Google is rolling out a new mobile-first index over the coming months. The official announcement came at the beginning of November on Google's Webmaster Central Blog, although industry insiders have been speculating about the change for over a year. Google says that it is testing the mobile-first index, with the goal of switching to an index that uses the mobile version of a page’s content to serve all results. The process is still in an experimental phase,...
Read MoreJun 10
Google updates its mobile algorithm: how your firm can stay on top
In February of 2015, Google made waves in the SEO community by announcing a major algorithm update before rolling it out. The change, which went into effect two months later in April, expanded Google's use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. The ensuing rankings shake-up, hyperbolically dubbed “Mobilegeddon,” did push website owners to make significant changes. According to Smashing Magazine, eight months after the event, 25 percent of websites that were not previously mobile-friendly had made the...
Read MoreMay 31
Law firm advertising in a mobile-first world
Google announced several changes to AdWords last week, targeted for mobile campaigns. The updates further demonstrate Google's position that we live in a mobile-first world, and website owners must adapt. Here is a brief overview, along with some steps your firm can take to plan a mobile advertising strategy that fits your goals and reaches your prospective clients successfully.
Expanded text ads
Expanded text ads will allow businesses to reveal more information about what is being advertised before users ...
Jan 23
Ten things search engines are looking for in a law firm webpage
Looking forward into 2016, one prediction is certain: Google will continue to update its algorithm, sometimes to the pleasure and sometimes to the dismay of website owners. And, when major shifts occur, as always, search marketing strategies will have to adapt.
Today, however, your firm is competing for elusive, difficult to obtain and extremely valuable placement in the first page of search results. According to an Advanced Web Ranking study, the average click through rate for page one...
Read MoreDec 24
What law firms can learn about mobile search from Google’s latest quality rating guidelines
In November, Google released the full version of its Search Quality Rating Guidelines for the first time. Last week, we discussed Google's standards for quality content and website reputation, as detailed in the document. This week, we will delve into the newest section of the guidelines: mobile ratings.
The rating guidelines document is given to Google's human quality raters to help them determine how to rate a series of test queries. The scores raters give pages do not directly...
Read MoreNov 3
Google’s RankBrain brings machine learning to search results
Last week Google revealed it has been using RankBrain, a machine learning process, to help return results for a large number of search queries. Google began a slow, quiet rollout of the update in early 2015, and RankBrain has been completely live and in use for searches globally for the past several months.
With the addition of RankBrain to its algorithm, Google is attempting to better predict what information people are searching for by using past queries to learn...
Read MoreOct 13
9 characteristics of a good attorney website
The qualities of a good attorney website have changed considerably over the past several years. Infrequently updated, brochure style websites no longer meet the needs of firms that wish to pursue an integrated on- and offline marketing strategy. Websites must be designed to keep visitors interested. They should contain current, relevant content and give users plenty of opportunity to take actions that generate leads for the firm.
Having a website is the bare minimum. A thoughtfully developed website that...
Read MoreOct 3
What is Google looking for in a mobile webpage?
Five months ago, Google rattled the nerves of webmasters everywhere with its widely-publicized mobile algorithm update. The effects of the change were not immediately apparent; in the weeks following the update little movement was seen in search results.
Time is beginning to show that Google may — at least for the moment — be taking a gradual approach toward pushing sites to become mobile-friendly. Some movement is beginning to become apparent. According to Searchmetrics' 2015 Mobile Ranking...
Read MoreAug 21
7 Ways to reduce web page bounce rates
A high bounce rate may be an indication that a web page is not functioning optimally. Bounce rates can be discouraging, and they can be deceptive. While there are multiple reasons a visitor could bounce — not all of them bad — it is generally a good idea to work toward lowering bounce rates.
What is bounce rate?
Bounce rate is usually described as the percentage of single-page sessions. Specifically, the number of times, as a percentage of...
Read MoreMay 8
Verdict is mixed on the effects of Google’s mobile algorithm update
Google began rolling out it's most recent algorithm update on April 21st, to much fanfare. The change, hyperbolically dubbed Mobilegeddon, applies to mobile searches only. According to Google, it is now prioritizing pages it deems to be mobile-friendly in smartphone search results.
Google makes hundreds of adjustments to its algorithm every year, all quietly and mostly unnoticed. But Google took the rare step of announcing that this change was coming, which likely added to the general air...
Read More