| Updated: February 17, 2025
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You would not be wrong to think that SEO campaigns start with keyword research. The process includes identifying relevant keywords for your business that potential clients use to search for you on search engines.
Hiring an SEO consultant to conduct keyword research for law firms is best. However, you can do it yourself by following the methods and steps mentioned in this guide.
But before proceeding with the process, let me first introduce you to keyword research — why it’s done, how it works, and how you can do it effectively.
Keyword research is the process of identifying industry-specific keywords that your potential future clients are searching on Google and other search engines.
This is the fundamental part of a law firm’s SEO strategy and requires experience to do it correctly.
After conducting keyword research for your business, you’ll gain a clear understanding of your consumers, clients, and their pain points—what they are actively searching for on search engines.
You can categorize your keywords into two main types:
Short-tail keywords are usually more competitive and harder to rank for, as they have a higher search volume. On the other hand, long-tail keywords have lower search volume but are often highly convertible due to their specific intent.
A woman who is unhappy in her marriage and wants to file for divorce might search for ‘best divorce lawyer’ on Google, which is an example of a short-tail keyword. However, if she searches for ‘best divorce lawyer in NYC’ or ‘divorce lawyer in Chicago,’ her search becomes location-specific.
Her intent is clear—she is looking for a divorce lawyer in Chicago. By optimizing your law firm’s website for long-tail keywords, you can attract highly targeted traffic that is more likely to convert into clients.
Legal keyword research is a jargon mostly used by law firm marketing companies. The process of conducting keyword research for law firms is called legal keyword research.
Law firm keyword research is the first set of SEO campaigns. It helps identify keywords your clients could be searching for and how you can rank on them.
Think like your clients—what would they search on Google to find the best law firm for a specific practice area and location?
For example, someone living in San Diego who has been injured in a road accident might search for a lawyer using the following keywords on Google or Bing:
There are several key parameters to consider before finalizing keywords for your law firm’s website. These include intent, search volume, and keyword difficulty, all of which impact your ability to rank effectively.
SEO agencies and consultants specializing in law firms build their keyword strategies around these three factors. Here’s a detailed look at each parameter and how you can master the art of legal keyword research.
The search volume of a keyword indicates how often people search for it on Google within a specific location or country. This is crucial for identifying local keywords for law firms, which can drive targeted traffic and attract highly convertible visitors.
I use SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, and Ahrefs to determine the search volume of a keyword. These keyword research tools provide monthly search volume estimates, helping in formulating an effective SEO strategy for law firms.
Disclaimer: No SEO tool can provide the exact search volume of a keyword—these numbers are always estimates.
The keyword ‘Personal Injury Lawyer’ has over 90,000 monthly searches. If you’re a law firm or lawyer specializing in personal injury cases, this is one of the best keywords to target for ranking your website.
However, ranking for this keyword in the United States requires significant effort and a well-executed law firm SEO marketing strategy.
An alternative approach is running Google Search Ads (PPC), but this can be expensive—costing around $70 per click. This is why many law firms invest in search engine optimization instead, as it is a more cost-effective and long-term marketing strategy.
An SEO consultant in the legal niche won’t add this keyword to his strategy because of the following reasons:
Identifying the right keywords using SEO tools is an art. You must also consider keyword difficulty before finalizing your keywords for a law firm.
Keyword difficulty, or KD, is the second most important parameter in legal keyword research. This parameter defines how difficult it would be to rank on a keyword, replacing one website from the top 10 SERPs.
I recommend targeting local keywords with lower difficulty instead of keywords like ‘New York personal injury lawyer.‘ You can target specific locations within your city, such as ‘Manhattan personal injury lawyer’ or ‘Brooklyn personal injury lawyer,’ instead of competing for a highly difficult keyword.
This approach helps you rank more easily while attracting highly targeted local clients. Once your website starts getting traffic from relevant low-difficulty keywords, it will be recognized as an authority in that practice area. Over time, this will allow you to target and rank for more competitive, high-difficulty keywords
The third factor to consider in legal keyword research is the intent of the user. Keywords can be classified into three categories:
Your law firm’s SEO strategy should include all three types of keywords. Informational keywords typically have lower difficulty, while money-making keywords (BoFu) are more competitive.
A personal injury law firm in New York should create various pages targeting different types of keywords. This approach enhances online visibility, strengthens brand authority, and helps build E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) for better rankings in search results.
An experienced SEO consultant or agency specializing in legal SEO will create a strategic mix of long-tail and short-tail keywords. They finalize a keyword plan after carefully analyzing search volume, keyword difficulty, and user intent.
Search intent can be further categorized into three stages of a user’s journey: Informational, Consideration, and Conversion. A law firm should implement a balanced keyword strategy that targets all three stages to attract and convert potential clients effectively.
Keyword research for law firms varies depending on their specialization. However, I generally recommend that lawyers target their primary practice area on their homepage. Since the homepage is the main page of your website and one of the highest-converting pages, it should be optimized for your core legal services.
While you can target additional keywords on service pages or blog posts, your homepage should focus on your primary legal practice area to maximize relevance and conversions.
To make it more specific, you should add location in your primary keyword, which you are planning to target on your homepage.
For example, a divorce law firm in Medford, OR, should target the keyword ‘divorce lawyer in Medford’ for its home page. Lawyers and law firms have been doing this to rank higher in SERPs.
An experienced SEO agency specializing in law firms will create a strategic mix of long-tail and short-tail keywords, considering keyword difficulty, search volume, and user intent.
Here are my top 5 strategies for conducting law firm keyword research. You can follow these exact steps to develop a comprehensive and effective keyword research plan for your law firm, regardless of your practice area.
Think like your clients—what would they type into search engines when they need your legal services? Write down as many keyword ideas as possible in a notebook and create content around them.
For example, if you’re starting a law firm specializing in family law, focus on the specific services you offer, such as divorce, child support, and child custody.
Now, brainstorm keyword ideas for these three practice areas. Think about what potential clients would search for when they need legal assistance. You can also involve colleagues and industry professionals to refine and expand your keyword list.
I recommend using SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Google Keyword Planner to analyze keywords for monthly search volume, difficulty, and intent.
Take the keywords you brainstormed, mix them strategically, and insert them into these SEO tools to evaluate their ranking difficulty and search volume.
Your shortlisted keywords should include both your legal practice area and location to attract targeted traffic with a higher conversion rate.
The monthly search volume for the keyword ‘personal injury law firm Manhattan’ is 90, while the difficulty level is 57%, making it challenging to rank for.
However, those 90 searches/m represent highly qualified leads actively looking for a personal injury law firm in Manhattan. Despite the greater difficulty, this high-intent keyword shouldn’t be ignored, as it has strong conversion potential.
We analyzed this keyword based on the three key factors we discussed earlier: keyword difficulty, monthly search volume, and search intent.
The keyword difficulty is high, and the monthly search volume is low, which makes it an ideal choice to get excluded from a law firm keyword strategy.
However, the search intent is highly focused, meaning it can attract highly qualified leads actively seeking legal services. For this reason, we will target this keyword and include it in our law firm keyword strategy.
Another great way of finalizing a keyword strategy for your law firm is to do a competitor analysis with SEO tools. These tools will identify keywords your competitors are ranking on, and you can include them in your strategy.
Both are great SEO tools; however, SEMrush has the upper hand as SEO agencies and consultants widely use it for its comprehensive features and data accuracy.
Here is an example of a personal injury law firm in Chicago ranking on the first page for multiple relevant keywords.
You can identify low-difficulty keywords that your competitors are ranking for and incorporate them into your law firm SEO strategy to improve your chances of ranking and attracting targeted traffic.
There are popular legal forums where people seek legal advice from lawyers. You can explore the questions posted by users and develop an SEO strategy based on them.
Think about it—why does a user post a question on a legal forum? Because they couldn’t find the right answer on Google, right?
By identifying these legal questions, you can create high-quality, informative content on your law firm’s website, improving your SEO strategy and attracting potential clients looking for legal solutions.
Here are popular legal forums you can use:
Open Google Search Console and check the keywords generating impressions but receiving zero clicks. These keywords indicate that your law firm website is ranking but not yet in the top 10 search results.
To improve these pages/blogs and move them higher in SERPs, focus on:
Google Search Console is a free tool that provides valuable insights about your website, especially keywords you can rank for with minor tweaks to your pages.
Conducting keyword research for law firms requires a deep understanding of both the legal market and search engine optimization. You can perform comprehensive keyword research for your law firm by following the methods and steps outlined in this article.
To succeed, you’ll need to learn how to use SEO tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs to analyze keyword difficulty, monthly search volume, and conduct competitor keyword audits.
Alternatively, you can hire a marketing agency to handle the keyword research for your law firm and discuss potential outcomes before they begin, ensuring a strategy that aligns with your business goals.
I’m Micheal Clark, an experienced SEO consultant specializing in law firms and attorneys. With over seven years in SEO, I help legal professionals rank higher on Google, attract clients, and grow their practice. From technical SEO to local optimization and content strategy, I provide tailored solutions to dominate competitive legal searches.
