Legal Search Marketing

Archive for the ‘Legal SEO Marketing’ Category

We have helped a number of law firms create additional websites that focus on different practice  areas and a different set of keywords.   The minisite will focus on a specific practice area and expand on the information that is on the main site.   This can help you get additional listings at the search engines and drive additional focused traffic to your firm.

The latest firm we have assisted is the Seattle, Washington law firm of Robert Kornfeld.  We had previously created a Washington Personal Injury mini site and now have expanded to create mini sites for Seattle Construction Law, Seattle Medical Malpractice Law, Washington Brain & Spinal Injury & Seattle Truck Accident Law.  Each of these sites has unique content, a unique keyword rich domain name, optimized code focused on a specific set of keywords and interlinked with other websites.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A GOOGLE PAGERANK SCORE?

Google PageRank is a score that Google gives every web site and its from 0-10. Many people think that this is a good way to see how well a web site will do at the search engines. The fact is though the Google pagerank score can be very misleading. Just having a high PR score and a lot of links.

The problem here though is if you don’t have other optimization techniques done, like updating each pages title tag or having your keywords within the content of your pages, then your probably not going to be found for keywords related to your practice, no matter how many links you have or how high your pagerank is.

SOLO LAWYERS VS. BIG LAW FIRMS

I see examples of solo attorneys out performing big law firms and saw one today. I reviewed a big law firms site that has multiple locations and over 100 attorneys and they have a very old site that has a domain name from 1994, which is a good thing.  It has a Google pagerank score of 6, which is very good and it has 244 links counted from Google, which is a high #.

These three things combined, an older domain name, a high pagerank score and a lot of links should mean that this site is well ranked but the fact is that its not ranked at all for any keywords related to its practice and in fact many of the partners aren’t even coming up if you Google them by name.

I have many different law firm sites, including solo attorney sites that maybe have a PageRank of 3 or 4, have about 20-30 links, yet are ranked in the top 10 for many different keywords and get a lot of web site traffic as a result. This shows you that its a combination of things that have to happen and that certain things must be done in order to get results at Google.

LAW FIRMS ARE MISSING A GREAT OPPORTUNITY

Most law firms have not paid any attention to search engine optimization and are just starting to realize how important it is. If you have a site that has been around for awhile, has plenty of links from other sites, is in the right search directories BUT isn’t optimized for the keywords pertinent to your firms practice, then your probably missing out on a lot of focused traffic.

Good post from Search Engine Watch about a new search engine that allows you to do one search and see the results from Google, Yahoo, Msn and Ask Jeeves. Very cool tool.

A new meta search engine allows you to compare results from the four top web search engines, and tweak their relative importance in the mix by adding to or subtracting from the relative importance of each.

Myriad Search is a brand-new and relatively untested meta search engine designed primarily to help search engine optimizers with competitive intelligence research on keywords. Want to know which competitor is ranking well on specific keywords? Myriad Search will show you, presenting search results with their relative rankings from Ask Jeeves, Google, MSN Search and Yahoo.

BENEFITS OF UPDATING YOUR LEGAL WEB SITE:

Many law firms don’t bother ever updating the firms web site and I see a lot of legal sites that are pretty stale and out of date.  The search engines favor web sites that add or update content on a regular basis and it also helps to give your a site a fresh look from time to time for your viewers.

IS YOUR SITE SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY?

Another reason to consider updating your legal site is because many web sites that were created 3-4 years ago were not built with the search engines in mind. I see a lot of sites that have all graphic home pages, very little content, no site map page and other things that can effect getting the best possible search engine rankings for your law firms web site.

LEGAL WEB SITE FACE LIFT

My legal marketing and design company Lawyers Court recently updated the legal web site of Law Firm Consultant Robert Henderson of RJH Consulting. This site had not been updated in over 4 years and needed a fresh new look, as well as an updated navigation structure, a site map page and additional content.

CONTENT IS KING

We created a simple new design with an updated logo and a few new legal images but the key updates were the additional content provided by including 10 legal consulting related articles. This gave the site an additional 10 pages, all of which have been optimized for the search engines.

OTHER KEY ADDITIONS TO THE UPDATED LEGAL WEB SITE

A few other things that we did, that all law firm web sites should have is #1- Your firms contact info including email should be on every page, #2- The site should have a dual navigation structure, meaning links at the top of every page and then text links at the bottom of every page, #3-Adding additional content to the home page and then #4 is having a site map page to make sure that the search engines can find all the pages within the site.

So now this legal web site is what I would call "Search Engine Friendly" and its come a long way for a very reasonable price.

Contact us if you would like a legal web site face lift for your law firm or legal web site.

I use Wordtracker all the time to do keyword research and its probably the best keyword tool out there, yet Ive always said that its not a perfect science and sometimes I’m skeptical of the results.

The first thing to know is that the way they report all the results is somewhat confusing, they give you two different columns, one a "Count" and then the 2nd is a "Predict" number. (See Below) 

Usually these #’s are pretty close but here are the definitions of what "Count" and "Predict" mean exactly from the Wordtracker site.

Count – This shows the number of times a particular keyword has appeared in our database. E.g. Our database currently holds 373 million words. A count of 147 tells us that this particular word has appeared 147 times out of 373 million (this is over a two month period).   

Predicted - This is the maximum total predicted traffic for all of the major search engines/pay per bids and directories. It is based on the current 24 hour period.

SO, the count # is the number of times the keyword has appeared in the database over the last 2 months. The Predict # is just a prediction of how many times max that keyword would be searched in a 24 hour period at ALL the search engines.

This database of keywords is from meta-crawlers and not from any of the big search engines actual search database. According to Wordtracker, "We get our data from metacrawlers, rather than the search engines themselves. After all, the metacrawlers contain the results from the search engines."

This might be true but I still would probably rather have the #’s direct from Google as to the number of searches done and the keywords used.   

I do know that I tend to question the results from Wordtracker from time to time.  I mean as a quick example I was doing  some keyword research on the term "Chicago Lawyers" and wordtracker brought back some very interesting results (see below), they said that the key phrase "Chicago wrongful death lawyers" has a count of 83 and a predict # of 71, which is much higher then the more general term "Chicago Lawyers" which has a count of 26 and predict # of 22.

WORDTRACKER RESULTS FOR "CHICAGO LAWYERS"

Notice it also lists many other keyphrases with higher numbers such as "chicago accident lawyers" and "chicago injury lawyers". I thought to myself though, no way is that possible because it just seems like that specific search would never get as many searches as a more general term like "Chicago Lawyers".

So I went to Google Adwords and used the keyword tool and the predictions were much different and more realistic I thought (SEE TABLE BELOW).

Traffic Estimates from Google Adwords – 5/11/05

Keywords	Clicks / Day	Average Cost-Per-Click	Cost / Day	Average Position [?]
chicago accident lawyers	1.0	$0.28	$0.26	1.8
chicago attorney	15.0	$1.49	$22.22	1.8
chicago attorneys	9.4	$1.26	$11.78	2.0
chicago brain injury lawyers	< 0.1	$0.05	$0.00	1.0
chicago car accident lawyers	< 0.1	$0.05	$0.00	1.0
chicago dog bite lawyers	< 0.1	$0.05	$0.00	1.0
chicago injury lawyers	0.3	$1.44	$0.46	3.5
chicago lawyer	8.6	$1.50	$12.85	2.6
chicago lawyers	13.0	$1.39	$18.00	2.6
chicago personal injury lawyers	0.2	$1.79	$0.41	3.5
chicago slip and fall lawyers	< 0.1	$0.05	$0.00	1.0
chicago vioxx lawyers	< 0.1	$0.05	$0.00	1.0
chicago wrongful death lawyer	< 0.1	$0.05	$0.00	1.0
chicago wrongful death lawyers	< 0.1	$0.05	$0.00	1.0
Overall	47.5	$1.39	$65.98	2.2

Notice how Chicago lawyers & Chicago attorneys would both get about 12-15 clicks per day, BUT "Chicago wrongful death lawyers" would get LESS then one click a day.   PLUS notice it would only be 5 cents per click for that term, which really says that it gets no action at all and nobody is interested in it.

SO that tells me the numbers from Wordtracker are way off, at least for the keywords Ive listed. I mean they are saying that the term "Chicago Lawyers" only appeared 26 times in 2 months. 

Yet according to Google, if you were listed in the top 3 for that term, you could get 12-15 visitors a day. That might be high but its at least 5-10 per day, because I have clients that are listed for that term and I monitor the traffic.

Wordtracker is still a great tool and it usually is more accurate then this example.  I usually use Wordtracker in combination with the Overture and Google keyword tools for the best possible results.

I’m always amazed at how many lawyers and law firms just don’t take advantage of Internet search engine marketing.   I don’t know if they just don’t understand it or don’t think its necessary. 

Some lawyers do get it though and understand how important the Internet can be to attracting new potential clients.  One law firm that does get it, is Horowitz and Weinstein. We have been helping them with Internet Marketing and search engine optimization for the past 4 years and they have had great success and have gotten many new clients from the Internet.

They are well ranked at Google and all the other search engines for a variety of keywords related to their legal practice.   At Google they are #2 for Chicago Lawyers and #3 for Chicago Attorneys, as well as top 10 for other geo specific key phrases, such as Chicago Bankruptcy Lawyers or Chicago Elder Planning.

This is important, as is doing a focused Pay Per Click campaign, getting key links from other sites and being in key search and legal directories.    Having a search engine friendly site that has good content also will help and its a combination of all of these things that will result in focused and qualified traffic coming to your legal web site.

We have helped many attorneys succeed on the Internet and we can help your firm as well. Visit our web site to see how we can help your law firm succeed and get new clients.

Do you ever notice that sometimes your web site appears in the organic search engine results and then the following day the site is just gone?

This seems to just happen at Google and usually with sites that haven’t been around for that long.   

Sometimes it can be a result of a penalty imposed by Google for breaking any of their search engine guidelines. Sometimes its hard to tell because I have sites that were well ranked, then all of a sudden drop out for a week, then come back but not as strong, until later.

As an example, I have a legal directory at www.lawfirm-directory.com and it was always well ranked at Google for a number of terms including "lawfirm directory", then it dropped out for a few weeks, but came back and slowly worked back to the previous listings. NOW its better positioned and we are #3 for lawfirm directory and #10 for law firm directory at Google. #1 at MSN and Yahoo.

I don’t see much ranking fluctuation at MSN or Yahoo and once your site is in at MSN or Yahoo, it usually stays there. Unless of course your talking about the Yahoo directory, which you have to pay $299 annually to be included in. 

So be patient if you see your rankings fluctuate, I know it cant be frustrating but if you have a good solid web site, usually things get back to normal pretty quickly. 

Someone asked me the other day if listing in online legal directories was a good idea. I of course said yes because I run a legal directory but I have many law firm clients that have had great success with legal directories and it really depends on the directory. 

I have clients that list in many different directories and they usually want to know which directories drive the most traffic.  I have reviewed stats and usually I have found that most legal directories do produce traffic, but some more then others.

Usually the bigger directories like Martindale Hubbell and Findlaw didn’t really bring as many visitors as other smaller legal directories, like Attorney Find or Attorney Locate.   It does depend though on the type of listing you have, the number of categories your listed in and other factors.

It helps if the legal directory is well ranked at the search engines for terms like "find a lawyer", "legal directory", "law firm directory" and also for more specific geographic keyword terms like "Chicago appellate lawyers" or "Illinois tax attorneys".   

Some directories are ranked well in the organic listings, while others just rely on pay per click advertising for traffic.    Getting traffic from the legal directory listing is a good benefit and an added benefit can be the value of the link pointing to your site.

Its good when you have links from other legal related web sites, especially if they are also well ranked, this can boost your web sites legal link popularity score.

Overall I think that legal directories are a good value because usually if you get just one new client per year, it will more then pay for the listing. Research the directory though and make sure they have some search engine exposure, then test them out for 6-12 months and see what kind of traffic they produce.

The Law Marketing Portal has a good article entitled "Marketing Technology: Hit the Jackpot". The article offers some highlights of a recent conference on business development, sponsored by Thomson’s Findlaw.

The panel focused on small and medium size law firms, and discussed what’s "in" and what’s "out" in online legal marketing.  Here are some examples of what’s in and out and my comments.

IN: Search engine optimization: "If you have a great website that no one can find, do you exist as a business?" asked MicroLaw’s Kodner (The implied answer is "no").

"If a prospect Googles your firm and you don’t show up on the first hit page, you’re invisible. If a prospect Googles your area of practice and your location and you don’t show up on the first hit page, you’re not getting hired or ever considered.

*** I have been telling lawyers this for years now, that its very key that your site be found in the search engines and that if you don’t come up, then its like you don’t exist on the web.     Also that’s it key that you be found by your firms name, key partners name and of course by your geographic location and main practice areas. 

Search engine optimization is no longer optional, it’s absolutely essential, says Kodner. "The object is to skew hits to your site. Your firm needs a professional search engine optimization consultant if you expect to get top results in your promoted practice areas." 

*** I would agree that search engine optimization in a must these days for law firms. My company has been helping lawyers for a over seven years now optimize and promote their legal web sites.

OUT: Tweaking metatags and other coding tricks. Search engines have gotten wise to all the behind-the-scenes coding tricks and don’t pay attention to them any more, reports CLASS’ Jackman.

Coding tricks include standard techniques such as beefing up title and metatags in a website’s HTML code, and sneakier ploys, such as hiding keywords in invisible text (like black text on a black background), automated software services that spam search engines with information, buying links back to your site on link farms, or creating mirror or gateway sites to your site.

*** I would agree with all of this except that to point out that the Title tag on each page is still very important.

IN: Pay-for-performance search advertising. Overture, Google and other online companies sell key words that people use when conducting online searches. When a person uses a keyword your firm has reserved, a listing for your firm appears at the top of the search results.

"Clients are searching for your services," says Stevens. Pay-for-performance-search helps lawyers attract clients cost-effectively, he asserts. "A lawyer, as the advertiser, will know whether the reserved keyword is working. It is the perfect marketplace for the little guy," he said.

*** Pay per click is very in and I’m surprised not to see more attorneys utilizing it.  Ive been assisting attorneys with pay per click campaigns for many years now and its a great way to drive additional focused and qualified traffic to your web site.

Sometimes you can find some great keyword values that drive a lot of traffic for a very little investment.  Its just a matter of staying on top of it and adjusting your bids.

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Great post today at the Be Spacific blog on a story from the Wall Street Journal about how Weblogs or Blogs keep visitors coming back to your site and how its a fantastic marketing tool for many reasons.

I would concur and think they are a must have for EVERY law firm. Its a great way to establish your legal expertise and if done right, its a great way to get good search engine rankings, which will lead to more traffic coming to your site, which in turn will lead to more clients.