Every DUI law firm should make an effort to invest in SEO efforts. From creating a solid Internet footprint to bringing ready-to-engage clients to your website, SEO strategies help you capitalize on high-value website traffic.
In this article, discover more about how SEO works for criminal defense attorneys, how to increase conversions through SEO campaigns, how SEO amplifies results from other channels, the basics of SEO for DUI lawyers, and the 100 most valuable keywords for DUI attorneys.
How Does SEO Work for DUI Attorneys?
Law firm SEO is not optional. For a DUI attorney looking to leverage law firm marketing, showing up in Google search is essential for a steady flow of new potential clients.
One study found that nearly half of all legal clients research their legal issues before contacting a lawyer. When potential clients have questions and want to know what to expect, they turn to their phones or laptops to get a sense of how serious the issue is and what they need to do next.
In many cases, that involves a direct search engine query like “DUI consequences Florida” or “first time DUI fines Maryland.”
Knowing what legal clients are searching for and optimizing existing website pages (such as homepages and practice area pages) helps send important signals to search engines like Google.
The goal? To show that you’re a provider of services who can help people with that query and showcase that your website is full of authoritative and credible information about that subject matter.
This is done through search engine optimization (SEO). With increasing competition for client eyeballs and attention, SEO helps drive traffic to your website with qualified potential clients who have been charged with drunk driving.
This is why no DUI lawyer can afford to overlook SEO efforts in their digital marketing strategy. When done properly, a well-executed SEO campaign can have multiple positive impacts on your law firm, including:
- Improving your search engine rankings so that your law firm shows up on page one for highly-searched keywords in your local area
- Driving traffic to your website that prompts viewers for a next step, such as booking a call
- Highlighting your work as an experienced lawyer by writing keyword-writing articles and blog posts that answer important questions
- The ability to more closely target people right when they need a lawyer in the hiring process
How Can a Search-Optimized Website Deliver Conversions for a DUI Law Practice?
Today’s legal clients have access to a world of information and reviews at their fingertips, and they use it every day to make purchase and service decisions.
People make their decisions online, whether checking out recent feedback on a new local restaurant, looking for local oil change deals at a mechanic’s shop or picking out a dishwasher for a future store pickup.
DUI lawyers aren’t immune to this consumer trend and must conform to best practices for the web when setting up and using their site as a marketing tool.
It’s not enough to just have a website. In today’s market, that’s a bare minimum.
Instead, your website should perform multiple roles at once for 24/7 access to educational content and information about what makes your firm stand out from all the other criminal defense lawyers in the area.
Your website is how new clients will find your firm, and a well-designed and optimized website is not just a representation of the brand but the center of all your SEO efforts.
SEO for lawyers helps you get a reader’s attention on your site, at which point a variety of marketing tactics (email list signups, chatbots, or contact forms) pick up the work and help continue to nurture that potential client.
As part of a bigger DUI marketing plan, SEO is a channel through which you can attract new clients and convert them at higher levels. With SEO, you provide valuable, targeted information to your target audience when they are at the point of hiring a lawyer in the immediate future.
How SEO Works with Other Channels to Bring in Cases
SEO is different from other common marketing channels. SEO is also not website design because optimizing website design is an entirely different practice. Those other channels are important, but they don’t deliver the same results.
Together, SEO and other channels can work to support a comprehensive marketing strategy for DUI law firms. In this section, learn more about how SEO can work separately and collaboratively with other marketing efforts.
How SEO is Different from Google Ads and Pay Per Click (PPC)
SEO targets free keywords, meaning that you’re creating organic content marketing in the form of blog posts, guides, service pages, and other website content. Your efforts and time spent can help people land on your website without ads.
Instead, you’re trying to signal Google that your site’s focus on a particular keyword phrase is the most in-depth, clear, and helpful article for the searcher’s query.
What makes SEO different from Google ads and PPC is that those are pay-to-play tools. You follow a similar process for picking keywords, but you’ll place bids to show up above the SEO results with the word “ad” next to your website’s information.
While PPC and Google ads offer more instant results and it can take time to get traction with SEO, many readers distrust ads and will instead scroll down to organic search results anyways.
How SEO is Different from Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is all about growing an audience to help highlight your firm’s unique value proposition. It’s about showing your readers who you are behind the brand.
Social strategies can pay off, but the fast pace of social media scrolling and ever-changing algorithms on all the major platforms makes it hard to get and keep anyone’s attention on social media.
You could spend hours putting together a great social media campaign that only gets viewed by a tiny percentage of your audience, assuming the message shared is relevant to them when they see it.
SEO puts the content the reader is searching for in front of them right when the answers are most relevant.
Getting the Best Results from All Three
Together, Google ads/PPC, social media marketing, and a high-quality SEO campaign can work together to create multiple brand impressions.
Each should be measured with its own key performance indicators but should also be seen as part of the bigger picture for your online presence. Prospective clients might come across you in more than one way, which can help showcase that your firm is the right choice for them.
The Fundamentals of DUI Attorney SEO
There are two main elements of DUI lawyer SEO: local SEO and content marketing. Read on to learn more about how these work and the components under each umbrella so that you can implement and track results from a campaign effectively.
Local SEO
When most people hit up a search engine looking for someone in their immediate proximity, they’ll use city, neighborhood, or even street names to help find the right place.
Google uses several factors to determine which law firms show up in local searches. They are relevance, distance, and prominence. Learn more about local SEO here.
Citations and Directories
To ensure that your company is connected to your local area, you might distribute your business to multiple directories. Learn more about citations and directories with this comprehensive list from Rankings.io.
Review Sites
Review sites like Avvo give prospective clients instant feedback from other people who have already worked with your firm.
The more reviews (and especially the more strong reviews) you have, the more heavily Google considers your “prominence.”
Google My Business
Google My Business is more than just a listing of your address, phone number, and open hours. It’s also a chance to showcase reviews from real clients and even to share content optimized for local SEO. Get more advice about Google My Business with our comprehensive guide here.
Content Marketing
The plan for creating and publishing content relevant to your target audience is outlined in a law firm content marketing strategy.
There are three main components of this: keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building.
Keyword Research
To provide answers and information based on what your target audience is searching for, use keyword research to tailor your content. Keyword research uncovers the specific terms, phrases, and questions used by readers looking for your services so that you can create customized and helpful content like blogs.
On-Page Optimization
Every page on your website should be optimized for SEO. This means it should be clear, easy to read, and include best practice on-page SEO elements like:
- Alt tags for pictures
- A 60 character or less SEO title tags
- A meta description
- Inbound links
- Outbound links
Link Building
You can build positive associations between your site and others by using outbound links. You can also link to your own content on pages, a process known as inbound linking.
Together, these linking strategies help you tell the story that your website is a resource hub of information on topics related to criminal defense. Many SEO services and agencies can help you get the most bang for your buck with law firm link building.
Measuring the Value of SEO
Now you know what goes into an SEO strategy, but how do you know if it’s working?
There’s no shortage of metrics to grab in connection with your SEO campaign, but knowing which ones to look at can help you make adjustments.
There are a few places where you can gather SEO data points, starting with Google Analytics. This is free and, once connected to your website, will tell you more about your traffic with insights such as:
- Most popular pages
- Overall page views
- Time spent on page
- Bounce rate (how quickly people leave after landing on the site)
For richer data more specific to SEO, consider paid services like Ahrefs, SEMRush, or RankTrackers. If you work with an SEO agency, they’ll likely manage such an account for you if you pay for it.
Some other data points to look at if using more advanced tools include:
- Number of pages with top 3, top 5, and top 10 keyword rankings
- Where you have the most possibility to capitalize on linking between pages
- Rankings improvements and decreases month over month
- How many places you have “snippets” showing up on results pages (the dropdown boxes with questions and answers)
The 100 Most Valuable Keywords for DUI Lawyers
Want an easy way to get started with SEO for a DUI firm? We did some of the research for you to identify the types of keywords that are most likely to convert.
| Keyword |
Competition |
Volume |
CPC |
| dui lawyer |
Low |
20000 |
$65.00 |
| dui attorney |
Low |
15000 |
$70.00 |
| dui lawyer near me |
Medium |
11000 |
$45.00 |
| dwi lawyer |
Low |
9300 |
$50.00 |
| dui attorney near me |
Medium |
7900 |
$45.00 |
| dui lawyers |
Medium |
5500 |
$60.00 |
| dwi lawyer near me |
Low |
3300 |
$40.00 |
| dwi attorney |
Low |
3000 |
$50.00 |
| ovi lawyer |
Low |
2000 |
$70.00 |
| dui defense lawyer |
Low |
1900 |
$75.00 |
| dui defense attorney |
Low |
1800 |
$60.00 |
| best dui lawyer near me |
Medium |
1300 |
$40.00 |
| drunk driving lawyer |
Low |
1200 |
$35.00 |
| dwi attorney near me |
Medium |
1000 |
$25.00 |
| best dui lawyer |
Low |
1000 |
$55.00 |
| best dui attorney near me |
Medium |
900 |
$40.00 |
| dui defense |
Low |
800 |
$30.00 |
| dwi defense attorney |
Low |
800 |
$40.00 |
| best dui attorney |
Low |
800 |
$65.00 |
| dwi lawyers |
Medium |
700 |
$50.00 |
| dui lawyer cost |
Medium |
600 |
$45.00 |
| affordable dui lawyers near me |
Medium |
600 |
$35.00 |
| dwi defense lawyer |
Low |
600 |
$11.00 |
| dui law firm |
Low |
500 |
$35.00 |
| criminal dui attorney |
Medium |
450 |
$30.00 |
| owi lawyers near me |
Medium |
400 |
$15.00 |
| dui defense attorney near me |
Medium |
400 |
$45.00 |
| drunk driving lawyer near me |
Low |
350 |
$45.00 |
| pro bono dui lawyers near me |
Medium |
300 |
$16.00 |
| lawyers for dui cases |
Low |
300 |
$65.00 |
| top rated dui lawyers near me |
Medium |
250 |
$45.00 |
| top dui lawyers |
Low |
250 |
$45.00 |
| cheap dui lawyers |
Medium |
200 |
$35.00 |
| dui attorney cost |
Medium |
200 |
$25.00 |
| first offense dui lawyer cost |
Medium |
200 |
$45.00 |
| dmv lawyers |
Medium |
200 |
$25.00 |
| best dwi lawyer |
Medium |
200 |
$45.00 |
| dwi defense |
Low |
200 |
$18.00 |
| top dui lawyers near me |
Medium |
150 |
$45.00 |
| top dui attorney near me |
Medium |
150 |
$45.00 |
| drunk driving defense lawyer |
Low |
150 |
$45.00 |
| ovi lawyer near me |
Low |
150 |
$70.00 |
| dui criminal defense attorney |
Low |
150 |
$30.00 |
| good dui lawyers near me |
Medium |
100 |
$45.00 |
| dwi lawyer cost |
Medium |
100 |
$50.00 |
| ovi lawyers near me |
Medium |
100 |
$70.00 |
| owi lawyers |
Low |
100 |
$30.00 |
| dwi law firm |
Low |
100 |
$85.00 |
| felony dui attorney |
Low |
100 |
$95.00 |
| abogado dui |
Medium |
100 |
$14.00 |
| pro bono dui lawyers |
Medium |
100 |
$16.00 |
| best dwi attorney |
Medium |
90 |
$65.00 |
| cheap dui lawyers near me |
Medium |
90 |
$35.00 |
| felony dui lawyer |
Low |
90 |
$95.00 |
| local dui lawyers |
Medium |
90 |
$45.00 |
| attorney for dui near me |
Medium |
90 |
$45.00 |
| dui defense law firm |
Low |
90 |
$35.00 |
| 2nd dui lawyer cost |
Medium |
80 |
$45.00 |
| dui criminal defense lawyer |
Low |
80 |
$30.00 |
| dui defense lawyer near me |
Low |
70 |
$45.00 |
| local dui attorney |
Low |
70 |
$40.00 |
| low cost dui attorney |
Medium |
60 |
$35.00 |
| dui lawyers in my area |
High |
60 |
$45.00 |
| good dui lawyer |
Medium |
60 |
$60.00 |
| dui criminal defense attorney near me |
Medium |
60 |
$45.00 |
| dui criminal lawyer |
High |
60 |
$0.00 |
| driving under suspension lawyers |
Low |
60 |
$25.00 |
| dui law firm near me |
Low |
60 |
$35.00 |
| cheap dui attorney near me |
Medium |
50 |
$35.00 |
| lawyer dui near me |
Medium |
50 |
$45.00 |
| best owi lawyer near me |
Medium |
50 |
$30.00 |
| driving under the influence lawyer |
Low |
50 |
$25.00 |
| dui expungement lawyer |
Low |
50 |
$35.00 |
| affordable dui lawyers |
Medium |
40 |
$60.00 |
| dui lawyer cost near me |
Medium |
40 |
$45.00 |
| best lawyer for dui near me |
Medium |
40 |
$65.00 |
| affordable dui attorney |
Low |
40 |
$70.00 |
| dui & dwi attorney |
Low |
40 |
$50.00 |
| felony dwi lawyer |
Low |
40 |
$95.00 |
| best dui defense attorney |
Medium |
40 |
$18.00 |
| dui criminal attorney |
Low |
40 |
$3.50 |
| dwi attorney cost |
Medium |
30 |
$25.00 |
| top dui attorneys |
Medium |
30 |
$80.00 |
| cheap dwi attorney |
Medium |
30 |
$35.00 |
| felony dwi attorney |
Low |
30 |
$95.00 |
| dwi defense lawyer near me |
Low |
30 |
$45.00 |
| the best dui lawyer |
Medium |
30 |
$45.00 |
| dui immigration lawyer |
Medium |
30 |
$14.00 |
| criminal charge dui attorney |
Low |
30 |
$30.00 |
| lawyers for drunk driving |
High |
20 |
$50.00 |
| dui expungement lawyer near me |
Medium |
20 |
$45.00 |
| lawyers near me dui |
Medium |
20 |
$45.00 |
| 3rd dui lawyer cost |
Medium |
20 |
$45.00 |
| the best dui lawyers near me |
Medium |
10 |
$65.00 |
| top rated dui lawyers |
High |
10 |
$95.00 |
| affordable dui attorney near me |
Medium |
10 |
$45.00 |
| dui lawyers around me |
Low |
10 |
$45.00 |
| lawyers for dui cases near me |
High |
10 |
$45.00 |
| dui attorneys in my area |
Medium |
10 |
$45.00 |
| attorney dui near me |
Medium |
10 |
$45.00 |
We chose to focus on the idea of “most valuable” rather than highest volume because high volume on its own doesn’t always make the best choice for keyword targeting. Many criminal defense and personal injury lawyers look most closely at high-volume keywords because, of course, those are the terms searched by the greatest number of potential clients. But volume is a vanity metric and doesn’t always correlate to the section of that audience looking to hire/retain a lawyer.
Furthermore, many of the highest volume keywords are also the most competitive. If you’re just dipping your toe into the water with SEO, you’ll be up against other firms with a stronger SEO footprint. By targeting high volume alone, your site won’t get enough traction to rank for these competitive keywords early on.
A reliable SEO expert can help DUI attorneys find and prioritize the right keywords to target (both for SEO and paid advertising via Google Ads).
Want to Learn More About SEO for Your Firm?
Yes, SEO requires consistent work, but it also yields consistent results when done well. The good news? You’re not on your own with it.
An SEO agency with deep knowledge of the criminal defense law market can make a big difference in helping you grow your firm. And bonus points if that firm also has experience in the very competitive world of attorney SEO marketing. You’ll benefit from all the agency’s best tips and insights from the big players in SEO.
Rankings.io has a proven track record we’re proud of in the legal marketing space. We’ve been helping attorneys rank on the first page of Google to generate leads for years. We use industry best practices and constantly refine our approach to ensure our clients are getting great results. Contact us together for a free consultation about your SEO strategy or to ask questions about things like backlinks, SEO’s impact on your website design, and how to start getting more DUI cases now.
Contact us today to start your consultation.
