Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Secret of Search Engine Optimization (Shhhhh, don't tell anyone)

If you are like most lawyers, you are constantly being barraged by offers from SEO "experts" who know the secrets of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Here is the biggest secret about SEO that I am going to share with you....

There is no secret. Despite what all the experts say, Google, Yahoo, MSN and every other search engine out there do not want a website to show better in their search results because of superior SEO. These search engines make their living by bringing back relevant websites to a particular query. If these results are skewed and not relevant, then the searcher will look elsewhere and not continue to use the search engine.
This creates a cat and mouse game between the SEO Experts (mostly Spammers) and the search engines. I would suggest you do not get caught up with all this.

Remember from my last post, above all, Content is King. If you are adding relevant content, have a Google Site Map (table of contents for Google), and are listed in a few good web directories then your lawyer website or blawg will do just fine. Stay away from trying to guess "keyword density" and other SEO methods. These strategies come and go. Trying to keep up with them will be frustrating, complicated, and in the end, not beneficial to your overall web traffic.

If your hobby is to SEO your law firm website on a frequent basis and the art of SEO interests you, then go ahead. Otherwise, put your head down, and refresh your relevant content. If you build it, they will come.

5 comments:

G said...

It helps too is law offices are in all the local directories out there. There is a great resource that lists and ranks all of these so you know who is worth listing with. It is at http://www.emarketingmatador.com/step-2-local-search-directories. We created this for our clients but hope it helps everyone.

Elizabeth said...

Good points. At first we were all into this, thinking we could use magic words or phrases to help us out. Nada.

Instead, I stuck us on yelp and a bunch of other business directories, then we built a good website with relevant content and good graphics. We also maintain two blogs.

Thanks for the reminder to not bang our heads against a brink wall!

Legal Marketer said...

Hi Keith, I will check out your site on local directories. Thanks for posting.

Legal Marketer said...

Hi Elizabeth,

You are off to a great start. The more you post on your blog, the more "natural language" is indexed by Google and the gang. It is impossible to anticipate what your potential clients are going to query, so the more your write, the better your chances of showing up in the search results. Also, don't forget to get into Google's and Yahoo's local directories. You should also submit your website to www.targetlaw.com if you haven't already.

Cheers,
Randy

Attorney smith said...

Hello Keith...,
There are a great resource that lists and ranks all of these so you know it's worth listing to. Thanks for posting.