Need some strategy advice for Real Estate Attorneys in competitve locations

[donsilvernail]

I am working with a real estate attorney in NJ. there are 17 real estate attorneys within 5 miles of my clients location. I need some strategic advice to rank my client higher quickly 2-3 month range. I have had him as a client since the begging of his practice (just opened in February 2016)  I created the website and embarked on a content marketing strategy, this has produced slight raises in traffic.

What could I do better to get him in local packs and generally raise to first page for long tail keywords? ( my other clients have not been so difficult but they also are not in such a competitive atmosphere)

[becole]

Donald, when it comes to local SEO, we typically recommend making sure that you first have to local citations taken care of--and then focusing on the content on the website. The Name, Address, and Phone (NAP) should be consistent across the board.

You can manage the local citations, submissions, fixing of duplicates, etc. yourself manually, or you can use one of the services out there, such as Moz Local, Yext, Advice Local, etc..

Then, as far the on-site issues are concerned, schema.org markup is a must on the site, as well.

It sounds as if you are already handling the content on the site, so continue with that. But the missing link is the local citations and local listings, which sounds like the missing piece here.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Donald,Great question. 2-3 months may not be a good time estimate to give a client for moving the local needle. Bernadette wisely raises the issue of citation management. Have you been doing this? Real estate agencies often have very convoluted citation scenarios due to the continual arrival of new agents, old ones retiring, duplicate listings, multi-practitioner listings sharing details (like phone numbers) that they shouldn't.

If you've not yet delved into citation management yet, it's very important to do so, with the understanding that:

1. Structured citation building is not typically a competitive difference maker in tough markets, because tough competitors will likely already have large, clean structured citation profiles. So, basically, you'll be playing catch-up if you've not yet engaged in managing citations.

2. Competitive difference maker or not, inconsistent citations are lead-killers. Misdirecting customers via inaccurate information is not good for business. And, of course, inconsistencies are believed to weaken the 'trust' Google feels in the data they are finding about your business.

3. Duplicate clean-up can sometimes move the needle in the local packs, so this would be a high priority task.

I'd recommend going through our Local SEO Checklist for other ideas. Hope this helps!

[donsilvernail]

Sorry for the late replay. Local citations and listings were done when we launched the website. I'm sorry, I should have stated that in my questions.

I am looking for strategies above and beyond the basics. I want my client to compete with his top competition. I understand this can be difficult for such a young web property, but there has to be something I have yet tried that will help.

Thank you for your response.

[donsilvernail]

Hi Miriam,

Yes, I have been working on local citations from the very beginning! This is an attorney not a real estate agency. I was hoping for some more specific strategies for lawyers in a tough competitive location other then time and citations.

What is happening... IMO the search volume has steadily risen month over month, the client is having a hard time understanding that changes do not happen over night, especially for a newer web property.

Thank for your response

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Donald

Woops! My mistake. I see your client is a real estate attorney, not a real estate firm. So sorry about that. Interestingly, as far as Local SEO goes, some of the same issue apply in terms of both industries commonly featuring multi-partner practices and that rolling out as citation confusion. But, you say you've done a good job of managing their citations and want advice beyond the average checklist of local search basics, I have two thoughts:

1. I'm hoping you may get some more feedback from community members with legal clients. I haven't personally worked with more than a handful of lawyers over the years and don't have any tips that would be stunners specific to the industry.

2. Are you aware of NiftyLaw? They're a subsidiary of NiftyMarketing.com, owned by Mike Ramsey. You might comb through their blog (http://niftylaw.com/blog/) to see if they are giving away any gems, or, if the client is really having a hard time, you might even consider consulting with them.

Hope this helps!