Optimizing Your Legal Website: Balancing Content Creation and Search Engine Performance
Starting a new legal practice is an exciting journey, especially when it comes to establishing your online presence. For attorneys focusing on niche areas like Worker’s Compensation, building a robust website that ranks well on search engines is crucial for attracting potential clients. Over the first few months, many practitioners grapple with the classic dilemma: Should I prioritize creating more content or optimizing existing articles for better search performance?
In this article, we’ll explore strategies for balancing content generation with SEO optimization, drawing from real-world experiences and best practices.
The Journey Begins: Content Creation to Build Authority
Initially, frequent content publishing can help establish authority and provide valuable information to your audience. Many new practices aim to produce several articles per week—sometimes up to four—to cover various injury types, legal processes, and lesser-known topics. While this approach can quickly generate a breadth of content, maintaining momentum often becomes challenging over time, leading to a slowdown to 1-2 articles per week.
Diverse Topics and Competitive Analysis
Covering a broad range of topics, such as different injury types and legal procedural details, helps diversify your website’s content. It’s also prudent to analyze competitors’ websites. Many law firms work with marketing agencies that produce articles rapidly—sometimes of questionable quality—that rank highly due to aggressive SEO tactics. While quantity can boost visibility, content quality and relevance remain vital for sustained success and credibility.
Monitoring Progress: From Impressions to Rankings
As your website matures, it’s common to see incremental improvements in search engine impressions and rankings. For example, moving from an average position in the 60s to the 40s in Google Search Console indicates growing visibility. Achieving positions in the 30s or lower — and even ranking in the top 10 for specific high-intent search terms — reflects successful targeting of queries with strong conversion potential.
Refining SEO: To Optimize or Not to Optimize?
One strategic question is whether to revisit existing articles to improve their SEO. For instance, updating headers (H2 tags) or incorporating specific keywords identified through tools like Google Search Console can enhance rankings for high-priority search terms. This process involves:
- Analyzing which articles are already performing well
- Identifying relevant keywords and search queries
- Refining content structure and headers to match these queries
However, as a solo practitioner, it’s essential to recognize your limits. Regularly updating and optimizing articles can be time-consuming