If your law firm website is going to do well in search, it must use the words that your potential clients are using to search for it. When your client goes to a search engine and types in a phrase, the search engine algorithm will use several factors to return results that it believes is most relevant for that phrase. The search engine considers variables such as:
- Does the title tag on your page include that keyword phrase?
- Does your page text include that keyword phrase?
- Does your page text include variations on the keyword phrase?
- Where does the keyword phrase appear on the page?
- Do the pages that link to your page use that phrase in the link text (anchor text)?
There are a bunch of other factors, and the algorithms are far more complex. But the principle holds true: Your placement in the search results (and correspondingly the number of eyeballs that see your site) depends on whether the search engines can relate your page to the terms that your clients are using to search for it. If the search engine cannot make the connection, it does not see your site as relevant to what your clients are looking for.
So how do you know what keywords your potential clients are using to look for your services? This post is the first in a series on how to do just that.
This series will focus on how I do keyword research. There are many different (and possibly better) ways to do it. But, alas, I am a creature of habit and tend to stick with tools and processes that work well for me. I will try to link to these tools (most of which are free) and give step-by-step instructions.
Note: I wrote recently about how your law firm website should be built around your clients’ needs. Many law firm websites make the mistake of using keywords that the attorneys use to describe their services. Don’t do that. Think like your customers. Use the language they use. Write to their needs.
About Jack Falconberg