SEO Today: Now What Does Google Want?!

About MyCase

Built as a complete platform, MyCase offers features that seamlessly cover all the daily functions that a modern, small law firm requires in one place at an affordable price.

MyCase Web-Based Legal Practice Management Software

Just $39/month per attorney $29/month per paralegal or staff

About MyCase

•Modern and professional design built for your firm•Social media and blog integration•Complete integration with MyCase practice management software

MyCase Websites

About Our Presenter

• Attorney, Educator and Online Marketing Consultant

• www.jlellis.net

• Jennifer works at Lowenthal & Abrams

• www.lowenthalabrams.com

• In January 2014, she published the book “Word Press in One Hour for Lawyers”

• Perfect 10 on Avvo

Jennifer Ellis

Today’s Webinar

• What is SEO?• Google/Search Engines – Main Focus• Social Media• Advertising• Hiring an SEO Firm?

Poll: Do You SEO?

1. Yes2. No3. Kind of4. What’s SEO?

What is SEO?

Search Engine OptimizationHow easily can people find you on the web?

Google ranking is crucial

• Where do you show up for key phrases?

Provide many ways for people to find you

• Go where your potential clients areoFacebook

oLinkedIn

oOther sites

Ads

• Google

• Facebook

• Relevant sites

How Has SEO Changed?

Used to be Easy• Poorly written content

• Keyword stuffing

• Repeated use of the same keywords in the content

• Poor quality links, easily obtained

• Unrelated directories

• Links from poor quality blogs and other sites

• Frequently purchased (violated Google’s terms of service)

How Has SEO Changed

Google changed its algorithm• Wants high quality, relevant results

• Penalizes bad links

• Punishes sites that engaged in black hat techniques

• Penalizes keyword stuffing

Nothing is more important than quality content with relevant phrases

Terms you might hear• Penguin - Links

• Panda - Content

• Hummingbird – Phrases instead of simple keywords (Content)

A Word about Web Design

Well designed for Google• Proper coding• Proper organization• Submit sitemap(s) in Webmaster tools

• Easy to read

• Easy to navigate

• Searchable by users

• Fast loading

• Mobile friendly

• Use call(s) to action

• Have contact form/chat box

• Recommend WordPress for easy updating and SEO

Why Google Matters

• 11.944 billion searches per month

• 1.17 billion unique users per month

• 67.5% of the US search market

• April, 2014 Digital Marketing Ramblings

• http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-num

bers-a-gigantic-list-of-google-stats-and-facts/#.U4Scw

CggF40

Year Annual Searches Daily Searches

2013 2,161,530,000,000 5,922,000,000

2012 1,873,910,000,000 5,134,000,000

2011 1,722,071,000,000 4,717,000,000

2010 1,324,670,000,000 3,627,000,000

2009 953,700,000,000 2,610,000,000

2008 637,200,000,000 1,745,000,000

2007 438,000,000,000 60,000,000

• January, 2014 Statistic Brain• http://www.statisticbrain.com/google-searches/

Where Do You Rank?

How high up do you show for relevant phrases on • Google

• Yelp

• Bing

Term you might hear• SERP (search engine results page)

Results Will Vary

Rank will be different depending on physical location• Search in San Diego, will receive one set of results

• Search in San Francisco, will receive a different set of results

Rank will be different based on how the person searches• Order of words

• Local search (use of city name)

• Use of quotation marks

Search

Results

Ads

Ads

In Philadelphia

Identifying Key Words/Phrases

Think – How will people find you• What phrases do people use

• Research what people are searching

• Free tool in Google AdWords

• http://ads.google.com

Level of competition

Where to Look for Help From Google

Google’s Suggestions• http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.com/en/u

s/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf

• https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769#1

Matt Cutts• In charge of web spam at Google

• Frequently releases videos/blog posts

• http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/

Back Links

Links from other websites to your site• Quality more important than quantity

• Challenging to obtain good links

• Google shut the door on many old techniques

oTrading links

oGuest posts (starting to be an issue)

oArticles » Ezine» Patch (AOL)

Getting Back Links

• High quality, unique content

• Sharing content throughout the web to get attention

• Interesting infographics

• Look where high ranking sites are obtaining links

• Writing for newspapers

• Using relevant high quality directories

• Ask people for links

• Harder now since trading links can be a problem

Tools for Checking Links

Ahrefs• https://ahrefs.com/

Moz• www.Moz.com

Link Detox• http://www.linkdetox.com/plans-pricing/

Follow v. No Follow

• Follow links are links that impact your rank with Google• No Follow links do not impact your rank

• However, no follow links can impact your trafficoDon’t dismiss them out of hand

Dealing with Bad Links

• Ask sites to remove bad links• Disavow with Google Instructions - http://www.jlellis.net/blog/disvow-links-seo/

Poll: Where do you get Ideas for Content?

• Clients• Reading • Day-to-day life• What content?

Nothing is More Important than Well Written Content

What is Well Written?• On point

• Appropriate use of key words/phrases

• 300-600 words

• 1-3 external links

• Appropriate internal links

• Proper grammar and spelling

• Engaging

Terms• Short tail – Philadelphia Divorce Lawyer

• Long tail – How do I find a good Philadelphia divorce lawyer

Writing Tips

• Write clearly and simply• Proofread• Edit• Use pictures• Identify your target market

• Normally 8th grade level

• Mix up phrases• Divorce lawyer in Philadelphia

• Philadelphia divorce lawyer

• Keep each page/post to one concept

Writing Tips

Use key word/phrase in• Title

• Link

• Meta description

• H1 (First line, large size)

• First paragraph

Writing Tips

Use proper design and HTML• H2 & H/3 headings break up content

• Lists with numbers or bullet points

• Alt tags for pictures

• Use key word/phrase

Alt Tag

Writing Tips

Do Not• Write like a lawyer

• Write a legal brief

• Get lost in the details

• Be too complex

• Provide too many cites

• Repeat key word/phrase too many times

• Balance the number against the length of the content

Judging Content

Useful tools• Plugins for WordPress

• Yoast

• Scribe (keyword analysis)

• External sites

• MozoProvides on page grade and recommendations

Poll: How often do you Write Content?

• Once a day• Once a week• Once a month• Once in a blue moon

Google Values Fresh Content

• The more you write content, the better your site will do• Try to write at least several times per week• At a minimum, write at least once a week• Update your old content• Research how various key words/phrases are

performing• Adjust accordingly

• Don’t be afraid to test

Researching Success

Google Webmaster Toolshttp://webmaster.google.com

Google Analyticshttp://analytics.google.com

Free tools you must “claim” to work with your site

Webmaster Tools

• Provides details about• Crawl errors

• Warnings/notices from Google

• Manual penalties

• Provides ability to add sitemap• Instructs Google how to crawl your site

Analytics

Detailed information about how your site is performing

• Bounce rate

oHow long people stay on your site

oHow many pages people read on your site

• Sources of traffic

oOrganic search

oSocial media

oPaid results

oDirect links

Results from specific searches

Note Google is hiding a lot of searches due to “privacy” concerns

Learn Analytics

Google training• http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/index.html?gclid=CL

P91LW-zL4CFSJqOgodBSIAiA

Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics• Brian Clifton

Web Analytics – An Hour a Day• Avinash Kaushik

Make sure resource is up-to-date• Google has made many changes recently

Poll: Do You Use Social Media?

• Yes, and I engage with both clients and family• Yes, but only with close friends and family• No, but I’d like to. • No, it’s a waste of time. I don’t care what you ate for

lunch

1.23 billion

1 billion4 billion Views per day

300 million

150 million16 billion photos

70 million243 million

152million

277 million

45 million1.3 million businesses

People Use Social Media

Use Social Media to• Expand the reach of your content

• Network with potential referral sources

• Educate clients

• Think of social media as if it is a cup of coffee with a potential client

• Don’t think of it as marketing in the traditional sense

• Share whatever makes you feel comfortable

• Do not try to have a separate social media presence for private and public

Blogs

Blog • Articles

• Updates on the law

• Interesting information

• Encourage comments

Be timely• Example, same sex marriage in Pennsylvania

• Wait a few days? No one will care.

• Write within a day or two. A lot of traffic.

Remember a call to action• Call us

• Write us

• Use contact form

• Etc.

Facebook

• Share blog posts• Talk about your life (whatever is comfortable)

• I talk about my dog

• People respond

Set up a Facebook Page

• Accounts are for individuals

• Pages are for firms

• Use the correct one

• Make your page detailed with a lot of information

Twitter

• Share blog and website content• Retweet other people’s content

• When you share for other people, they share for you

• Talk about whatever makes you comfortable• Only 140 characters

LinkedIn

• 100% of Fortune 500 Companies Represented• Excellent place to seek referrals• High end clients• Business clients• Set up a business page as well as a personal account

Google+

• Not particularly successful for social media

• Google integrates the search results

• Google Pages are crucial for local search• Local search is crucial for being found

• Complete a Google+ Page for each location

• Seek reviews from clients

Pinterest

• 80% female• Harder to use picture sites• Can link blog posts with pictures to Pinterest• Share activities by firm

• Charity work

• Pictures in court house

• Share personal interests are comfortable and appropriate• Recipes

• Garden

• Follow others and share posts

YouTube

• Videos are an excellent way to attract attention

• Allows potential clients to get to know you in a more personal way

• Provide

• Bios

• Short pieces about the law

• Embed

• Website/blog posts

• Facebook

• Other social media sites

Share Content Everywhere

• Use the language of the site• Get to know Twitter’s unique language

• @jle_jd

• #SEO

• RT

• Use tools such as HootSuite to make life easier• Share content in many places at once

• Remember to engage

• Adjust content for medium

Reviews

• People judge lawyers (and all businesses) based on reviews

• Ask your clients to write reviews for you

• Be certain you do not offer anything in exchange

• Some review technology providers will tell you this is ok» It is not

• Google+

• Avvo

• Yelp

• Facebook

Ads

Pay per clickGoogle

Facebook

Yahoo!

Other sitesBanners

Numerous options

Google AdWords

Pay per clickBased on keywordsFollow Google’s best practiceshttp://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/adwords-best-practices-2014.html

Use keyword research to identify best optionsProperly written and targeted ads are cheaper• Match keywords with landing page

Adjust ads frequently• Success goes down as time passes

Test different ads• Lawyer

• Attorney

• Advocate

Facebook

Pay per click• Demographics

• Age

• Gender

• Interest

Sponsored posts• Demographics

• Choose a specific post

• Identify how much to spend

• How long to run the ad

• Where it goes

Behavioral Marketing

Follows people around the web based on what they searched

• Details stored in cookies

Searched for SEO on Google

• Facebook shows ads for SEO

Remarketing

• People see ads for your site over and over

Hiring an SEO

• Many SEO individuals and companies

• Watch for promises

• “We can get you to page one”

• Watch for keywords

• Are they really useful?

• Do a cost/benefit analysis

oDifficulty of keyword

oChance of success

Hiring an SEO

• Exactly what will the firm do for you?• How much will it cost

• Many companies charge between $1,000 and $5,000 per month

• Difficulty of the market impacts charge

• Amount of work impacts charge

• How long do they think it will take• Are they focused only on traffic?

• What about actual leads?

• What about actual clients?

• Ask for references• Research the company online• Review the contract closely

Ask to See Content

• Watch for bad spelling/grammar• Keyword stuffing• Automated content• Ask who writes the content• Ask about ethics knowledge• Check links

Watch for Black Hat

• Purchasing links• Link farms

• Pages that exist just for linking to or from

• Requiring a link from you to SEO’s website• Violating Google’s terms of service• Harming your competitors with bad links

A Note about Ethics

Don’t forget about the ethical rules• Rules vary from state-to-state

• Check your own jurisdiction(s)

• Include disclaimers where you can

• Be careful not to provide legal advice

• Be careful about unauthorized practice of law in other jurisdictions

• Watch language

• Specialist

• Expert

• Numerous ethics opinions involving social media and the web• Still developing

• Rules off line apply on line

• See 7.x and 8.x

Contact Us

Jennifer Ellis, JDLowenthal & Abrams, PCwww.lowenthalabrams.comwww.jlellis.net717-256-1638

MyCase.comMyCase.com/blogsupport@mycase.com(800) 571-806230-Day FREE Trial

MyCaseWeb-Based Legal Practice Management Software

Get 10% Off Your First 6 Months With MyCase Using Promo Code: SEO14