SEO For Lawyers: Fact or Fiction SEO Myths

There are many parallels that can be drawn between lawyers and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists.

For starters, both know the negative stereotypes that come with their chosen occupations.

For another, both understand the value of creating a web presence online that gets seen by potential clients and customers.

Where the line seems to get drawn, is within the facts and fictitious when it comes to law firm SEO.

In fact (no pun intended), taking the wrong information in as truth could actually hurt your practice.

Let’s play – Lawyer SEO Fact Or Fiction.

You Just Need More Quality Content

While the search engines have gotten keen to thin content and have recognized higher quality content as being of better value to the end user, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it equals higher website rankings.

There is much more that goes into attorney search engine rankings.

Like the saying goes – “If it were THAT easy then everyone would be doing it.”

And if it WERE that easy, then SEO experts and agencies for law firms would be out of work, and freelance writers would really be all that you needed to rank.

Is The Bolded Statement Above Fact Or Fiction?

We’re going to debunk this one. Sorry, it’s fiction.

While quality content is one MAJOR piece of the puzzle, it’s only a part of it.

You Can Get Ranked Overnight With “Certain” SEO Tactics

You may have been contacted or may not have been contacted by SEO firms specializing in lawyers in the past, saying that they had some tactics that could get you ranked overnight.

By “Certain” we mean SPAMmy and Black Hat tactics.

To the uninitiated, this essentially means methods that the search engines don’t approve of.

Once upon a time, these types of backlink tactics may have worked, but as with anyone trying to game the system, they only work for so long until the search engines catch up with them.

In the long run, these sorts of tactics can actually do you more harm than good.

In fact, it can get you kicked out of the search engine rankings altogether, meaning you aren’t ranked lower or on another page, you simply cease to exist as far as search goes.

When it comes to SEO for lawyers this can be dangerous.

It’s the equivalent of being told that your storefront or business office was being shut down and that you are no longer able to open up shop – ever.

Is The Bolded Statement Above Fact Or Fiction?

Sorry, we have to call this one fiction.

While it’s too good to be true, IF someone were able to find some type of loophole like this, it would eventually get found out if the tactic was not one that the search engines approve of.

Note: Please keep in mind that while the short-term benefits may be there, the long-term realities could do more harm than good to your Law Firm's SEO and online properties.

The More Times You Use A Keyword The Better

Yeah…

Sure… if this were 2003.

There was a time when you could utilize a strategy called “Keyword Stuffing.”

You just would use a specific keyword phrase a certain amount of times, in the right places and you would find yourself moving up in the rankings.

While you still need to have the keyword placed throughout your content, putting it in fifty times just won’t work today.

In the past, the search engines viewed your use of the keyword phrase frequently as relevancy and said: “Hey, they said it enough, this must be what the site is about so let’s rank it higher for that phrase.”

As more and more sites did this, it became apparent what was going on and this tactic of keyword use was slowly viewed as less relevant.

Is The Bolded Statement Above Fact Or Fiction?

Sorry, this one is fiction AGAIN.

Are you starting to see a pattern emerge here? Just kidding.

There are many other things that you need to do besides keyword injection.

The search engines are getting smarter and realize that keywords, along with variations of that keyword are what happens naturally when blogging.

For instance, a searched keyword phrase may be something like “Lawyer Atlanta,” but if that gets constantly used on your pages, then Google will get hip to it.

You wouldn’t ask someone “Hey do you know a lawyer Atlanta?”

That just doesn’t make much sense!

What do, are phrases like:

“Do you know where to find the Best Lawyer in Atlanta?”

OR

“Can you recommend a good Atlanta based Lawyer?”

If you just think of it from a common sense standpoint it just makes sense.

You Just Need More Backlinks To Outrank Your Competition

Again, once upon a time, this may have been true.

When the onset of link building started, attorneys with a big enough budget could get ranked highly in the search engines.

The search engines realized that this was happening and put an end to it.

While high authority backlinks still remain an important ranking factor, the quality, and type and not necessarily the amount has been more and more scrutinized.

If someone comes to you with a plan to just build you thousands of backlinks, then you’d better be sure to ask more about them before ponying up the money.

Is The Bolded Statement Above Fact Or Fiction?

Can you guess what the answer is?

Yes, Fiction.

The Takeaway

As you can see, all of these are myths that simply aren’t true.

In fact, they are myths that have been passed around and around, leaving many to actually believe them.

There is so much more that needs to go into SEO for your law firm, and yes you could try and figure it out yourself, but why would you want to?

Your time would be much better spent doing what you do best – representing clients in a court of law, NOT figuring out what Google likes and doesn’t like this month.