The two easiest ways to get your site to the top of Google:
1-Follow SEO best practices so people can find you by name in your geographic area.
Even if you spend thousands of dollars on SEO or some other form of Internet marketing, it is likely that around half of the traffic to your site will come from people searching for your firm by name and usually including your city and/or state in the search.
This is because your referrals often search for you before they call, or your other advertising media such as television, radio, magazine, billboards and yellow pages drives people to search for you online.
If your site does not come up at the top of the search engines over other information then you do not give the first impression you desire to give to your prospects.
It sounds simple, but there are still sites out there that attorneys are spending thousands of dollars on that Google and the other search engines cannot read, or what the search engines read does not identify the firm.
I saw a site last week that very nice-but it was all written in flash. Google saw nothing on the site. It was designed by a ‘PR Firm’ professional who was talented and creative, but like many talented and creative web designers, he or she gave no consideration as to how the search engines were going to find the sites.
Here are some basic rules to follow:1-Meta-tags:
Meta tags will not alone get you to the top of Google for competitive keywords, but if they are not done correctly you may not even come up by name.
There are 3 types of meta-tags you need to consider:
Title Tags:
Title Tags need to be different for each one of your pages. Your home page should have your firm name and geographic location in the title tags and have no more than about 60 characters.
Don’t know what title tags are? You aren’t supposed to if you are an attorney, but if you do then proper title tags will make sense to you. I am not even sure what “tort reform” means, but I have an idea, and I could find out in seconds. However, it is not my job to really know how to rattle off the definition of “tort reform” on a regular basis.
This is why you should look to hire a true SEO professional for $100-$150 an hour, instead of spending your $300+ an hour time learning something new.
Off my pedestal and back to the other Meta-tags:
Description Tags:
Description tags are the textual results that appear on the organic search results. It is important that this accurately describes your firm, and you may even consider putting your phone number in the description tag to drive calls before a searcher clicks on any web site. Keywords in the description tag are good, but not as important as the title tags; therefore first and foremost make sure you put your best foot forward in your description tags.
Keyword Tags:
I often see web site designers make the mistake of putting all of the site keywords on everyone of their pages’ Meta keyword tags. It is much better to have the keywords focused on the content of the page, and therefore the keywords should be different for every page.
2-Sitemap:
A sitemap helps the search engines read your site. Having a Google sitemap is a great way to go, but not necessary. Most sitemaps can make up for a site that is hard for Google to read due to javascript or some other issue (I am not a programmer, I just keep up on these things).
3-Pictures and Videos
Make sure your pictures and videos have names relevant to your site.
URLs
www.myfirm.com/updsaufisua?ioupioudf=+-? Is not a great URL.
www.myfirm.com/keyword-keyword-keyword is much better way to go.
‘nuff said
The “last” best way to get to the top of Google and other search engines?
Have your site listed on a site that is already there for the keyword searches you want your site to be found.
You want to be at the top for the search “las vegas attorney”? Do the search yourself and see who appears. Some of those sites are directories that will pay for you to be listed on.
Lawyers.findlaw.com (Westlaw’s Directory) and Lawyers.com (a LexisNexis owned directory) are the two sites that consistently get the most searches of all of the lawyer online directories. This is confirmed by Nielson Ratings, ComScore and Hitwise-3 of the top 3rd party verification sources.
Essentially you have Lawyers.com and Findlaw.lawyers.com as the top two lawyer directories, with Lawyers.com getting about twice the visits as Findlaw.lawyers.com, and all the others getting significantly lower search volume.
In some markets you will find niches where a local directory may compete with these search engines, but again-that requires some research. In Nevada the oen I have heard positive feedback about is www.attorneyguide.com.
Whatever you do don’t just take someone’s word for it. Other attorneys aren’t likely to tell you what works for them if they compete with you in any way.
On Google, lawyers.findlaw.com does a better job at coming up for local searches in many cases, while Lawyers.com comes up at the top nationwide; therefore being on both helps you cover your market. When someone searches for “lawyer”, “lawyers”, “attorney” or “attorneys” on Google they are likely to end up on Lawyers.com and then work their way down to the city and/or state in which they are looking for a lawyer.
Lawyers.com often comes up on the first page of Yahoo! for local searches.
There are other sites that come up on various searches, but these two have the most consistent results.
Another benefit of being on Lawyers.com is that when you list there you are also put on Martindale.com, Superpages, CitySearch, GoogleLocal, Business.com,CNN and a host of other search engines.
Another place to consider listing your web site is online yellow pages directories. Each market has directories that get significant usage from placement on search engines and/or brand recognition.
As mentioned in an earlier blog of mine-many online yellow pages are a waste of time and money, but consistently superpages.com, yellowpages.com and in some markets Dexknows.com receive significant traffic. The problem is that the yellow pages reps will try to sell you products they have developed that may work for landscape contractors, but are a waste of time and money for attorneys.
I was speaking with a Las Vegas attorney who had just committed to a $500/month “SEM” product with Dex Media. I told her the problem is that while a program like that may work for a landscape contractor it is not likely to work for an attorney.
I gained instant credibility with her when she said “They demonstrated their product with a landscape contractor-which is why I bought it.”
Go figure.