Competitor Keyword Research: How They Boost Rankings

What Are Competitor Keywords And Why Research Them For Lawyer SEO

SEO Competitor Analysis allows you to find gaps in your Lawyer SEO strategies and find a way to address them. Another way to do so would be to find competitor keywords, see what they're optimizing for, and discover new ways to improve your Lawyer SEO.

Like general Lawyer SEO competitor analysis, keyword-focused competitor research may help you rank higher, attract more traffic, and potentially generate more conversions.

You'll be able to answer questions like:

• Who are my SEO competitors, and how can I differentiate myself from them?

• What keywords should I focus on?

• What keywords are my competitors overlooking?

• What topics do I need to write or create content for?

• How can I use my findings and apply them to my own SEO strategy?

Although not every keyword your competitors use will apply to your law firm's website, competitor keyword research allows you to look outside your own website.

Remember: Lawyer SEO isn't isolated to your domain. You might be doing well with your own on-page optimizations, but you might be missing the mark in comparison to everyone else you're in competition with.

Even with a well-optimized page, other websites can still surpass you in ranking. Understanding why they surpassed you and borrowing from their strategies lets you stay competitive.

How To Conduct Competitor Keyword Research

1. Audit Your Website

Before comparing yourself to other competitors, you first need to determine which keywords you rank for. Then, figure out which pages on your website are getting the most traffic and which keywords you've had the greatest success with so far. You can use tools (like the ones provided by Google) to sort through all this data.

Identifying your keyword ranking strengths and weaknesses can give you a decent idea of how much work you'll need to put in to meet your Lawyer SEO objectives.

Remember: This is also applicable for any time you conduct keyword research in general.

2. Identify Your Competitors

After running a site audit, you may start seeing who your competitors are. These competitors are likely using the same keywords you're ranking for, create the same content you publish, or belong in the same industry.

Remember: Your competitors aren't going to be just law firms. Law firm agencies, marketing agencies, directories, online publications, and other legal or law-related services use the same keywords to optimize and rank their pages.

3. Compile Your Data

Your research should provide you with a list of five to ten competitors. After you've compiled your list, check for keywords that your competitors are ranking for but that you aren't.

Ideally, these lists should include the current rank for each keyword, the page where the keywords are used, and the search volumes. To make things more organized, you can compile your data into a spreadsheet, where you can quickly move things around and analyze your numbers.

4. Analyze The Data

It's now time to choose the most important keywords to target. You can organize the data you have by keyword categories, examples of which include:

• Long-tail and short-tail keywords

• Global and Local SEO keywords

• Legal topics

• Specific areas of law (i.e., Personal Injury, Employment Law, etc.)

• Sort by search volumes

• The type of services (i.e., legal counsel, lawyer referrals, marketing agencies, etc.)

Next, remove all irrelevant keywords that don't apply to your law firm. This includes keywords that pertain to lawyer agencies, law firm SEO tools, and other services that don't cater to your own audience.

Sorting your spreadsheets gives you an idea of which keywords you're getting outranked for and the keywords you aren't currently optimizing for. Then, you get to decide how you want to change and add to the keywords you're already using for your Lawyer SEO strategy.

Remember: High search volumes aren't the thing that makes a good keyword. You should also consider long-tail and Local SEO keywords to boost your visibility.

5. Apply Your Findings

After you've finished your competitor keyword research, you'll need to figure out how those words will fit into your own website. Again, if you're dealing with a long list of keywords, categorizing them would be a great way to manage your work.

Remember: You can't use all those keywords for every page. Some will be more suited to your landing pages, while others will be better suited to blogs and other content.

While it's great that you're adding new keywords, you must keep any current keywords that are still successful. So, for each existing page, create a new and enhanced keyword list.

If you can't find a way to incorporate them into the pages you already have, plan a keyword strategy that will allow you to create additional pages. Just remember to take some time to look through the site's overall structure and see where those additional pages might fit in.

How LawyerLeadMachine Can Assist Your Law Firm

Lawyer SEO strategies need to be sustainable. When done right, it can boost site traffic and expand your client base. However, if you don't keep up with your competitors, you might end up getting buried in the rankings.

If it's getting too complicated for you, we have SEO experts to help you out.