Harvest More Clients with Seeded Keyword Strategies for Attorneys

Is that….a cool breeze we feel rolling in? No need to let a chill in the air cool your digital marketing strategy–as autumn approaches and farmers prepare to reap what they’ve sown, so too is it time for your law firm to focus on its own harvest–client base and caseload. What are you bringing in this year? 

As any farmer worth his salt will tell ya, a bountiful harvest doesn’t just appear overnight–it’s cultivated over time and requires attention, consistent care, and, perhaps most importantly, good seeds. A strong keyword strategy is the seed packet that produces a thriving online brand and a steady stream of high-value leads and clients. No magic beans here–just well-researched terms, diligent tending, and time. With the right keyword strategy, your law firm plants the seeds to outrank competitors, connect with more qualified leads, and enjoy an abundant harvest of new clients.

Back to Basics: What Are Keywords?

Definitions first. Keywords or keyword terms refer to words and phrases users search in Google and other search engines to find the information or services they need. Not every search contains keywords–when we use that phrase, we’re referring to queries that are regularly submitted to search engines by users, enough so that we can see monthly average search volumes. Hyper-specific keywords may not hold any search value at all, while super broad keyword queries result in SERPs that show Google-generated AI answers, aggregated web content called “snippets,” local map packs, and other features that dominate that prime real estate that is Page One of the SERP. Up to this point, we’ve focused on keywords in relation to organic search, but they’re a vital part of any successful PPC campaign, too.

Let’s analyze some examples of terms, user intent, and SERPs pages to get a better understanding of how law firms should approach keyword research:

• Keyword: “Family Law”
  • This phrase encompasses a wide range of domestic practice areas–maybe a divorce or adoption attorney would be interested in using this phrase.

• SERP:
  • A local map pack takes up the entire “above-the-fold” space, i.e. anything you can see before you have to scroll–Google heavily prioritizes user location when determining results, especially for queries that signal intent to use a local service.
  • We also see a brief knowledge graph sourced from Wikipedia on the right side, indicating that Google interprets the query as seeking information rather than aiming for an action.
  • Below the fold, we see another Google feature (still no pure webpages served up!) labeled “Things to know” with an accordion of sub-topics. Clicking on those headers, we find auto-populated snippets from relevant sites and links to those domains or informational articles.
  • Finally, below all of those featured sections, we find a couple of organic listings for family court lawyers near our location.

• Initial Analysis:
  • The keyword phrase “family law” yields a SERP dominated by the map pack and local ads, so we’d hypothetically need to focus on ranking locally if making Page 1 was our goal. But, more impactful than the map feature, the knowledge graph and rich snippets below the fold tell us that Google has determined the searcher intent for this keyword phrase is to gain general information, not to take action.
  • As attorneys, you’d want to shift gears and focus on more specific terms like “divorce lawyer [city or state],” or “adoption attorney [city, state, or region].” Geographical terms and other specifics zero in on users who  To reel in the high-value leads that are ready to take action, shift gears and zero in on more specific terms like “divorce lawyer near me” or “child custody attorney.” These targeted keywords are like a magnet for users with real intent, giving you a prime shot at converting those searches into valuable clients.

The precision in selecting the right keywords is what sets the stage for being visible in the right Google searches and, ultimately, attracting the right clients.

Sifting Through Search Terms: What is Keyword Research?

So keywords are simply search terms–what kind of “research” could be necessary? Keyword research is a combination of data analysis, trial and error, and intuition. We said in our introduction to this article that there are no magic spells when it comes to organic law firm growth, but keyword research is as close to digital sorcery as you can get. Let’s start with the basics: where does one perform this research?

SERPs Served Directly to You

That’s right—you can start by simply throwing some search terms into Google yourself and reviewing what the search engine serves you and in what order. Begin with your own firm name and its variations. You’ll notice that Google primarily prioritizes geographical location for search terms related to services typically received locally, so the SERP will likely include links to both your pages and your competitors’ pages.

• Branded Terms: Searching branded terms like “[Your Law Firm] [Your Practice Area]” or “[Your Law Firm] [Your City or Region]” will return your top-ranking pages in Google, providing insights into your webpage performances if you’re not already tracking that.
• Expanding Outwards: Move on to broader searches like “[Your Practice Area] [Your City or Region]” and observe which firms or brands are buying up the PPC space, who’s ranking organically, and who’s missing from the SERPs.
• Interactive SERP Features: The broader or more informational your query terms are, the more likely they’ll return interactive SERP features called snippets. Take note of which types of queries result in snippets, how much of the SERP they occupy, and the sources of the information. which types of queries result in snippets, how much of the SERP they cover, and from which sites the information was pulled.

Keyword Planning Tools

Once you have a feel for the SERPs and the organic competition, turn to a keyword planning tool for hard data. Google Keyword Planner, a feature of Google Ads, is an invaluable resource—even when selecting keywords for SEO and organic search content. Google Ads has TONS of available information, but the basic metrics to include in your reporting include:

• Average Monthly Searches
  • You’re aiming for a steady flow of web traffic to your domain, so you need to optimize around keywords with substantial monthly search volume. Seach volume is a key indicator of a term’s popularity and a window into the kind of traffic potentially up for grabs.
• Year-over-Year (YoY) and 3-Month Change
  • The data contained in the “YoY” and “3-month change” columns gives us insight into search volume over time for a specific keyword phrase. Is user interest in this keyword growing, staying stable, or declining? Does search volume for this keyword rise and fall seasonally? Parsing through this data (in tandem with the super handy and user-friendly Google Trends tool) can help you choose evergreen keywords to optimize landing pages or blog posts around and identify seasonal trends to leverage those keywords strategically.
• Competition
  • While we’re largely focused on keywords from a general and organic perspective, the “competition” metric in the Google Keyword Planner actually reflects pay-per-click competition–how many advertisers are bidding on that particular keyword phrase? This data still offers insights relevant to all keyword research–we can assume that it’ll be easier to rank for “low” competition keywords, but that “high” competition keywords likely yield more valuable web traffic.

Set Yourself Up for Success: What Are Seed Keywords for Attorneys?

Now that we’ve covered the keyword basics, let’s dig into strategy. Keywords in general, the search terms users plug into Google, are the seeds in your SEO garden. Err, your farm, your field, or wherever it is we’re harvesting clients. These queries are the very beginning of a digital discovery process that will bloom into increased web traffic, calls or form inquiries, and real client relationships. Seeded keywords are simple terms that form the foundation of your keyword strategy–the seeds from which more specific phrases and terms branch. These are broad, high-level terms related to your practice areas, legal services, or clientele.

Seeds Vs. Sprouts: Short-Tail and Long-Tail Keywords

Seed keywords are also commonly referred to as “short-tail” terms, referring to their appearance on a search volume/demand graph. If we were to place your foundational keywords on one search volume graph, those with the highest number of average monthly searches would appear at the top of the graph–the wide head. Your more specific keywords will have lower monthly search numbers by nature and are likely to appear along the “long tail” of the line graph. So your seeded keywords are “short-tail,” and the phrases branching out from there are “long-tail.”

As we discussed, your seeded keywords will have high search volume and broad reach, but they’ll likely be competitive because of that. For attorneys and legal practitioners, your seeded keywords will likely contain your foremost practice area and the exact phrasing that users employ to find your website

For example, let’s say a family court attorney is using “divorce lawyer” or, (because attorneys provide services usually contained to specific geographic areas) more likely, “divorce lawyer [City or Region].” A list of associated long-tail keywords might look like:

• Seed: Divorce lawyer [City or Region]
  • Sprouts:
  • Same-sex divorce lawyer [City or Region]
  • Best divorce lawyer [City or Region]
  • Affordable divorce lawyers [City or Region]
  • Child custody lawyer [City or Region]
  • Child support lawyer [City or Region]
  • Female divorce lawyer [City or Region]
  • Men’s divorce lawyer [City or Region]
  • Prenuptials lawyer [City or Region]
  • Family court attorney [City or Region]
    • Seedlings:
    • Do you need separate lawyers for divorce?
    • Do you need a lawyer for separation?
    • When to get a divorce lawyer

In this example, it’s clear by word count alone which are your long-tail keywords and which are your longer-tail terms. Divorce lawyer is the shortest and by far the broadest phrase listed. It doesn’t necessarily signal actionable intent, nor does it specifically signal information-gathering. It captures the widest possible audience for your law firm but doesn’t promise high-value traffic or qualified leads. 

Our next group of keywords, the sprouts, would fall in the middle chunk of our hypothetical search volume graph, meaning competition to rank for these terms will be a mixed bag and likely influenced most heavily by your geographic data. The specificity of some of these terms–sex-sex divorce lawyer, female divorce lawyer, affordable divorce lawyer–signals that the user intends to take action. They’re drilling down to details, they’re considering price and budget, and they’re searching for legal pros in their specific area.

Finally, we have the seedlings, which are long-tail search terms with low competition and relatively low search volumes compared to your seeded keywords. Search terms like “when to get a divorce lawyer” don’t convey user intent to take action, but they still hold the potential to bring qualified leads to your domain. They target users exploring legal options, looking for information preemptively, or seeking general legal advice and help boost brand awareness and overall web traffic.

In a nutshell, your seeded keywords (short-tail) lay the groundwork, pulling in broad, general searches and informing search engines of your business type. Your long-tail keywords—those strategic sprouts—capture more niche queries that signify user intent to act. While smaller in search volume, these terms are your heavy hitters for conversion. Seedling keywords (informational intent) nurture trust and boost brand visibility, setting the stage for potential clients to act when the time is right (your harvest!).

Planting Your Seeds: Seeded Keyword Strategies for Maximum Impact

We’ve covered seeded keywords and the long-tail terms you can cultivate alongside them–but, like real seeds, different types require different environments to thrive. Let’s visualize your domain as your garden and all on-page content as plots ripe for planting. There’s your homepage, your main service landing pages and their associated child pages, blog posts, FAQ sections, client testimonials or case wins, and contact pages. Keywords can also appear in URL slugs, alt text, meta descriptions, and other areas, but we’re focusing on on-page content for this article.

Seeded Keywords

These are your broadest terms–these are hardy keywords. You kinda can’t go wrong–remember that parable about sowing seeds in the right soil? Well, forget it! These babies can grow pretty much anywhere. While you never want to overuse or unnaturally insert keywords or specific on-page optimizations, you should feel free to liberally sprinkle your seeded keyword phrase(s) across your site. It should most definitely appear on your homepage, across your main landing pages, in your URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions. Using our divorce lawyer example, it wouldn’t be appropriate to optimize the page for “child custody” services around “divorce lawyer,” though that phrasing may appear on-page regardless, in the header, the footer, the navigation, or throughout the content.

Sprouts – Moderately Competetive Keywords

These keywords are less broad than your seeded keyword but are not necessarily “long-tail.” In the legal landscape, terms that fall under this category are likely specific services related to your practice area. In our example, the terms child custody lawyer and same-sex divorce lawyer could each have their own service or informational page specifically optimized around the chosen keyword phrase. Because the terms that fall under this category signal intent to act, they’d ideally appear on service pages with the firm phone number, the interactive chat feature, or a link to the contact form. These terms can also blossom on blog posts and guides, but those pages are best for targeting users seeking information rather than to take action.

Seedlings – Long-Tail Keyword Phrases

Seedlings represent our long-tail keywords–in our example, these terms are complete phrases and questions, and they all signal user intent to gather information rather than take action. Because these keyword terms use everyday language and colloquialisms (and sometimes even text-talk or misspellings!), they’re a perfect fit for FAQ areas. Your FAQs can live as a single post on your blog, a landing page itself, across the service pages, as relativen to each. This piece of content serves as the perfect format to capture some of these natural language searches. And if they don’t fit on service pages or in FAQ sections, your keywords will always have a place to grow big and strong…to flourish and thrive…on the blog! Everyone needs a blog–it’s never too late, never out of style, to create an evergreen hub for information, updates, news, case studies, and other content desired by your website visitors. And it’s the perfect place to create valuable content for your leads and clients while targeting long-tail keywords.

Reap the Rewards: Your Hard-Won Harvest Awaits

It’s those basic tenets of planting–sow with intention, cultivate with care, and remain patient–that yield the highest rewards. A seeded keyword strategy isn’t just about planting words; it’s about creating a solid framework to guide your digital content creation and optimization. Your hard work in the planning stages and dedication to optimization on every page increases the likelihood of greater SERP visibility, more web traffic, and higher user engagement. In a marketing landscape that looks more pixelated than pastoral, that’s the kind of harvest every law firm strives for.

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