/lawyermarketing101.com/Rene Perras/ 05/19/2011
As legal business development trainer Larry Bodine noted in his article Top 8 SEO Mistakes to Avoid in Lawyer Marketing, “SEO is an important part of the work that goes into a website. Just a single mistake could be detrimental to your traffic and rankings. ” He pointed out his list of the biggest mistakes that by law firm marketers should be careful to avoid. I wanted to add to his list, as the world of SEO and Internet marketing for lawyers has changed and there are some new pitfalls to be avoided at all costs.
Not choosing a key word rich URL.
One of the ways that the search engine algorithms can determine the relevancy of a page for delivery is based on the URL. If your law firm marketing positions your firm as a New York personal injury firm, then having a URL that includes related terms can help give you an advantage over your competitors and also with Google Places.
Not claiming and optimizing your Google Places listing.
Google Places now accounts for many of the top listing on the search engine results pages. While it is free to claim your listing, it requires a full on lawyer SEO effort to capture and maintain your listing in the top group. Nowadays, if you don’t appear in the local search results, you may not be on page one. That is especially true with the number of potential clients searching on their smart phones.
Using legal jargon for your keywords rather than the terms your clients use.
Consumers don’t use lawyer-speak. If a prospect that has never been involved in a lawsuit before, fell in the parking lot of a local restaurant would they know to search for a premises liability lawyer? Would they know that they should search for the same if they were the victim of an attack because of poor lighting or security in the same lot? In certain cases like DUI, the search terms may be obvious, but for many practice areas, potential client search like they speak, not how you do. Market your law firm for how consumers search, not how you would.
Hosting an attorney blog but not sharing any news or content.
Just having an attorney blog may be helpful for adding fresh content for search engines like Google, but it is not a great vehicle for link building or SEO for lawyer marketing. Sharing content through social media and rss feeds can help create valuable links to your blog or website and help improve your results in the search engine results pages (SERPS). It can also help develop social media relationships and convert your audience into clients.
Creating back links only to your home page.
The more back links you have to your inside pages, the greater the sum will be than the parts. Over linking to your law firm home page will ultimately lead to a plateau in your rankings. The stronger the interior pages are, the stronger the entire lawyer website will be.
Focusing on the quantity of new content rather than the quality.
Google is looking for fresh new content, not key word jammed duplicate content copied from other sites or from content farms. Rumor has it that down the road, original content will take even greater precedence over repurposed text. Ultimately, it is better for your lawyer marketing efforts to craft articles and blog postings that are as unique as possible.
While I am sure that there are still many other pitfalls that can upset your lawyer marketing efforts and inhibit your return on investment, I believe that we have covered many of the most common lawyer SEO errors to avoid, other than to not go it alone. Hiring a seasoned lawyer marketing and SEO professional with a proven track record in the legal marketing industry can give your law firm both peace of mind and a great chance for new client acquisition.
For more information on SEO for lawyers, attorney websites or any other lawyer marketing issues, contact Rene Perras.
Press Release Contact Information:
Rene Perras
Lawyer Marketing 101
208 East 51st Street
Suite 309
New York NY 10022
212-759-1126
