Writing Content for People—and for Search Engines, Too

July 2022

Writing Content for People—and for Search Engines, Too

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Robust content marketing is a pillar of effective online outreach for law firms today. In such a competitive environment, where differentiating between firms is a major challenge for the average client, building trust with your audience is a fundamental way to generate leads. It’s not an easy task—and it requires a consistent investment of effort over time to generate results—but the rewards are well worth the hard work. However, there’s just one problem: even the most informative and valuable content can languish undiscovered if you don’t engage with tactics for search engine optimization.

 

In other words, you need to write effectively to educate, inform, and inspire people to take action—but you need to make sure you’re writing “for the algorithm,” too. While how you structure content is not the sole factor contributing to success on search engines, it has a significant role.

 

It can seem like a tricky balancing act. How do you hit all the important metrics for good SEO without producing repetitive, boring, and unengaging content? Let’s take a closer look at how to write content for people and search engines in a way that brings together the best of both worlds.

 

Understanding EAT, the Acronym Behind the Algorithm

 

Google has made many changes to its algorithm over the years, but alterations in recent years made a major change: a new focus. EAT, or “expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness,” refers to a set of criteria that Google uses to evaluate the quality of a page. How Google approaches this is unknown, but longer content with factual, reliable content that garners links and shares tends to do well at fulfilling these criteria. Really, isn’t EAT what a law firm tries to communicate about itself anyway? In other words, if you focus on writing content that ticks those three boxes, you’re already well on your way to successfully writing for both sides of the equation.

 

With the above in mind, what kinds of content can you write that ticks the right boxes?

 

• FAQs or Q&A blogs, which answer a common and important question in your area of law.
• Articles about recent news stories and their implications for others.
• Seasonal content that touches on trending topics and ties them back to the law.
• Content that goes beyond the basics of saying “you need a lawyer.”

 

Of course, you can’t neglect traditional SEO while you work on producing authoritative content. You’ll need to gather, analyze, and act based on the data your analytics tools collect. Building the right keywords into your content—and in the right amount—is crucial for grabbing organic search traffic.

 

Find the Strategy That Makes Sense for You

 

Not every law firm should approach content marketing in the same way—and some will need to make important improvements to their websites for effective results. At Inherent, we make our experience a key resource for developing the understanding of the content you need to forge ahead. Speak with us today to learn more about the importance of effective SEO and authoritative content writing—and how to get your message to more people.