unique ideas not just content There is a strong call for content volume if you want your law firm's website to be easily found via Google. From onsite content such as blogs, social network content, and marketing literature including ebooks, press releases, and articles, the demand for a lot of content can be overwhelming.

Prepare to be over-overwhelmed.

Unique content is not the only element to worry about. Google can also identify similar topics within unique content. This is part of their never ending quest to make sure they are delivering the best results to their end user -- the searching public.

Here is what Google is trying to avoid: Pretend that you own a 2010 Audi A4 and you experience a clicking noise when trying to start your car. You search in Google for “2010 audi a4 clicking noise when starting.” If Google cannot detect duplicate topics, you may get a page of websites all saying the same thing. As the searcher using Google to look for an answer, you will get pretty frustrated if all you get is a number of websites suggesting that you “check your battery.” Instead, if you search via Google for that Audi query, you will not only find the dead battery theory, but also advice to check relays and fuses. The returned searches will even go as far as to suggest other clicking areas -- behind the steering wheel, under the dash, and so on. If Google returned a page filled with only one angle of advice on the same topic, you might just think to yourself “maybe I should take the Bing it On challenge.”

When your law firm is creating content, you must put a unique twist on the content, because unique words are no longer enough.

As an example: An elder law and estate planning attorney in Florida may want to write about how the $2 billion cuts in Medicaid proposed by the state's governor would affect their clients. When searching for “Florida Medicaid cuts,” you can see different newspapers publishing articles on hospitals, clinics that care for low-income patients, and several articles arguing over whether the cuts are necessary or political.

To write an article or blog entry that Google will not see as simply providing the same information as what is already available, the estate planning attorney should briefly mention these other aspects (hospitals, clinics, and politics), and focus the majority of the article on how the cuts will affect their clients, how it may result in the need to update their estate plans, and how it may require their children and caregivers to possibly contribute more to their long-term care. Those are topics not covered by the currently available results.

While it may not always be possible to meet all of your content volume needs and come up with completely unique concepts when writing about well-published topics, it is important to put a unique twist on that content. Unique words are no longer enough -- now you need unique ideas.

Bigger Law Firm: Bigger Law Firm

Celebrating our 12th issue! This month's Bigger Law Firm magazine talks about how Google Penguin is helping and harming lawyers and their SEO goals. Also, we talk to a lawyer that knows how to make Facebook work for his firm, explain how a press room can lead to new cases, talk about…