SEO Strategy for Personal Injury Attorneys + Example Case Studies

A detailed article on SEO for personal injury attorneys.

By Jason Parks Articles March 20, 2023

SEO Best Practices for Personal Injury Law Firm

Improve the SEO for your personal injury law firm.
Learn the best SEO strategies for personal injury lawyers.
Improve the optimization on your website to outrank other PI attorneys

Personal injury SEO is one of the most competitive industries we deal with across our client verticals. The average cost per click on Google for personal injury attorneys can exceed $80, depending on the match type. The beauty of SEO is you don’t have to pay-per-click, which can make SEO profitable, if you succeed.

We work with numerous attorney clients on search engine optimization. Many personal injury lawyers have been burned by SEO, making them skeptical. They’ve invested thousands of dollars into SEO and didn’t achieve the page one results they were hoping for or were promised. They are unsure how to track the effectiveness of personal injury lawyer SEO efforts and want to avoid common mistakes.

I’m going to share actual client examples and walk you through the best practices, which should help you improve your law firms SEO efforts.

How To Rank Higher On Google As a Personal Injury Lawyer

Our agency, The Media Captain, helped the Law Offices of Kevin Kurgis achieve the number one ranking on Google for the coveted keyword, “Columbus Personal Injury Lawyer.” Below is a screenshot for your reference.

Top positioning on Google for personal injury-related keywords in a local market is every personal injury lawyer’s goal. Kurgis Law Firm’s keyword ranking win wasn’t due to a single quick fix; it was the result of a comprehensive strategy, which I’ll discuss in great detail below.

Before diving into the strategy, it’s essential to understand the foundation of SEO.

You can see that Kurgis is ranking in the first position on Google for the query, “Columbus Personal Injury Lawyer.”

The Foundation Is Key To Personal Injury SEO Success

According to Ahrefs, authority is the strength of a particular domain. Website authority is a critical ranking factor that isn’t discussed frequently enough. The stronger your site’s authority, the easier it will be to rank on Google’s first page.

When we took over the legal marketing for Kevin Kurgis, they had a relatively low authority score (11/100). In contrast, their competitors, BG Miller (19/100) and Elk & Elk (33/100), each had higher authority scores. People might assume that an authority score in the teens isn’t good, but for a local business, it’s decent and a good starting point.

I wasn’t discouraged that Kurgis had a lower authority score than their competitors. I knew their backlinks were of high quality and that there would be numerous ways to optimize their site to outrank competitors.

Authority score screenshot taken from SEMRush.

Our agency loves the domain overview tool within SEMRush (screenshot above). I recommend comparing your domain versus competitors ranking ahead of you on Google.

If you’re a personal injury lawyer with a low authority score, it can take longer to outrank your competitors, regardless of how well your content is optimized. It’s essential to be aware of this.

If you have a low authority score, acquiring quality backlinks is important. In the next section, I’ll walk you through how to get more strong backlinks.

How to Build SEO Backlinks For Personal Injury Lawyers

Industry Backlinks

We search the first page of Google for the query we’re trying to rank for to find relevant local directories. For the query “Columbus Personal Injury Lawyer,” you’ll see in the screenshot below that FindLaw, Super Lawyers, and Justia have directories that rank on the first page of Google.

Screenshot of Google for a PI search where the industry directories populate.

We recommend adding your firm to each of these directory sites. While the backlinks on these pages will likely be no-follow, they will still help drive relevant traffic from the query you’re looking to rank for. The more presence

Local Directories

In addition to industry directories, we also recommend local directories. Examples of local directories include the Better Business Bureau and Chamber of Commerce. Search for sites in your city that showcase local businesses and add your firm. This is an excellent way to establish local authority.

News Publications

Kurgis’ backlink profile (see below) includes a link from Columbus Business First (also known as BizJournals.com), a news publication and authoritative website. The article linking back to Kurgis’ website discusses how a “Texas company was ordered to stop using Columbus attorneys’ names in Google searches.”

When you win a significant case or have news to share, reach out to local media outlets. This can enhance your website’s authority and credibility. You will also notice the local directories I mentioned earlier in the backlink profile below.

Several links from the backlink profile for Kurgis. While Kurgis doesn’t have a particularly high authority score, the links are of quality.

Many personal injury attorneys become discouraged when they can’t rank on Google’s first page in a competitive market overnight. Understanding authority scores allows you to create a plan of action to acquire more backlinks and get listed on additional directories, increasing your chances of ranking well on Google.

Most important SEO keywords for personal injury lawyers

Conducting keyword research for personal injury lawyers is crucial. Ensure you’re targeting the appropriate queries on the right webpages.

It’s excellent that Kevin Kurgis ranks on Google’s first page for “Columbus Personal Injury Lawyer.” Since our client has multiple practice areas, they aim to rank for keywords within each area (see bulleted list below).

With a well-structured and optimized site, you shouldn’t be limited to ranking for just one keyword. Below are Kurgis Law’s main services:

Auto Accidents
Drunk Driving
Motorcycle Accidents
Trucking Accidents
Dog & Animal Bite
Workplace Injuries
Social Security Disability
Property Damage & Vehicle Claim

Formulating Keyword List

When we onboarded this personal injury client, we developed a comprehensive list of keywords to track for each practice area. We collaborated with our law firm client to ensure alignment. We are marketing experts and well-versed in personal injury law. Since attorneys are industry experts, they often provide additional insights to further strengthen the keyword list. If you’re serious about your SEO, you should have access to your keyword list, organized by practice area (see screenshot below).

Example of how we formulate keywords into a comprehensive list.

Once the client approves the keyword list, we add the keywords to SEMRush for tracking purposes. Tracking keywords within software allows your firm to monitor progress daily against competitors.

The tracking tool in SEMRush (shown below) displays the position of each keyword, its trend against competitors, and whether it’s the webpage, local pack, or a combination that’s ranking.

Our client ranks #1 on Google for “Auto Accident Lawyer Columbus” and “Car Accident Lawyer Columbus,” coveted keywords that drive profitable organic clicks.

Want to talk SEO with The Media Captain? Contact us today!

Tracking our clients keywords within SEMRush

Notes and Tips on Keyword Tracking

The SEO tracking tool provides an official benchmark of your rankings before and after changes, allowing you to measure progress over time.
Since most personal injury searches are localized, ensure you’re tracking at the city or state level.
We track hundreds of keywords for most personal injury clients, based on practice areas and location.

Once you’ve formulated your keyword list, it’s time to start on-site implementation.

Note: I encourage you to read my blog about whether or not to create city-level pages for your personal injury law firm. Attorney clients often build out many pages across suburbs and cities throughout their state. My blog post lists out the pros and cons of doing this.

How Personal Injury Lawyers Optimize THeir Website

The page I’ll be focusing on for on-site optimization is Kurgis’ auto accident page.

We optimized the headings for numerous targeted keywords (see screenshot below):

“Columbus Auto Accident Lawyers” in the H1
“Car Accident Lawyers in Columbus” in the H2
“Columbus Car Accident Lawyers” within the body text.

You can see how the headlines and verbiage on the page has been optimized.

Optimizing title tags, headings, and adding keywords to your page is low-hanging fruit that can generate quick wins.

SEO isn’t as simple as sprinkling some keywords on practice area pages. There’s much more strategy and detail required.

Related Article: How to optimize headings on your website

Expanded Content

The auto accident page on Kurgis’ website is expansive. It discusses intersection crashes, rear-end collisions, commercial vehicle accidents, single-vehicle accidents, and sideswipe collisions. There are 992 words on the page, outpacing most competitors’ websites from a word count perspective.

Tip: You can compare word count and keyword usage versus your competitors by using SEMRush’s on-page checker.

The depth of Kurgis’ content is a differentiator compared to other local car accident attorneys. When you have fluff content that doesn’t stand out, it’ll be hard to rank well. Take the time to create great content.

Asking Questions

We love asking our personal injury clients questions. Even though we have content writers who are well-versed in personal injury, the client can provide expertise and depth that truly differentiates the content and offers more useful information on the webpage.

Below are great examples of questions to help differentiate the content on your auto accident page to make it more localized. This example pertains to a city-level page for car accident attorneys.

What are some of the most dangerous roads in your city where the most accidents take place?
What are nearby hospitals patients would be transported to if they were in a serious accident?
What courts would your client be dealing with based on the location of the accident?
What police stations would be dispatched to the scene of an accident in specific areas?
Who are the attorneys at your firm that would meet with auto accident clients?

If you are a personal injury lawyer, look over the content on your practice area pages. If you weren’t the one to write the content, you’ll likely find room for improvement. This can help bolster your keyword rankings.

Internal Linking

Another quick hit on-site SEO deliverable is internal linking. Google likes authoritative pages on your site linking to other pieces of content.

For Kurgis’ auto accident page, there are internal links to the “about us” page along with the FAQ and “understanding your rights” page.

It’s recommended to internally link to other authoritative pages throughout your site. For example, on the auto accident page for Kurgis, there’s more of an opportunity to link to the drunk driving, motorcycle accidents, and trucking accident pages.

Related Blog: How can internal linking help my SEO?

Blog Strategy

After analyzing hundreds of personal injury attorney blogs, they often completely miss the mark.

For one of our personal injury clients, I deleted over 200 blogs on their website. The content was thin and received little traffic. Each blog also had a high bounce rate. I thought the website could be getting penalized for thin content based on low word count and low quality of the blogs, causing more harm than good.

If you’re going to blog as a personal injury lawyer, focus on topics that will drive traffic and convert visitors into clients. Blogs can also be a great resource for internal linking to other essential pages on your site.

Below are some compelling blog topics for a personal injury attorney in Ohio:

What to do if you’re hit by a drunk driver in Ohio
Steps to take after a truck accident in Ohio
Will you receive more compensation if hit by an expensive car in Ohio?

A great way to come up with blog topics is have your intake team jot down popular questions from current and prospective clients. There are also many tools out there. You can use ChatGPT or SEMRush’s keyword magic tool.

Embedding YouTube videos within blogs can help your personal injury law firm outrank the competition.

YouTube SEO

When I was at the Filevine conference, a personal injury attorney from the east coast shared that they had won a $1 million case based on a YouTube video they recorded.

The attorney set up a studio in their basement with a green screen, began recording videos, and uploaded them to YouTube.

After a severe slip and fall accident, a victim in the hospital with a broken neck found the attorney’s YouTube video on Google and contacted them. The rest is history.

YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine and can help your PI firm achieve additional page one placement on Google.

YouTube Success For Attorney

Denmon Pearlman Law, a PI firm based in Tampa, has an excellent YouTube channel featuring localized content. They chose localized topics such as:

What to do if you get arrested while vacationing in Florida
How long you have to file an injury claim in Florida
What happens if you refuse a breathalyzer test in Florida

Denmon Pearlman did a good job executing on the right topics for their YouTube videos.

Like blog posts, it’s crucial to select intentional topics that prospective clients will search for.

Pro Tip: Many personal injury attorneys advertise on television but neglect to leverage those video spots for digital advertisements. Be sure to invest in online video promotion for optimal exposure.

We’ve covered numerous on-site SEO topics. Now it’s time to move onto local SEO.

Local SEO

When someone searches for a personal injury lawyer on Google, they typically search based on location. They want an attorney in their local market who practices law in the jurisdiction where the injury occurred.

Someone injured in a car accident in Columbus is likely searching for “Columbus Car Accident Lawyer”
Someone injured in a workplace injury in Myrtle Beach is likely searching for “Myrtle Beach Personal Injury Lawyer”

If your personal injury firm can appear in the local pack, this is prime real estate on Google’s first page.

This is the local pack ranking in Myrtle Beach for the query “Myrtle Beach Personal Injury Lawyer.”

Importance of Reviews

At the Filevine conference, I spoke with a personal injury attorney who incentivized attorneys within their firm with a $1,000 bonus for each Google review they received. They weren’t incentivizing clients, which is against Google’s guidelines; they wanted more buy-in from their lawyers.

Once the firm implemented this review strategy, they surpassed 2,000 reviews, significantly helping their local SEO rankings.

Reviews are visible and influential. Someone at your law firm should be responsible for overseeing review management. This effort will help boost your reputation and improve your local SEO.

The primary category is one of the most important local SEO ranking factors. It’s imperative for your PI firm that you mark the primary category as personal injury attorney, not just attorney.

There are several other optimization techniques you can apply to your Google Business Profile. I recommend reading my Google My Business Optimization Checklist to improve your local SEO.