Legal Marketing Blog

Search engine optimization is an important legal marketing tool, particularly if you want to increase the visibility of your web site, and the title of an article in Law Office Management and Administration entitled “Law Firm Marketing Now Dependent on Search Engine Optimization” (unfortunately requires a paid subscription) puts it even stronger. Of course, that is a bit of an overstatement, but SEO is important in helping visitors find your web site and that is important in marketing your law firm, along with many other things.

Thanks to Larry Bodine for sharing some of the tips that appear in the LOMA article, which include:

• “Change all your singular keywords to the plural form and it may significantly increase hits to your site.
• Hotlink optimized keywords in email correspondence, press releases and other blurbs. The idea is to direct the reader back to selected areas of your law firm site.
• Buy Google AdWords.  I was skeptical of this tip, because I've never paid for traffic, but LOMAR says it works.”
  

Additionally, Larry shares some of the top ten SEO tips from Amy Campbell’s infoworks! blog. Amy’s tips include:

1. Use keyword-savvy "page titles," and strategic and proper metatagging on all pages.

2. Allow search-engine robots easy access throughout your site via text links, alt-tagged navigation icons, or a site map.

3. Register your URL with major search engines, directories and specialty sites, as well as select paid directories (such as Yahoo!).

4. Use strategic home page content (keywords in context in HTML text).

5. Use hyperlinks to further weight in-text keywords.

6. Encourage in-bound links from other relevant sites to your pages.

7. Add an integrated web log to your web site.

8. Add/update content frequently. (Write dammit!)

9. Avoid Flash-based opening home-page screens, improper metatag code, as well as any schemes meant to "trick" search engines.

10. Get a search-engine optimization audit for your web site.

Some good stuff here. Talk to your IT people about implementing them. Thanks Larry and Amy!

Hi Tom,
Even though the article refers my top web site seo tips (and I'm a great component of legitimate optimization of web sites), I agree that the article's title overstates the importance of SEO to law firm marketing. (More on this on my blog.)
~Amy