB that you should become familiar with and utilize, and you’ll want to respond when people leave you positive or negative reviews.
Another helpful tip is to update your services list regularly from your Search and Maps listing. This will help ensure that your law firm stays relevant and addresses prospective client’s needs. In making sure to update your services, you can improve your GMB listing by filling out all of the available information blocks. You don’t want your audience to have to guess where your law firm is located or how they can quickly email you.
Keywords in Your Google My Business Listing
Your Google My Business listing is also an excellent opportunity to make use of keywords that your prospective clients are going to be searching for. If you prefer to take on a lot of DUI clients as a criminal defense attorney, you’ll want to include search terms like DUI lawyer, drunk driving, consequences, first-time offender, penalties, misdemeanor, driving record points, and other relevant terms. However, be careful to avoid keyword stuffing. These terms should flow naturally throughout your listing.
This is also a great opportunity for you to use local posts. When people in your area are searching for an attorney, they are likely to use the area you’re in as part of their search phrase. “San Diego criminal defense lawyer” is a good example. You can publish posts to your GMB listing that include your location and the relevant keywords you need. For instance, you publish a 300 word blog post on “Why You Need a San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer”. If you can include other relevant locations in your posts, that’s a bonus. A car accident lawyer might include local hospitals, for example. This helps your woman owned law firm build credibility online.
Google My Business Messaging Features
In order to get the most out of your Google My Business listing, you should allow prospective clients to be able to message you through GMB. You even have the ability to create custom automated responses after a message has been sent to your firm. This can help increase your law firm’s response times. Google My Business likes to see response times of 24 hours or less. Anything more could hurt your business’s visibility online.
Use Visuals on Your Law Firm’s Google My Business Listing
Visual content has and will continue to grow in popularity. Video content in particular is becoming an increasingly common way to grab your audience’s attention. Using eye-catching photos and videos can help set your women owned law firm’s Google My Business listing apart from its competitors. Be sure to have your logo on your GMB, as this is likely to gain you the most exposure.
You might also include photos of your law firm staff, credential badges, photos, and videos from community events you participated in, and other photo and video content that stands out. GMB Pro-Tip: make use of Google My Business’s Virtual Tour feature so prospective clients can get an inside look at your offices.
Mistakes to Avoid with Your Google My Business Listing
If you’ve made mistakes with your law firm’s Google My Business listing, you aren’t alone. It isn’t uncommon for law firms to have issues with their GMB listings that go unnoticed until their rankings drop on Google. There are a few mistakes that are more common than others.
First, make sure that your law firm is listed in the right business category. This may seem like something that should be obvious, but when you’re rushing to get your listing complete, mistakes aren’t unusual. Listing your law firm in the wrong category could even result in penalty points against your law firm’s website, which could further harm your rankings.
Another common mistake is ignoring customer reviews. If you have a disgruntled client leave a poor review, ignoring it isn’t going to look good to prospective clients who turn to Google reviews to check the credibility, trustworthiness, and success rate of a law firm. Responding politely and efficiently to negative reviews, reporting any inappropriate ones, and encouraging your former clients and peers to leave positive reviews will improve your GMB listing exponentially.
Google My Business listings may seem tedious and something you can put off until you have the time. But time is money, and if you want your women owned law firm to succeed, one of the first things you need to do is get your law firm ranking in Google’s top spots. Claiming, completing, and updating your GMB listing is essential for your law firm. Don’t wait. Start making improvements to your Google My Business listing today.
Meranda M. Vieyra is the owner of Denver Legal Marketing LLC. She is one of the most visible legal professionals in Colorado law with over 20 years of service in the Denver legal community. Her award-winning marketing firm has earned a strong reputation as the go-to for impactful, cost-effective legal marketing strategies. She has helped her clients secure coverage by well-known publications and has obtained local, national, and international awards on their behalf. Meranda enjoys working with solo practitioners and small law firms helping them attract recognition, promotion, and visibility to their practices. She also advises medium-sized and national law firms on business development and marketing strategy. Meranda is a lecturer and author on issues related to marketing including how lawyers can use LinkedIn effectively, how to develop a personal brand, and the promotion of legal services through community service. In 2018, she was honored to be named to the 40 Under 40 list by the Denver Business Journal and to be given the 10 Under 10 Award by the Metropolitan State University of Denver Alumni Association (top 10 alum of the decade). In 2019, Meranda was named in the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business by the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce and in the Top 100 young professionals in Colorado through the Gen XYZ Awards published by ColoradoBiz Magazine.