When you’re working with local SEO (search engine optimization) marketing you’ll come across the NAP which stands for your business’s Name, Address, and Phone Number. This is one of the main things you’ll need if you want to rank high in the SERPs (search engine results pages). NAP consistency and accuracy have many benefits besides helping your customers find you.
Understanding Local SEO
There are three parts to SEO that your law firm needs to concern itself with:
- On-site SEO (e.g. alt-text, heading tags, menu structure, meta descriptions, schema markup, content organization) helps search engines figure out how to properly index your website.
- Off-site SEO (e.g. link building) tells search engines that your website is worthy of a higher ranking in the SERPs.
- Local SEO (e.g. citations, your NAP listing) helps your website rank higher in the local SERPs. This is what tells Google where you’re located as well as how people can contact you.
Benefits to NAP Consistency
Once you understand what a NAP is you should also understand why NAP consistency is so important. An inaccurate NAP means not only will your customer not be able to find you but you’ve also lost out on business. Since many other websites will use this information on their website you’ll want to take the time to make sure that those records also contain your most up-to-date information.
Search Engine Ranking
When a NAP is inaccurate it can affect you in the SERPs. This is because the search engine will pick up on the discrepancy and downrank your website. After all, it doesn’t know which listing is correct. To discover this type of NAP consistency issue all you have to do is search for your law firm’s name in Google. By looking through the first few SERPs you’ll know if there’s an issue requiring your attention.
Google My Business and Your NAP
The most important citation you’ll set up for your law firm is Google My Business. This is one thing you’ll want to claim and take the time to fill out properly (e.g. business hours, more than one photo, your logo) because a lot of citation aggregators will pull their information from here. Include as much information as you possibly can here.
Geo-Targeted Searches
There are three aspects to SEO: on-site, off-site, and local SEO. It’s important to strive for NAP consistency in all the citations that are used here. This will help improve your ranking in the SERPs. For instance, if someone would enter the query “family lawyer in Tampa, Florida” the citations that are found throughout the various directories will help ensure that your law firm shows up in the correct location. This is why a law firm that’s located in Maryland won’t show up when you’re specifically looking for one that’s located in Tampa, Florida. They haven’t done any local SEO for the location. This is why taking the time to work on your NAP is so important. It’ll help you control where you show up geographically and ensure that you show up for the right searches.
Customers Won’t Be Able to Find You
When you have NAP consistency issues your customers won’t be able to find you so they’ll quickly move on to one of your competitors. By taking the time to ensure that all your information is indeed correctly entered the first time you won’t have to worry about people needing to have a good reason to be able to find you.
Proving Your Law Firm’s Legitimacy
It’s up to you to prove your law firm’s legitimacy whenever you’re looking for new clients and trying to make your way up in the SERPs. The best way to do this is by enhancing your local SEO citations. This requires you to get your firm’s name out there in as many places as possible – something your competition has already done for itself.
If you don’t have the time or the desire to look through the search engines to ensure your NAP consistency or build these citations you should contact Local SEO Company in Tampa, FL, and have them do it for you. With their help, your SEO will be built and cleaned up quickly.