Google’s Latest Algorithm Change & Legal Websites!
By Bob Schwartz, CRS, GRI ©2007 Promotions Unlimited all rights
reserved.
This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorized use,
copying or mirroring is prohibited
Noticed your legal site placement for various key word phrases have
taken a drop? Actually, in some situations, sites on page one of
Google are now nowhere to be found within the first 10 pages of
returned results. Wondering what's up?
Recently, Google made another effort in continuing modifications to
its ranking algorithm. From my own observations (running 35 real
estate and legal websites), it seems as though the main aim of this
change is to devalue reciprocal links. Google’s algorithm judged the
quality of a web site by the number of other sites linking to it.
Links, especially quality links, have always been a heavily weighted
factor in Google's ranking formula. Unfortunately, in recent years,
website owners and designers, looking for instant gratification,
have abused the concept to such an extent that in many cases their
practices are looked on as link spamming.
Quite a few legal websites are major participants in the link abuse
problem. Link rings, link farms, exchange portals,
free-for-all-links, etc., are basically offering hundreds or
thousands of links for their members. In addition, individual sites
offering to exchange links have little or no regard for the quality
of the link, as it is the quantity of links they are going for. It
is quite common to see legal websites with link directories with 100
or more links per page without regard for organization or theme.
Perhaps the worst of these practices is the tiny text links listed
on the bottom of home pages.
So, what should one do to regain or maintain your site’s standings
on Google in face of this new change? First understand that incoming
links are still advantageous and are considered in Google’s ranking
algorithm, just not as much as they originally were. Plus, what
Google considers ‘link spamming’ will now have a major impact on
your law site’s standings. Below are a few suggestions you may wish
to consider:
A. If you have reciprocal links muddled
anywhere on your site, either straighten them out for easy
navigation by visitors or trash them. There are various software
programs that can automate this process for you. If anyone would
like some suggestions, just email me at: Bob@brokerforyou.com
B. If you have more than 20 links per link
directory page, increase the number of pages to keep the maximum
number of partner links to 20.
C. Any links that direct to unrelated
sites should be removed at once! You’re running a legal site & all
your links should be law related.
D. Do not exchange links with any sites
that are not already listed in Google. To take this a step further,
if your legal website has a Google page rank of 3 or more, this
should be a criteria for any potential link partner’s home page.
E. Make sure on your home page you have a
hyper-link to your link directory and each page of your link
directory is hyper-linked to other directory pages. An additional
trick here is not to use the word ‘link’ in your hyperlink to your
directory. It would be much better to use a phrase like: ‘attorney
partners’ for these links. Naturally, be sure any potential link
partner follows these guide-lines.
F. Check which sites link to your site and
any unwelcome ones should receive a form email requesting that they
please erase their link to your site. To see some of the sites that
link to yours through Google (Google for some reason does not show
all incoming links), go to Google and in their search box type in:
link: www.yourwebsite.com
G. If you are a member of any type of link
exchange…cancel your membership.
Naturally, some of my suggestions above are tough and you many
disagree with them. After all, Google, or any search engine for that
matter, never spells out details of what their algorithm looks for,
or exactly what each revision to it encompasses. The search engine
optimization professionals have to use their acquired experience and
judgment to advise their clients. Search engine optimization is far
from an exact science. These are my personal and professional
opinions on one factor of this latest Google change. If your site
has dropped off the Google radar, you can do nothing, or try to
improve your standings and possible new business, by playing by the
rules. The choice is yours…..choose wisely!
An investment in improving your law firm’s search engines standings
could end up being the most cost effective career investment you
make.
Copyright 2007 Promotions Unlimited. All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bob Schwartz, is the founder of Promotions Unlimited
(search engine optimization) a Internet legal directory (CA, TX &
Las Vegas) publisher and search engine placement technology analyst.
You can contact Bob via e-mail at seo711@gmail.com or visit his
San
Diego legal directory at: www.sandiegolawyerforyou.com
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