If you’re like most firms in 2017, you’ll have a website you use to find more potential claimants. Google is currently the most popular search engine in the world (by a large margin), so it’ll be important to follow Google’s guidelines to ensure you’re never penalized for unfavorable web practices. It’ll be unlikely for your firm to be removed from Google completely unless you participate in some kind of SEO scheme, but here are some simple tips you should keep in mind to ensure Google can crawl your site and all your pages could be found by potential claimants:
1. Allow Google to Find Your Pages
If Google can’t find your page, it won’t be visible for consumers. Two ways to ensure all your pages are crawlable by Google are to make sure every page is linked somewhere within your site (such as to a Resources page, a main blog, etc.), and to submit a sitemap by using Google Search Console. This way, Google will be able to display your firm’s content on its search result pages for claimants to find.
2. Use Best Practices for Graphics
When using images and video on your website, stick to Google’s publishing guidelines. When you’re uploading files, be specific: “contact-attorney-today.jpg” is better than “IMG1058844.jpg.”
As for video, you’ll want to make your site as user-friendly as possible. This means you should not have your videos auto-play, as it might annoy your potential clients. You should also have individual pages for every video, not a pop-up video that follows a consumer as he/she scrolls through a page on your firm’s site.
3. Make Your Site For Consumers, Not Google
There are ways to optimize for a search engine that isn’t easily accessible for your potential clients. This can include stuffing your content with keywords that don’t make sense in context (such as saying “SSDI attorney” over and over again), having hidden text or links, or participating in link schemes to broaden your website’s backlink profile. Any suspicious activities like these are very dangerous for your firm to partake in. A good rule of thumb is if your content isn’t helpful for potential claimants, you shouldn’t include it.
4. Ensure Your Content is Original
If you’re adding information about Social Security benefits, personal injury, or any other area of law you practice, you’ll want to make sure the content is original. Google is pretty good at knowing who the “original creator” of content is, so if you were to republish information about Social Security disability directly from the SSA or a competitor, Google will penalize you accordingly.
5. Make Sure Your Page Loads Quickly
If it isn’t obvious by now, Google wants users to enjoy the site they’re on. The benefits of a quick site are clear: If a webpage is slow to open, your potential clients may get impatient and look for legal services elsewhere. Additionally, Google may display your competitors’ sites above yours in search results.
You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to see if you need to modify your firm’s site to optimize for speed.
If you follow Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, you’ll likely see a fair amount of new clients contact your firm. But is your firm working to full capacity? If you can take on any additional cases, you should consider purchasing legal leads. Give us a call today at 617.800.0089 to discuss our Social Security disability, personal injury, workers’ compensation, or employment law lead availability in your area today.