Published: 6-21-2012
Lawyers commonly ask about links, what they are and whether they should keep links on their radar. Here are some questions and basic answers about links.
What is linking and do I need to worry about it?
Yes, you should be concerned about linking. However, it is an issue of having quality links within your site (internal) and links outside your website pointing to your website (external). Search engines use a complex algorithm to determine which websites will be included in a search result. Both internal and external links are included in the algorithm.
Buying links, link farms, and link listing services are all relics of the past. Search engines like Google have cracked down on these dubious attempts to game the system. Attorney website marketers who employ these tactics have much to worry about.
What are internal links?
Links can be internal or external. Internal links are links within a site, or pages pointing to other pages of the same website. Having proper internal linking structure helps website visitors navigate the pages of your site and also helps search engines determine what pages of your website are related.
What are external links?
External links are links from website A to website B. External links used to have greater importance than they do today. SEO has and always will be about quality, unique and original content, links, video, etc. So, an external link from a news website or government websites carry greater weight than say a spam website.
How do I get quality links?
Getting quality external links can be a full time job in and of itself. It requires building relationships with trusted webmasters and taking the time to contact them to ask them to link to your website. For example, a local news station website may link to a lawyer’s article on products liability laws or things to look out for in having a will drafted.
Is LinkedIn the same as linking?
LinkedIn is a social media platform and is something entirely different from linking. However, lawyers can use their LinkedIn profiles to post articles/links to their websites.
Related Article: Backlinks…Here Today and Gone Tomorrow