There are hundreds if not thousands of SEO, internet marketing companies out there. Many espouse false promises of ranking and page one results. Lawyers tend to be at the mercy of such SEO companies, relying on what they’re told, because they don’t have extra hours in the day to spend on researching SEO and ferreting out the right from the wrong.
Search engine optimization is not that difficult to understand and apply. Again, the problem is that most lawyers simply don’t have the time to learn proper SEO principles much less apply them to their websites.
Here is a beautiful graphic which breaks down SEO:
The Periodic Table Of SEO Ranking Factors, used with permission
This article will focus entirely on content. Stay tuned for additional articles on each of the elements of SEO.
Legal Internet Marketing & The Importance of Content: Quality, Research, Words, Engage, and Fresh
Quality
Note that content gets the most points. Why? Because content is the be all and end all. Any good SEO marketer will tell you that. Good web design companies will tell you that. Find a content writer with knowledge of SEO principles and the law, someone who can write unique, quality legal content.
Research/Words
Also, there must be a content strategy based on keyword research. Content without a keyword strategy is like trying to drive a car without gas, or it’s like an appellate brief without a table of contents. You won’t get anywhere and no one will want to read it.
Engage
Keeping your content engaging means adding images, video and infographics. Don’t bore your potential clients. 95% of the attorney websites out there say the same things and look and feel the same. Engage your potential clients. The longer a potential client stays on your website, the more inclined they are to call you about their case.
Fresh
Keeping it fresh means making sure that you are adding content on a regular, frequent basis. Google issued its “Freshness” update the Fall of 2011, basically indicating that Google prefers to rank fresh over stale content.
More Lawyer Website Content Articles:
- Legal Website Content Writing – Five Tips to Better Content
- Content is the Driving Factor for Getting Your Website Indexed and Ranked by Search Engines
Thanks and stay tuned for my next article on Lawyer Website SEO – The Importance of HTML.