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The Value of Legal Directories for Attorneys/Lawyers

Legal Directory

The Value of Legal Directories for Attorneys

Attorney search directories provide more than a list of attorneys by location, practice areas, and expertise.

They provide a no-nonsense approach to getting your law firm found by the clients who need you most.

What is an Attorney Directory?

Law firm directories research, list, rank, analyze, and assess lawyers and law firms, so those who need a criminal defense attorney or personal injury lawyer must look no further than the expansive listings that range from large corporate law firms to small independent attorneys who focus on their area of need.

In short, legal directories are modern-day phone books, with expanded information that provides more than just an attorney’s contact information, but a synopsis of their legal focus and a link directly to the law firm’s website.

Listings in law directories can also set your firm apart from your competitors when a potential client searches for law firms directly through a Google search, as your inclusion boosts your organic search engine optimization.

Law firms that are listed inside the directory are more likely to be found through a direct search too, which places your website at the top of the search engine results page, directly in front of your target audience.

To get started, you must build a professional profile that communicates your law firm’s value, as it is still competing with other attorneys within the directory. Your listing must stand out from your competition.

Build a Valuable Profile for Each Law Firm Directory

Whether you are a new attorney working hard to establish your footprint in the community or if you are a veteran lawyer whose name is widely known in your area of legal expertise, a valuable profile will reinforce your commitment to your craft and increase trust with searchers.

To build a complete and valuable profile, take time to add pertinent attorney information, including:

  • Image or headshot
  • Biographical information, education, and experience
  • Contact information, including phone number, website, and social media platforms
  • Practice areas
  • Associations and memberships
  • Speaking engagements and publications
  • Achievements and awards
  • Community involvement

Attorney directories provide an exceptional opportunity to solicit peer endorsements, which means other attorneys you have worked with in the past — or continue to partner with on certain types of cases — can recommend your law firm to potential clients.

Likewise, clients with whom you have provided solutions and positive outcomes can review your legal services within the directory too, so searchers can read real-time feedback regarding your abilities and performance. Attorneys with reviews are twelve times more likely to be contacted, which is a valuable tool that accompanies your law firm’s listing.

How Does Inclusion in a Legal Directory Boost My Online Performance?

Even when listing your law firm in an attorney directory, your inclusion in a trusted source for legal information expands to your online identity and reputation. Simply put, being found on a trusted source — like a reputable legal directory — allows you to also be trusted by searchers.

The building that trust directly transcends to your domain authority, which is beneficial for SEO since it is an important part of the way Google recognizes your URL, making legal directories some of the best websites from which lawyers earn backlinks.

These backlinks provide an important context for SEO purposes, which means your inclusion in attorney listings on industry-relevant niche directories helps improve SEO authority and rankings.

All companies seek backlinks from sites that are related to their industries, and for lawyers, legal directories provide that contextual relevance.

Depending on your profile and level of inclusion in legal directories, as some are free and others have monthly or yearly membership fees, attorneys can submit content — like blog posts or industry-related articles — that links back to relevant pages on the attorney website.

Other directories offer Q&A sections where attorneys can answer legal questions directly within the website, building authority in practice areas where potential leads are searching for an experienced lawyer to represent them.

Most legal directories also provide star ratings and reviews, which increases the law firm’s social proof and helps attorneys stand out in searches.

Joining and participating in online legal directories that are already ranking on the first page of Google search is a great way to expand your online presence and get more qualified leads.

What Are the Top USA Attorney Directories?

When it comes to legal directories, each attorney must evaluate where their inclusion will make the most impact. That may be different for everyone, depending on their practice areas, location, and marketing budget.

The top U.S. lawyer directories in 2020 include:

Legal Ambassadors Attorney Directory

Legal Ambassadors

Membership Benefits

  • Highly optimized attorney profile pages
  • SEO to rank on page 1 of Google
  • Firms returned by keyword, location, or practice area
  • Single search connections with those in need of legal services
  • Full profiles available at-a-glance
  • Clients can review services with a single click
  • Immediate connections to your website and contact information
  • Connections to important Social Media links
  • Fixed, best value membership cost
  • Return on investment with an individual case converted

Membership Pricing

  • Monthly: $50
  • Six-Months: $275
  • Yearly: $495

What Makes Legal Ambassadors Unique?

  • No price increases ever
  • Google optimized profile
  • Messaging directly from profile
  • Enhanced lead tracking
  • Exclusive first right of refusal for upcoming page 1 listings

Leaders of Law Lawyer Directory

Leaders of Law

Membership Benefits

  • High authority do-follow backlink from the website
  • Full license to use Leaders of Law badges
  • Green priority listing (top 100 listing)

Membership Pricing

  • Six months: $75
  • Yearly: $147

What Makes Leaders of Law Unique?

  • Membership is limited to top 1% of attorneys in the U.S.
  • Vets only the best attorneys to deliver world class legal counsel to consumers
  • Objectively recognizes attorneys who elevate the standards of the legal community

Distinguished Justice Advocates Lawyer Directory

Distinguished Justice Advocates

Membership Benefits

  • Optimized attorney profile page to be ranked on Page 1 of Google when someone searches by name
  • Schema markup that will connect with the authorship on the attorney’s individual website
  • Reinforced social proof to help with converting clients
  • Full license to use DJA badges

Membership Pricing

  • Yearly: $300

What Makes Leaders of Law Unique?

  • Invite-only membership based on professional experience, achievements, trial success, and peer recognition
  • Not all attorneys who apply will be approved, creating an exclusive member base

Avvo Lawyer Directory

avvo

Membership Benefits

A free profile with Avvo includes limited information for attorneys. Premium profile benefits include:

  • No ads
  • Conversion tracking
  • Personalized headline
  • Improved contact capability
  • Spotlight reviews

Membership Pricing

  • Limited profile only is free
  • Monthly: $100 premium profile

What Makes Avvo Unique?

Avvo offers more than profiles, at an additional cost:

  • Advertising capabilities
  • Customized websites
  • Legal Q&A forums

Best Lawyers Search Engine

Best Lawyers

Membership Benefits

  • Recognizes extraordinary lawyers who are nominated by their peers and confidentially reviewed by other attorneys who will vote for their inclusion.

Membership Pricing

  • Recognized lawyers appear at no cost in regional magazines and partner publications

What Makes Best Lawyers Unique?

  • Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review

FindLaw Directory

FindLaw

Membership Benefits

Members may appear on all four FindLaw-affiliated directories:

  • FindLaw
  • SuperLawyers
  • LawInfo
  • Abogado.com

Membership Pricing

  • Premium membership pricing varies, starting at $158 per month

What Makes FindLaw Unique?

FindLaw provides more than attorney directories; they also offer additional services at varying costs:

  • Website design and content creation
  • Online advertising
  • Blog services
  • Search engine optimization services
  • Social media solutions
  • Animated lawyer videos
  • Intake optimization

HG Legal Directory

HG

Membership Benefits

  • Basic listing includes law firm name full address, phone and fax numbers, Google map of your office location, and a brief overview, and law practice description/overview
  • Basic subscribers can publish legal articles to the directory for no additional cost
  • Premium listing expands to include unlimited firm description and contact info; higher directory positions; all practice areas; access to your website; promotional opportunities

Membership Pricing

  • Basic listing: Free
  • Premium listing: $195 per year

What Makes HG Unique?

  • Leading online legal directory since 1995
  • Attorneys can submit legal articles
  • 24/7 worldwide customer support

Justia Lawyer Directory

Justia

Membership Benefits

  • Free profiles provide limited attorney information
  • Premium profiles include higher placement, traffic stats, mobile-friendly profile, and come with distribution in Justia and L Information Institute directories

Membership Pricing

  • Free profile available
  • Premium profile: Pricing varies based on packages

What Makes Justia Unique?

Justia offers more than directory placements, including:

  • Paid ads management service with customized landing pages
  • Websites
  • Content and blogs
  • Search engine optimization
  • Social media
  • Local marketing

Lawyers.com Directory

Lawyers

Membership Benefits

  • Show all practice areas on your profile
  • Display and manage your contact information
  • Get peer endorsements and reviews

Lawyers.com legal network includes:

  • Martindale.com
  • Avvo.com
  • Nolo.com
  • Ngagelive.com
  • Captorra.com

Membership Pricing

  • $277 per month with a 12-month commitment

What Makes Lawyers.com Unique?

Lawyers.com provide more than directory listing, including:

  • Advertising
  • Pay Per Lead
  • Websites
  • Intake software

Legalmatch.com

Legal Match

Membership Benefits

  • Match with cases in your attorney practice area
  • Respond to clients instantly
  • A+ BBB Rating

Membership Pricing

  • Approximately $500 per month

What Makes Leaders of Law Unique?

  • Potential clients can post their case to the website, and review responses and fees before choosing attorneys to meet for free consultations

Martindale Directory for Legal Professionals

Martindale

Membership Benefits

  • Show all practice areas on your profile
  • Display and manage your contact information
  • Get peer endorsements and reviews

Martindale also owns and operates:

  • Lawyers.com
  • Avvo.com
  • Nolo.com
  • Ngagelive.com
  • Captorra.com

Membership Pricing

  • Standard, Enhanced or Platinum packages and pricing is available upon request

What Makes Martindale Unique?

Martindale also offers, at varying rates:

  • Real-time lead generation
  • Intake management
  • Targeted directory advertising
  • Live chat
  • Website services

Nolo Legal Directory

Nolo

Membership Benefits

Every law firm profile is search-engine optimized (SEO) for web searchability and includes:

  • Firm and individual Profiles
  • Relevant introduction and information
  • Photos and logos
  • Your published articles
  • Videos
  • Case history

Membership Pricing

  • Standard profile is available for flat fee pricing, which is not listed
  • Premium membership is ROI-driven pricing based on historical lead volumes

What Makes Nolo Unique?

  • Advertising opportunities on the directory are offered on a pay per lead or flat rate
  • Unlimited article publishing
  • Consumers can contact attorneys directly from profiles and articles

Super Lawyers

Super Lawyers

Membership Benefits

  • Strategically placed contact buttons for easy lead generation
  • Professionally written, search engine optimized biography with color photo
  • Link all online properties
  • Email contact form

Membership Pricing

  • Lawyers are nominated to the list, but pay varying rates for advertising their inclusion

What Makes Super Lawyers Unique?

  • Five percent of the total lawyers in each state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers
  • Super Lawyers is a rating service, with a selection process that includes independent research, peer nominations and evaluations

Do Not Overlook Fundamental Directories for State & Local Bar Associations

When searching for free opportunities to get valuable backlinks to your website, do not overlook the American Bar Association, or your state and local bar association directories that will list your law firm and attorney credentials at no cost.

This approach can expand into information regarding your eligibility to practice law in that state, and typically lists the attorneys according to search criteria and then in alphabetical order or by using an outlined ranking system.

What Is the Importance of Legal Directories?

Legal directories give consumers the opportunity to research solo attorneys, small law firms, and large corporate lawyers in their areas, which can significantly increase quality leads for each group.

When attorneys appear in quality directories, their online credibility is boosted tremendously, and makes them easier to find by their target audiences.

Many attorney law directories provide opportunities for free entries, but the information an attorney can list may be limited within a marketing opportunity where quality is key.

When considering which law directory services are right for your attorneys, look for highly marketable opportunities, including the ability to contribute content, and the opportunities to answer legal questions and earn reviews directly within the attorney directory website.

If you would like to review your current online ranking and identify areas where you can maximize your law firm’s identity through customized local search engine optimization, contact the Attorney Marketing Network today to schedule a free evaluation with one of our specialists.

Frequently Asked Questions About Law Firm Directories

Can I List My Law Firm in Directories For Free Now and Pay for a Premium Membership Later?

Yes. Most law firm directories that provide free listings will allow you to enter your primary legal information, including contact information and a link to your website now, with the option to upgrade to a premium membership later. Typically, the more advanced your membership, the higher the cost.

How Can My Law Firm Appear at the Top of the Legal Directory?

Paid legal directory subscriptions typically produce the best placement results, as opposed to free listings. Many law firm directories provide the opportunity to advertise within the directory, which includes top search results or sponsored placement in your law firm’s location or practice areas. Each directory has a different way of rating or ranking lawyers in different categories.

Can Searchers Compare Attorneys Listed in Legal Directories?

That depends. Some, but not all, lawyer directories provide the opportunity to compare the attorneys returned in the search criteria to each other, so searchers can evaluate their practice areas and accomplishments on the same screen.

Do Law Firm Directories Have a Stringent Screening Process?
Each legal directory lists different criteria for consideration. As a rule, attorneys must be in good legal standing with their state bars. Other requirements may require peer referrals or positive case results. Read each law firm directory’s requirements and terms before paying for a membership, so you are sure you qualify for inclusion.

Should I Publish Articles on Legal Directory Websites Where I Am a Member?
If your law firm directory membership allows you to contribute content to their website, you should. Whether you write the content yourself or if your attorney marketing agency provides exclusive content for you, contributing articles to any consumer-focused website will increase your exposure and provide another invaluable backlink to your website.

At Attorney Marketing Network, find a consistent approach to high visibility through our solution-based services today, including:

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