How to keep bad reviews from crippling your law firm’s online reputation

Not long ago, a friend of ours had a lawsuit filed against his law firm.

That lawsuit ended up featuring in a few legal journals… and one particular article kept showing up on the front page of Google when clients looked him up!

It crippled his firm’s ability to retain and bring on new clients.

This is why it’s so important to prioritize your law firm’s online reputation.

Because before any potential clients sign on to retain you… they Google you!

Most firms stumble into two major pitfalls when building their brand online:

1. Somebody publishes a negative article with your name in the title and content (which ranks your name, making it more likely to appear in a Google search)
2. Somebody publishes negative reviews

Here’s how to handle both.

Pitfall number one:

This needs to be handled preemptively.

When somebody searches your name, you want to own as much information as possible on the sites that come up.

You should be listed on as many high-authority websites and directories as possible.

This includes legal directories like:

• Justia.com (https://www.justia.com/)
• Lawyers.com (https://www.lawyers.com/)
• Avvo.com (https://www.avvo.com/)

This also includes business directories and local directories.

Make sure to set up profiles on each with a link pointing to your website.

This will give you massive leverage for minimum effort, because:

• There are hundreds of these directories
• They are viewed as an authority by your potential clients
• They draw big traffic from other websites, as well as TV and radio advertising

This is how you control the narrative around your brand.

There’s not much you can do to get negative articles taken down after they’re published.

But you can crowd out negative Google search results from smaller sites by building an ecosystem of content that you control, pushing favorable results higher up the list.

You can also publish a public response to bad reviews, to make sure your side of the story shows up alongside.

Pitfall number two:

This applies especially to Google reviews.

We recommend:

• Replying to every single review, even if it’s just a “thank you”
• Mentioning your brand name in the reply, case type, and relevant keywords without overdoing it
• Replying in a timely fashion

For legitimate negative reviews:

• Contact the person who wrote it and see if they are willing to take it down
• If they are not willing, then reply to the review publicly

Finally…

If a bad review wasn’t from a real client, don’t reply to it! Flag it as “inappropriate”. If enough people flag it, Google will often take the review down.

This is one small slice of the SEO strategy we share with our partners here at ApricotLaw.

We’re a full-service digital marketing partner for law firms looking to scale (and provide new business for their attorneys).

We scale your brand through:

• Hand-designed websites optimized for organic SEO traffic, to convert more leads from Google searches
• Layered content marketing for your website and social media, to position your firm as an authority in your niche
• Pay-per-click advertising strategies tailor-made for law firms, to dial in the perfect audience for your Google ads
• Optimizing your existing website so it loads quickly, reducing friction and converting more visitors

And much more.

Looking for creative ways to scale your law firm?

Book a 15-minute discovery call with us.

Until then, keep an eye on your inbox for The Trusted Law Firm every Tuesday and Thursday.