8 Ways Legal Consumers Actually Use Google My Business & What it Offers Your Law Firm

Should My Law Firm Have A Google My Business Listing?

Google My Business is a free way to gain exposure for your law firm. It’s been around for a while, and chances are you have seen these listings yourself. If you were to Google a competitor firm right now, chances are you will see their listing immediately pop up in the search engine, and you will see their location, phone number, hours, and other information they chose to list.

This is a key piece of real estate on a search result page, as these map results are on top of  organic rankings on desktop, and at the top of a search on a mobile device. As an Attorney, you need to embrace Google My Business now, if you haven’t already. But what if you are associate or partner of a law firm? You may want to search yourself and your colleagues, Google has been busy trying to add you as an individual attorney to it’s Google My Business listings too. If you see yourself there with a listing and want to know how to claim it, keep reading or give us a call and we can walk you through the process.

How People Actually Use Google My Business & What it Offers

With as much as you can do with Google My Business, you’ll probably be shocked that it doesn’t cost anything to use. There are several uses for it, including finding where you are located. But it offers so much more:

1. Check Opening Hours

Many people want to know an answer to something right away. Either they are too busy to make a phone call, or they just want the answer at their fingertips. With Google My Business, people can just type your business name and your hours will appear.

2. Convenient Directions

Let’s pretend you just got off the phone with a potential new client. You gave them your address, but everyone uses GPS these days, right? They hop in the car to drive to their consult and what do they do? Pull out their smartphone to navigate. I know I do! They can conveniently click “map” and their GPS will give them voice directions to your address. GMB is also directly connected to Google Maps and it’s smartphone apps on both Apple and Android devices. It also drives results in voice search (especially important on Android devices) so it’s pretty important to make sure you are there.

3. Reviews Build Trust

When searching for a lawyer, it’s only natural that someone would want to ensure they are hiring the best possible option for their case. Not only can an individual access your firm’s phone number and location instantly, but they can check reviews on demand. The more reviews you have, the more trustworthy your practice will be to the person searching, and to google. Studies have shown the more reviews you have on your google my business listing, the more often Google will show you in a search.

4. Drives Website Traffic

Be sure your website is up-to-date, full of rich blog content, and engaging to your audience. You are bound to receive a lot of traffic to your website just by listing your business as there is a website link right in the listing itself.

5. Take Plenty of Photos and Add Them

Another way to gain trust is to add photos to your listing. Upload pictures of the outside of your office, lobby, conference room and even you at work at your desk. There is a spot for your audience to scroll through these pictures. The business can add photos, along with people who visit. Show your true personality. Have fun with your staff and post the photos. By doing this, you’re giving them a good impression before they make the first phone call.

6. Popular Times to Visit

There is a spot on Google My Business that shows the popular times your office is visited the most. Most people don’t have time to wait, and if they don’t have an appointment they will want to see when you’re not so busy. This is a great feature that will allow them to find out on their own what time they should go.

7. Call With the “Tap” of a Button

Just about nobody uses a phone book anymore. It’s all digital. When someone is looking for a lawyer and they Google it, your listing will show up. The more convenient thing is that just by tapping the “call” button, it will automatically put the phone number into their smartphone and all they have to do is push call. Our mobile driven society has conditioned us to use these embedded buttons. A pro-tip is to use call tracking numbers to track these phone calls. A useful tool when keeping a marketing agency (who uses GMB as part of their SEO strategy) honest, and looking at phone traffic increases over time.

8. Questions and Answers – Direct Interaction With Your Firm

People can easily ask a question right on your firm’s business listing. Other people who have experience with your law firm can answer, or you could go on and answer. The great thing about this is that other people can view past questions in case they were also curious. They will also see others interacting with your business listing, building even more trust. Make sure you or your marketing agency is there to answer these questions as soon as possible, google is watching how long you take to get to these questions. As a registered owner of the listing, you will receive an email when someone posts a question. If you download the official GMB app, you can answer questions right from your smartphone.

 

Can My Law Firm Track Google My Business Results?

Google My Business + Tracking Tools = Measurements for Success!

Once you add your law firm to Google, there is a tool called Insights to see how your listing is performing and you can see the conversion rates. It’s helpful to know which of your marketing efforts are paying off, so you know what’s working. Much of this information can be sorted by dates too, so you can see how optimizing your listing has had an affect on its performance.

It’s not just about tracking the leads back to your website, though. Bright Local recommends using a unique call tracking phone number to see what percentage of people are calling based on your listing alone. Google My Business can report which callers are using the “click-to-call” function but they can’t report on who is physically typing the number after viewing the listing.

Importance of a Fully-Optimized Google My Business Listing For Your Law Firm

Anyone can go on and throw up their hours, address, and phone number on a Google My Business Listing. However, if you want to be truly successful with it, and you want to see those results, it’s important to fully optimize the listing.

You’re going to have to dig deep to do keyword research and carefully add them in naturally. Any old keywords just won’t work. This is an important step that can’t be missed.

Don’t skip the photos, either. According to Search Engine Journal, businesses with photos receive 42 percent more requests for driving directions. Photos also lead to 35 percent more click-through rates to the business’ website. Photos will have to follow the Google best practices.

Once your Google listing is up, it’s important to interact with your visitors. Check for questions on a consistent basis and always follow up promptly. If someone leaves you a review – good or bad – be sure to respond professionally and politely.

 

Let us help you …..

We, at Precision Legal Marketing, work with Google My Business listings consistently as part of an overall SEO strategy. Our team understands the ins and outs of what to do and other best practices. We know exactly how to position your listing and what keywords to add to attract your ideal clients.

For a fully optimized and engaging listing, contact us at 877-602-7510 or sales@precisionlegalmarketing.com.

Let’s create a powerful & successful listing together.