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More than ever, people are seeking legal help with their voices instead of using their keyboards. The trend of voice searching over keyboard tapping is growing, and reports say that half of all online searches are voice searches. Because of this, enhancing your law firm’s voice search savvy is crucial. In fact, just when you thought your website was optimized perfectly, it may be time to examine your keywords and website information to determine if they work for voice search. Although your website may be SEO friendly, voice search strategies are slightly different. In order for artificial intelligence to connect voice commands with your website, you may need to reassess and alter your content. Consider the following in order to be more accessible by voice searches, and to be more attractive to Google, Alexa, Siri, Echo, Cortana and the rest.
Use Long-Tail Keywords
People talk faster than they type. Because of this, a voice search is typically three or more words, versus an average text search being one or two words. When optimizing your law firm voice search, it is best to focus on long-tail keywords. Your law firm’s content should utilize keyword phrases that are typical of someone’s spoken (not typed) search request. Your website’s headings, tags, and links are equally important for voice searches as well as text searches.
Keep a Conversational Tone
Voice searches are more conversational, because people are voice searching while they are on-the-go, or while multitasking. Research your law firm’s target audience to discover what search phrases potential clients would typically use. Remember that a voice searcher will use natural, informal speech patterns, like they would use with friends or family members. And, voice search phrases will probably not contain proper legal terms or law jargon. For example, an individual’s voice search would probably say “divorce lawyer” instead of “family law attorney.”
Attract Local Clients
Voice searches often focus on local businesses. For local searches, AI (artificial intelligence) assistants gather their information from different sources, for example:
- Alexa teams up with Yelp for search results
- Google Assistant searches within Google Maps and Google business listings
- Apple’s Siri extracts information from Apple Maps and Yelp
- Microsoft’s Cortana gathers information from Bing
In order for your law firm’s website to pop up in search results, consider the following tips.
Update Your Information
Routinely confirm that your law firm’s business details are updated and accurate. This includes hours of operation, contact information and exact address and location. Research says that when people search and come up with inaccurate information, they tend to distrust the business and go elsewhere.
Connect Your Law Firm
To improve your voice search results, add descriptions to your location that connect you to the area, such as local landmarks and institutions.
Use Relevant Phrases
Common voice search phrases include requests such as “immigration lawyer near me.” Include the phrase “near me” in your descriptions, internal linking, meta tags and meta title.
Add Consistent Information
Confirm that your contact information is completely consistent on each and every listing of your law firm. This includes your website and blog, as well as your Avvo and social media profiles. Post client reviews, and make sure you have claimed your Google My Business page, completing it with all relevant information.
Focus on Questions
Voice searches are usually based on questions, and the results may only include the top three answers. This means that your content must be strictly optimized and morphed into a language that artificial intelligence can understand.
Ideally, your law firm website should have an FAQ page, posting typical questions that potential clients might ask, together with clear and concise answers. The more questions you list on your website, the more likely a voice search will find its way to your law firm. Become familiar with the kinds of questions clients ask, and the way they ask them. If your law firm website uses a chatbot, it can offer this type of information, which will enhance your law firm voice search.
Increase Website Speed
Since search engines consider speed when ranking websites, it is essential that your website speed loads quickly. Searchers can be fickle and impatient, and may give up if your site takes more than a few seconds to load. In order to provide consumers with effective and immediate results, increase your law firm’s page speed by
- Compressing code and images
- Removing slow scripts
- Optimizing mobile content
Resources such as Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool may help with any technical changes you need to make to improve your site’s loading speed.
E-A-T
The acronym EAT is important when it comes to voice search and your law firm. EAT stands for expertise, authority and trustworthiness, and search engines take all three seriously.
Expertise
To offer expertise means that you are an expert in an area. Your law firm can demonstrate its expertise to voice searches by consistently providing search-worthy content. Providing expertise also means that you meet and exceed expectations of those searching.
Authority
Being an expert is a good place to start, but being an authority is better. When other influencers or experts in the field link to you as a source of information, and when your content is generously shared across social media, you have gained some authority.
Trustworthiness
Expertise and authority can lift your rankings, but a lack of trustworthiness can cause rankings to plummet. To build a trustworthy sentiment around your law firm, it is essential that you have a growing list of great reviews on places like Google My Business and others. If you receive negative reviews, be sure you answer them in a way that highlights your professionalism.
Rich Snippets
Almost half of voice search answers are gathered from “rich snippets,” which are detailed and enhanced extracts of online information. These rich snippets stand out in the search listings, with images, star rankings and more. You can expand the ability of your law firm voice search by using Schema to optimize for rich snippets.
Test Your Law Firm Voice Search
Try testing with voice search to see where your law firm ends up in the results. Ask the questions that potential clients may ask, and use everyday words instead of legal jargon. Test voice search with different types of devices, and use a variety of artificial intelligence assistants. This is a simple way to analyze how your law firm ranks, and where the competition ranks as well.
Voice Search Is The Future
It is increasingly important to get savvy about voice search and your law firm, because voice searches are starting to dominate the digital world. There are some specific ways to optimize your law firm voice search, and there are resources to help improve what is lacking. Update and enhance your local business details, you can become more attractive to users in your area. Improve your website loading speed, and provide answers to searchers in plain, conversational English. Keep offering expertise, but gain authority and trust by providing superb, accurate content. By tweaking and testing your law firm voice search, you can be as accessible in the digital world as you want to be to your clients in the real world.