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Lawyers Guide to SEO
- 1. 1 A Lawyer's Guideto Building Top Search Rankings: Four Tools to Implement Right Now If people aren’t searching the internet for your law practice by name, it’s time to do what the majority of your competitors either don’t attempt or usually fail at: become very good at SEO. When positioning pages in organic search results, search engines look highly upon Web pages with quality content: pages that are ripe with keywords and links that are being talked about and shared. Those four elements – keywords, links, content and social sharing – are consistently the most important factors to prominent placement in search engine rankings. Google is helping to level the playing field for businesses willing to take their internet presence seriously. In the last couple of years, Google has refined its organic search results, helping companies that can’t (or won’t) pay for attention get a big share of internet visibility. In lieu of payment, Google asks for good internet citizenship. This means providing worthy content, showing respect for your audience and not playing games. The goal of this ebooklet is to provide you a base of information for implementing those four critical elements of SEO - keywords, links, content and social sharing. Focus on these, and you’ll see an enormous improvement in the quality of your work, not to mention the amount of attention for your efforts. That’s what translates into a sustainable pipeline of new business. What Makes SEO a Necessity A solid SEO program requires time, consistency and diligence. You’ll be giving your advice away for free. Most of the time, this means imparting interesting ideas using a unique lens and leaving business out of the discussion. That’s not pie-in-the-sky language for pro bono work. It’s what Google and the other search engines have decided are required to earn their coveted front page listings, and it represents what the internet audience expects. Google is really good at defining SEO in ways that are predictive of user behavior. You’ve seen this in the quality of your own searches: Results are closer to what you’re looking for Titles and tags in the search listings give you a better idea of page content The most relevant entries are at or near the top of the search listings The social boost the likes of Twitter, Google + and YouTube provide by giving search engines access to their content This greater relevance you’re seeing in search engine results pages (SERPs) is being driven by factors happening both on and off the pages connected by the Web.
- 2. 2 On-Page As a siteowner, these factors are completely within your control and the easiest to implement: High-value content that is interesting to readers Smart keyword optimization using language that people use to search and socialize Outgoing links to sites with relevant content Links between your own pages - social media accounts, guest posts, articles, videos, press releases and any other content that has your name on it Involvement in the social space that provides forums for active participation The best SEO strategy targets all of these. The reach of search engines is almost infinite, and they’re accommodating new platforms every day. The more connections between your pages and others on the Web, the more likely searchers will be able to find you. Off-Page Incoming links to your site and conversations about your services in the social community are the two biggest factors outside of your control. They’re also the links that are the most valuable. Inbound links to your pages (also called “back links”) from readers, fans and experts Social media endorsements and sharing, particularly social mentions of you or your practice by name, and links from your supporters to their readership Finding these SEO gold nuggets requires socializing and contributing on the Web. Yes. Networking isn’t just for chamber of commerce meetings anymore. Google is the Culprit Google used to be a popularity contest. Then it figured out how to use its Page Rank algorithm to translate consumer preferences and endorsements into mathematical calculations. Because Bing, Yahoo! and many of the other search engines just piggyback on Google’s technical savvy, Google gets most of the name recognition in this manual. In 2011, Google introduced their Panda update to its ranking algorithm. Google uses Panda to measure Web content quality based on a number of factors including keyword and link usage. Panda significantly changed the way Google measures site quality. It penalizes ones that delivered poor user-experiences by lowering their rankings, even banishing some to search limbo. Panda’s cleanup has also come to the rescue of well-structured, high quality pages by giving them ranking boosts. (The first Panda iteration caused the rearrangement of more than 20% of all of Google's search results.) In 2012, Google released the Penguin update. With Penguin, Google has gotten as good at identifying bad links as it does good ones. It also punishes sites that use manipulation like spamming, keyword stuffing and plagiarism to get high search rankings.
- 3. 3 Google is constantlyrefining its ranking criteria. It watches for sites that add no value or try to game the system. The most frequent word of advice heard from Google, content marketing experts and web designers: don’t publish spam or buy your links and you won’t have to worry about search ranking free- falls. Google won’t give all its secrets away, but there are plenty of SEO experts providing interpretations. If you want to keep a closer eye on what Google is up to with its algorithms, the Search Engine Roundtable blog is filled with analyses and updates. The Big Four Search Engine Optimization Tools Make these four components of search engine optimization the pillars of your SEO strategy: Content marketing Keywords Links Social media Writing high-quality content is the biggest challenge for most business owners. But, all four should be given diligent attention. If you don’t, you risk being ignored by both the search engines and a lot of potential clients. Using these tools, dedicate yourself to participation, pay attention to your results, and fix what’s not working. That’s the simplest path to building a prominent organic search position. Content Marketing The most repeated recommendation in the SEO world right now - make sure you have great content. It’s the foundation upon which all other SEO elements are built. You can do everything right: Build sites Google trusts – well-structured pages with plenty of keywords and links. Put yourself out there on social media and spread the word of your availability and expertise. Post frequently and freshen old content Monitor results and make adjustments. You may be a respected, skilled and successful attorney, but if your content isn’t well-written, compelling, relevant and reusable, it’s not going to increase your client base or your bottom line. Poor quality content can even damage your reputation, particularly on social media sites. Create content that is genuinely interesting, useful and, more than anything, shareable: Write about topics that are educational, entertaining and interesting. Propose perspectives that provoke conversation and emotional response.
- 4. 4 Make peoplecare about what you’ve written. They’ll come back for more of that emotional involvement. Stay on top of your content. Search engines favor websites that have a lot of relevant, frequently- updated information. Websites are a great place to point your audience for more about your services, experience and accomplishments. But, blogging and other tools for conveying timely information like newsletters, articles and social platforms require plenty of regular attention. One of the most widely-respected sites for content marketing is Copyblogger. It’s filled with free tools that are helpful for anyone writing on and off the internet. The Copyblogger blog delivers an article a day, showing you in 10 minute increments what works (and what doesn’t) for content marketing. Search engines are capable of reading more than just black type on a white page. Their search capability extends to: Videos Infographics Captions and titles Embedded content (as opposed to linked content) like PowerPoint presentations, PDF files, whitepapers, bulletin boards and slide shows Break up blocks of text with videos, infographics, pictures and any other visual imagery. These are more likely to draw links and shares, too. Search engines also pay attention to the mechanical side of content. Pages that are interactive (even just pushing a button), are favored by them. Producing well-written words of wisdom can be exhausting. You still have a full-time job. Maximize your content’s reach by sharing it across platforms: Link each blog post, article and press release to your social media sites. If posts get a lot of attention, publish them a second or third time. Include posts that earn a high number of social media likes, shares and comments in your email programs and newsletters. Expand on written ideas with infographics and in video and audio formats. Adapting your own content to different platforms still meets the fresh content criteria. Content Research Tools It can be tough to sustain a full pipeline of topics that are both timely and interesting. These tools should prompt more than a few ideas: Use Google Insights to see what search terms people are using. Search Google Trends for popular content ideas.
- 5. 5 Use GoogleAnalytics tools to measure site popularity, most-viewed blog post, visitor navigation and number of visits through social media referrals. Get a boost from SEOgadget’s Content Strategy Generator Tool that can help your content strategy with keyword research across search platforms, content placement ideas and outreach contacts for guest blogging and article posting. If you need a platform for sharing your ideas and perspectives, MyBlogGuest lists blog sites that welcome guest bloggers. Keywords Keywords are the words, phrases, and questions that are put into a search bar. Search engines “key” on the words, using them as a reference point for finding other words or information for listing on SERPs. (“Keyword” denotes a single word as well as a word string. For example, “keyword” is a keyword and so is “keywords used in a sentence.”) Choosing Keywords Keyword optimization helps improve page search rankings. A good keyword strategy targets the keywords people use to find businesses similar to yours, but those that aren’t so popular that you have little chance of getting a decent page ranking. For instance, “legal services” is very popular. Descriptions like “real estate legal services” or “San Diego legal services” are likely to have less competition. A keyword like “physician contract lawyer” is even more targeted. Don’t use keywords that are too obscure or archaic. The difference between a couple of search hits and hundreds could be as simple as using “car” instead of “motor vehicle.” A great by-product of keyword research is discovering popular keywords that might give you ideas for future content. Test your keywords before deciding on which ones to emphasize in your SEO strategy. There is nothing worse than spending months targeting a set of keywords, only to discover they don’t generate traffic or conversions. Google Analytics is a good source of information on keywords that can drive traffic to your sites and the ones that probably won’t. Ubersuggest is a free keyword suggestion tool that provides access to thousands of keyword ideas from real user queries. If you’re not sure how popular a topic might be, Ubersuggest can provide statistics on content ideas before you focus too much attention on them. Keyword Volume and Placement A solid keyword strategy means giving attention to both keyword density and keyword placement. Keyword Density
- 6. 6 Keyword density hasa big impact on search ranking and is a key indicator of content relevance. Google doesn’t share what it defines as too much repetition. A good rule of thumb? A search-term density of less than 5.5%. A higher density could find you guilty of keyword stuffing. Google hates games. If that’s what it thinks you’re doing, it will penalize your SERP ranking. Not to mention how irritating too much repetition is to readers. Keyword Placement The search engines evaluate keyword placement for almost every piece of content on the internet. Besides Web page copy and other text-loaded pages, Google monitors SERP listings, including headlines and meta-data. More Keyword Analytics Tools It’s easy to jump right into authorship, but, just like studying for a test or buying a car, doing your homework is going to save a lot of trial and error. You’ll find free analytics tools available in abundance from Google and other SEO sites. Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool is a good place to start. Use Keyword Tool for monthly statistics on both global and local searches for specific keywords, statistics on targeted terms and ideas for keywords that are similar to the ones you use. Input search terms you’re considering for inclusion in your content. The tool will return the popularity of terms, and provide the number of times people have used those terms broken down by local and global search frequency. Keyword Tool provides numbers for single search terms as well as whole product categories and brands. You don’t have to be a paid Google AdWords subscriber to use it, and no account set-up is required. Google is planning to retire Keyword Tool and replace it with Keyword Planner. If you’d prefer, skip Keyword Tool and start your keyword search efforts with Keyword Planner. You’ll need a Google email address to log in but searches are still free. Keyword Planner also contains more tools than Keyword Tool, including the ability to limit searches to a region or city - a feature particularly useful for local businesses. For a non-Google view of the world, independent keyword research sites like Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker compile data from across search engines. Text First impressions count the most and are often established in the first five words. “Protecting fathers’ rights in family court requires this strategy” directly addresses the subject and the audience. This is what a father in a custody battle over his children would be interesting in reading. “I’m here to tell you about the best ways to address a very important legal concern” says nothing about the topic, contains no keywords and doesn’t give your reader much reason to be interested.
- 7. 7 Here are afew basic keyword placement recommendations: Put keywords in the first line of your text. If possible, start the sentence with keywords. Use at least one keyword when describing your main point. Include keywords throughout your text, particularly in headings and sub-headings. Put keywords in your closing paragraph. Google likes them there and readers will appreciate the summary. People like patterns. This focus on placement also helps readers who are only scanning your pages. Title Tags A title tag is essentially a headline. This is the bolded or highlighted words in the SERP. Search engines use tags to determine content relevance, so it’s important to include keywords and make the headline compelling. The closer to the beginning of the title tag you put your keywords the more noticeable they’ll be. If they don’t fit at the front, make sure they appear somewhere. “The Five Most Important Things to Know about Personal Injury Settlements” includes a keyword phrase, but it’s not in the best location for ranking. It will probably get overlooked by most quick-scanning searchers, too. “Personal Injury Settlements, Five Important Things You Need to Know" is a more search- and scan-optimized title. Make your title tags short. Search results space is limited. Search engines only have room for the first 65-75 characters of a title tag. Anything over that number is cut off and shown as an ellipsis "...” This is also the limit given by most social media sites. Meta-Data Meta-data (or the “meta description tag”) is the short description of the page's content that appears in the SERP. Just like title tags, Google helps to make search terms obvious by bolding them in the search description. Meta-data isn’t searchable, so it won’t affect rankings, but leading off your meta-description tag with a keyword phrase will help to make the page content obvious to readers. The amount of meta-data space visible in search results is 165 characters, so be concise. If you don’t create a meta-tag for your listing, the search engines will create a search ‘snippet” from other information on the page. Bottom line - you’ll satisfy both the search engines and your target audience by getting right to the point with everything you write. Links
- 8. 8 Links created theWeb, and they continue to expand its reach. Search engine “spiders” constantly crawl the internet, making connections between all pages and content. The more of these connections the search engines find to individual sites, the more valuable they conclude the content is on those pages. Outbound links from your site to other relevant sites and other content resources connected to the Web (Paid advertising doesn’t count) Internal links between your pages, social media accounts and any other content including press releases, articles, newsletters and blog posts. Even videos and infographics. Inbound links (or “back links”) matter the most because content owners have no control over them. These are the Web version of accolades and worthy of search engine prominence. With the recent algorithm changes, links shot up like a rocket on Google’s relevance scale. Google and the other search engines have made site link structures into a proxy for popularity and applicability. Every site owner, every content creator, and every social media critic have the ability to create links. To the search engines, all of them count. Watch the Link Details Here are some basic tips on linking: Link to relevant content fairly early in the body copy Link to relevant pages approximately every 120 words of content Link to relevant interior pages of your site or other sites Link with naturally relevant anchor text (the words used in the link) Don’t repeat links Regularly review your links to make sure they work, and where they lead readers is relevant to your topic. If you want to change an information source or find bad links, change them up with new ones. Google views these adjustments as if they were new content. It means you can increase your search rankings with minor edits. Anchor Text The underlined words that link to another page are called “anchor text”. They’re clickable links that can also act as keywords, doing SEO double-duty. Search engines give anchor text greater weight in their algorithms than they do unanchored text. Site visitors like them, too. Anchor text provides readers with the choice of looking at more information or not. To meet search engine space requirements, anchor text is limited to 60 characters. Like keyword stuffing, too much anchor text is a red flag to Google. If your pages are loaded with it, Google will likely take a closer look to make sure the keywords used in the anchors support a natural flow of information. So make sure they do. Link Evaluation Tools
- 9. 9 Links created theWeb, and they’re critical to the visibility of your pages. Here are tools to keep an eye on what’s happening with your links: Do a back link audit of all your pages with Google Webmaster Tools. You’ll be able to see what’s connected to your site, and identify problems for removal. Open Site Explorer is a search engine for links. Enter any URL into the search tool and find out what’s linked to your content. Fix links that point to out-of-date, irrelevant or broken pages. Use Open Site Explorer to see who links to your competitors and social media links like Facebook likes and shares, tweets, and Google +1s. Bitly is most famous as a URL shortening tool. It’s also an analytics platform for links. Use Bitly to see the popularity of your links. Also, use the tool to organize your links for social media sharing. Linkstant is an analytics tool issues alerts when someone links to your website. Use the information for outreach and intelligence gathering. Most law offices rely heavily upon local search traffic. Use GetListed to check your SERP results on the likes of Google, Bing and Yellow Pages. If you’re interested in adding listings, GetListed has links to more than 10 search sites. Social Media Social media gives your Web pages visibility with an organically grown audience. The more members of that audience you reach with valuable information, the bigger your reputation grows and the more they’ll go looking for you – search for your website, subscribe to your blog or look at your emails. It’s difficult for many professionals to see the benefit of (or be comfortable with) contributing in social media communities like Facebook and Twitter. But, if you attend networking meetings, acquire new business from client referrals or guest-speak at seminars, you’re already doing social marketing. Why wouldn’t you do those same things in the online environment? If you contribute to Facebook, LinkedIn or any other online social forum, you’re networking. If your clients or blog followers endorse you on social platforms, you’re getting referrals. If you guest-post on authority blogs or participate in webinars, you’re being a guest speaker. Participating on social media is another opportunity for one-on-one conversations with potential clients, only they bring their friends and family to listen in. There’s no need to constantly sell, sell, sell. Social media doesn’t ban selling but if people get tired of your pitches, they’ll tune out your broadcasts. Promote your services, but use things like progress reports on work that you did for clients. Share the information in stories. It’s a good way to personalize routine legal services, making them memorable. And, just like you tell your clients you’d appreciate referrals, there’s nothing wrong with asking for a LinkedIn endorsement or a little tweet flattery.
- 10. 10 Make participation onsocial media sites a little easier with tools like these: Buffer lets you schedule your social media posts at optimal times for maximum visibility. SharedCount can tell you what content has been shared and where. Use it to evaluate what types of messages are getting shared. It’s also helpful for determining if participating on a social site is worth the effort. SharedCount also has survey tools for obtaining user feedback. Drawing attention in the social media space requires creating content audiences can’t resist sharing. Social networks have transformed decision-making. Most consumers put online reviews up there with personal recommendations when determining the likelihood of using a local business. The SEO of Social Platforms Like the rest of the Web, the major social sites have internal search capability. These “social searches” utilize keywords, so it’s easy for someone to find you by name, occupation and location. Social network users can also find your profile with “social SEO.” Social media can expose your marketing weaknesses. Readers can tell when social media buttons on websites and emails lead to profiles that haven't been touched in months. Maybe never. It clearly communicates that you're not paying attention. There's nothing worse to a commenter than wondering if their message will ever get answered. The decision is simple. Make a commitment to the channels you promote, or don't engage. Here are a few ways to use social SEO with the major social media platforms: LinkedIn Your LinkedIn profile includes the section called “Background” that looks like a resume with no size limitations. Pat yourself on the back as much as you want in as much detail as you want. All the content in your LinkedIn profile is keyword searchable. Keyword optimize to your heart’s content. Your profile’s Skills & Expertise section provides lots of SEO space. You can add up to 50 total skills describing your strengths. Use this section to give a comprehensive picture of your professional profile. List plenty of general skills, but as with keywords, a mix of common and more specialized skills will increase your visibility. Keep your LinkedIn profile fresh. Periodically review your Skills & Expertise. Take note of your endorsements and their age. Regularly send out requests for new ones. This tells visitors you’re paying attention to your account. LinkedIn regularly sends out prompts for endorsements. Write up a few for the people you’re linked to, and see how many you get in return. LinkedIn is widely-used as a free platform. The LinkedIn Premium Business Plus is the subscription version of LinkedIn for those in need of tools like LinkedIn email, saved search alerts and client prospecting tools.
- 11. 11 Facebook Facebook’s biggest benefitsare popularity and reach. More than a billion people use it. It’s more than just socializing. Facebook is well-known for having a greater impact on purchasing behavior than any other social network. Facebook provides a number of tools for maximizing your visibility, reputation and reach: Complete both a personal page and a business page. Connect your business page to your personal profile from your Work & Education section. Make sure your business shows as your current employer. When you hover over the name of your current employer on your personal account you’ll see a pop up for your business’ Facebook page. Add a Like button to your Web pages. Make it easy for people to follow you. Build your business audience by requesting likes from your Facebook friends. Send requests for likes to business pages you follow. Research your competition and those companies that compliment your business services like title companies or family counselors. Request a link. Contribute comments to their audience. Connect your Facebook site to your articles, blog posts and any other online publications. Facebook uses its News Feed algorithm to promote high quality content. Each user gets a personalized News Feed that draws content from authors of popular Facebook posts, taking into consideration the number of likes, comments, and shares. If you’re a Facebook participant with a big audience, Facebook itself will help your self-promotion. Twitter Twitter casts a wide net. It’s a completely public social network. It has no walls. Unless you choose to limit your exposure by protecting your tweets, the comments you post are visible to all Twitter users. Incredibly, tweets are tracked by the search engines, so they do have an SEO factor. Manage your content and messages with Twitter-provided metrics like these: Monitor re-tweet activity - the more retweets, the more your content was shared. Monitor Twitter trends in real-time. Search for keywords for your business and industry. Watch your @mentions folder. It shows the activity around your brand’s username. If you tweet a compelling article or share an opinion that reaps lots of @mentions, you’ve probably discovered a good subject for more commentary. Twitter is one of the best sites for performance indicators. Bitly produces metrics that indicate how many of your Twitter followers visit your content, and who clicks on bitly links and when. Use this information to figure out which content resonates with your Twitter followers, where they’re clicking from and the time of day that elicits the most tweets. If you see a timing trend, try increasing your response rate by pre-scheduling your tweets.
- 12. 12 Google + Google designedits social media site, Google +, with search capability. With Google + Local, they turned it into a free marketing tool for local businesses. It’s up to you to activate your listing by verifying its information and adding details. Like Web pages, these are important elements of a Google + business profile: Keywords, particularly in your tagline and introduction Links to all your other social sites Links to your website, blog, articles, press releases and any advertising materials A business address so Google + Local can provide your business location on a map With Google +, Google is making big strides in providing local businesses with front page SERP listings. Here are a couple of tools to find out what’s happening behind the scenes: Google Analytics offers a number of social reports showing who’s interacting with your pages and what they’re doing on them. You can also get data on user demographics, and information on their social activities like +1's, shares and comments - metrics useful for understanding the ROI of your social campaigns. FindPeopleonPlus is a Google + directory useful for research, outreach and link building. It has great sorting capability including keywords, professions and location. Final Thoughts Great search rankings are the result of an integrated content marketing process, one that focuses on what’s important to the audience, is spread through social media participation, and helps itself with page optimization tools that make Google happy. Above all, build your internet presence upon a big base of outstanding content, and you won’t have to worry about the mechanics of SEO.