Marketing is a constantly changing practice. What may work one year or even one month may not work the next. What may help one law firm may harm another. For firms of any size, finding the right marketing mix, one that contributes to growth while consuming a manageable number of resources, is an ongoing balancing act.
All industries face marketing challenges, but lawyers face the additional burdens of state bar rules and ethics decisions, which are continually evolving. And...
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Google revealed today that it has rolled out Penguin 4.0, the first confirmed Penguin update in nearly two years.
Google's announcement of the long-awaited release confirms what many in the SEO industry have long suspected (and hoped for). Penguin is now running in real-time. Additionally, Penguin is running at a more “granular” level, meaning it is looking at individual pages, rather than holding a single url's link spam against a whole site.
The current MozCast forecast,...
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While the number of algorithm changes so far in 2016 has been lower than average, several no-name updates have stormed through Google's search results, disrupting top-page standard bearers.
In May, Google started issuing outbound link penalties and devaluing media sites. This caused a big shakeup as the ripple affect dethroned many highly-ranked page one listings and introduced some new websites to the top.
On Friday, September 2nd, Search Engine Roundtable reported that search engine marketers and tracking...
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After Google released the first version of its Penguin algorithm update in 2012, sites that had been practicing successful — but spammy — link-building tactics saw drastic ranking declines.
The depth and breadth of the post-Penguin fallout caused many to shy away from link building. Even though links were still being used to help determine search placement, the cost of being punished for an error was perceived as too high. And Google was hinting strongly that it was trying...
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A recently published study performed by Backlinko provides insight into the correlation between several page factors and their effects on search engine results. Backlinko looked at a comprehensive sample of 1 million Google search results to determine its findings. The study confirmed some closely held search marketing beliefs while also producing unexpected results. Here is a summary of key findings, along with tips for how attorneys can use them.
Links are still important
Despite Google's apparent...
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For the first time, Google has released the full version of its Quality Raters Guidelines and Handbook. Google provides the 160 page .pdf to its human testers, who perform searches and rate the results based on these guidelines. Google then uses this rating information to enhance its algorithm in an attempt to continuously improve results for searchers.
Raters assign a Page Quality rating based on a sliding rating scale. The scale contains five primary rating options: Lowest, Low,...
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2014 brought a steady stream of changes to Google’s algorithm. The majority of the updates were aimed at preventing spam and low-quality content from reaching the top of the search results, and rewarding high-quality content. As collected by Moz, the changes that occurred in the first half of 2014 were:
February 6, 2014: Page Layout #3
The page layout...
Lawyers blog for a variety of reasons, marketing often being chief among them. Blogging and other online social activity can be both rewarding and frustrating. Every regular blogger has wondered if there is really anyone out there reading their tips and insights. For your professional advancement (and peace of mind), it is good to know that your blog readership is growing. More readers mean...
The fonts you use on your website will affect visitors in a variety of ways. Font size, face, color and spacing all contribute to the design and readability of the pages. Large, open, sans serif fonts tell a much different story than small, compact condensed fonts, which in turn create a very different mood than those of the sturdy serif variety.
Fonts are an much overlooked design element. Too often,...
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Recently, Google announced another algorithm change in their efforts to stop web spam. The newest change has nothing to do with your links and little to do with content. This time, Google is targeting your law firm's domain name.
The goal with the newest change is to target low-quality “exact match” domain names. For most law firms, this change may actually help their rankings.
Over the past decade, spammers in all industries (not just law) have been picking up domain...
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