Ways to Rank Higher on Google
September 2018In any industry, scoring the top search result on Google isn’t easy. For law firms, Google optimization is extraordinarily challenging to achieve. The legal field is crowded and competitive, and that means lawyers and law firms are constantly battling one another for those precious top spots.
Related: Strategies for Your AdWords Campaign
How can your firm score an advantage? Below, we’ve outlined a few strategies your firm can use to rank higher on Google.
1. Use longer tail keywords
You are never going to rank for “lawyer in Chicago.” There are too many other professionals and businesses in your field competing for that keyword. If you want to rank, you need to identify longer tail keywords that are still getting searches but aren’t as competitive.
Highlight services you specialize in, suburbs or neighborhoods you serve, or special perks you offer, like free consultations or after-hours legal advice. Putting these elements into your keyword will make it longer—think “free consultation divorce lawyer in Oak Park, Chicago”—but they’ll give you a much better shot at the top ranking than broader keywords. More specific keywords also increase your odds of conversion, because people are searching for exactly what you offer.
2. Add inbound and outbound links to your content
Google likes links. When you have a healthy mix of inbound links (links to content on your website) and outbound links (links to other websites), you essentially tell Google your website is legitimate and informative. Including authoritative links in your content—such as links to interesting news articles or recent legal developments—can help establish your firm as an industry authority. Clients like lawyers who are up-to-date on the latest industry news and developments.
3. Don’t ignore your titles or meta descriptions
No one likes meta-tagging their content. However, things like title tags, meta descriptions, and URLs can make the difference between hitting the first page of Google and ending up on page three or four. Your meta tags should 1) convey the core purpose or message of your content, 2) include keywords, and 3) be short and sweet. These factors are catnip for Google’s web crawlers and will simultaneously draw human readers in to engage with your content.
4. Make sure you have an SSL certificates
When using your browser’s address bar, have you ever noticed some websites have an “https” at the start of the URL while others just have “http”? That “S” stands for “Secure Sockets Layer,” or SSL. Sites with SSL certificates are safer and more secure. Users are increasingly wary of cyber threats, which means many of them have learned to look for that “https” as a sign the site is reputable and safe.
Google cares about SSL certificates, too: most websites that rank on the front page of any Google search are https instead of http. If your site doesn’t have an SSL certificate yet, now is the time to get one.
Conclusion
Implementing any of these four strategies can help you improve your site’s SEO, but there are countless other strategies you can employ to help your business rank better. To learn a few more of them, contact Inherent today.