Choosing the Right Domain Name for Your Law Firm Website

Choosing a strong domain name can help set your website up for success. Check out this post for 5 tips on selecting a website domain name for your law firm!

Approximate Read Time: 5 Minutes

Whether you are starting a new law firm, merging existing firms, creating a new website for an established firm, or thinking about switching up your law firm’s digital presence, choosing a strong domain name for your firm is crucial to your future success.

There are plenty of reasons selecting the right domain name for your law firm website is very important. For example, you want a domain name that is easily spelled and remembered. Why? A memorable domain name is more likely to create ongoing awareness with potential clients.

Using a domain name that is easy to spell cuts down on the risk that you will inadvertently misspell it on marketing materials, pleadings, and other written items. Likewise, a domain name that is easy to spell and remember decreases the likelihood that someone ends up on the wrong website when searching for your firm.

From a branding perspective, you want to maintain consistency in your brand presence by selecting a domain well-aligned with your firm’s other materials. This can help create a stronger, more unified brand.

Similarly, from an SEO perspective, having keywords in your domain name can have a slight impact on your ranking for those search terms.

So how do you select a strong domain name for your law firm website? We have 5 tips and suggestions for you right here!

1. Keep It Short and Simple

When it comes to your law firm website domain name, less is more. In other words, keep it short and sweet – or short and simple. As mentioned above, you want people to remember your domain name and you want them to be able to accurately type it too! A short domain name helps you address both of these concerns.

Try to avoid more than 20 characters in your domain. If you can keep it shorter, that is even better! This is not a bright-line rule, but it can help you determine whether you are on the right track. You do not need to include everything about your practice in your domain, nor do you need to include the name of every partner.

If you want to keep a longer domain name, you might still want to get a shorter domain name that redirects to your website for offline marketing purposes, such as business cards. At a minimum, this makes it easier for people to type in something they are reading.

2. Try to Use .Com

The extension for your domain name is that piece of information that comes after the “.” In your website URL. For example, you are likely familiar with websites ending in “.com”, “.net”, “.gov”, “.edu”, “.org”, etc. These are all examples of domain name extensions.

Today, there are plenty of domain name extensions out there you could choose from for your law firm website. There have even been new extensions in recent years aimed at attorneys, including “.law”, “.lawyer” and “.attorney”. Of these, only “.law” requires a law license for registration.

When possible, we recommend trying to stick with “.com” for your law firm website domain name extension. Or, if you want an extension specific to the legal profession, we recommend “.law” over “.lawyer”, “.attorney” or “.legal”, as it will immediately indicate the owner is a lawyer.

Trustworthiness is very important online and “.com” is the most familiar extension for the vast majority of users, while “.law” has become the leading specialty domain for the legal profession. People are more likely to consider your law firm website credible and trustworthy when you use the familiar “.com” domain or the legal profession-specific “.law” domain. Less popular domains, especially the ones most have not heard of, often make people wonder if the website is some sort of scam.

On a different note, many people have been subconsciously trained to default to “.com” when they think of a website URL. Thus, if someone is typing your domain into their browser, they are likely to add a “.com” at the end. If that is not the correct extension for your practice, they may end up on the wrong website or otherwise receive an error message. By using a “.com” extension, your law firm can avoid this problem altogether. If you do get a “.law” domain, you should also try to get the “.com” domain with law added, e.g. “yourfirmnamelaw.com”.

However, do not fret if you have a domain name that is well-aligned with your firm, but cannot get a “.com” or “.law” extension for your practice! There are many alternatives out there you can consider, including “.lawyer” and “.attorney”.

3. Use Keywords (If They Make Sense)

Whether keywords in your domain name improve your website SEO may be a debated topic but there can be some value to including them where they make sense, both because the keywords will be used in the link to your website and many directory websites will use the domain name as the linked text as well (e.g. <a href=”https://www.keywords.com”>keywords</a>).

In addition, keywords in your domain may make it appear more relevant or click-worthy in the search results, which in turn improves traffic and can signal to search algorithms that your website is relevant to that query. This can improve your rankings and SEO performance over time.

Thus, it does not hurt to include a keyword or two about your practice in your law firm website domain if it makes sense for your firm. For example, if you are a Topeka personal injury lawyer, then a domain like “topekapersonalinjury.com” may make sense for your practice. Unless you get overly spammy with your keywords, including them in your domain name will not hurt your practice and may even ultimately help improve performance.

4. Remember the Mobile User

Mobile internet users are here to stay. As is likely no surprise to a practicing attorney, online traffic from mobile devices has spiked in recent years. Currently, a little more than half of all global website traffic comes from mobile devices. Thus, you need to have these mobile users (and their tiny keyboards) in mind when you select a domain name for your law firm website.

Of course, this ties into our first tip about keeping your domain name short and simple. However, keeping the mobile user in mind is more than just considering possible spelling errors or typos. Instead, you also want to pay attention to the characters on the screen. For instance, you want to avoid making people click back and forth between different keyboards for letters, numbers, and special characters.

5. Stay True to Who You Are

You are a lawyer with a reputation. Your law firm has a reputation. If you have an established practice, you may have name recognition in your community already. Perhaps you are known for specializing in a niche area of the law. Maybe your firm already has a very strong brand!

When choosing a domain name for your law firm website, you want to be cognizant of these factors. Consider your brand when choosing a law firm website domain name and choose something that aligns with those principles. Make it memorable.

If you are well-known for specializing in a practice area, consider whether it makes sense to include that in your law firm domain. Is there a lawyer in your law firm who serves as the face, or name, of your practice? Consider whether you should use their name in your domain.

Final Thoughts: Why Do You Care?

Your law firm’s website domain name is an important piece of your firm’s digital marketing efforts and brand identity. The domain name you choose can have a far-reaching, long-term impact on your practice. Thus, it is important to take the time to carefully choose the best domain possible for your law firm website now.

When you are ready to get your new website and domain up and running, contact our Justia Elevate team to learn more about our state-of-the-art, optimized law firm website platform.

• Behind the Scenes: Your Law Firm Website Maintenance
• Optimizing Your Law Firm Website Practice Area Pages for Google
• Lawyers Beware: 6 Common SEO Myths, Some of Which May Be Partially True

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