Google Search Results: How Does Your Law Firm Rank in Upland, CA?
Do you feel you have done everything right, but your law firm website still does not appear in Google’s search results? The bad news is that several factors may keep you from appearing on Google. The good news is that they can be fixed.
In this age of digital marketing, SEO is critical for increasing your reach to potential customers. SEO is an abbreviation for Search Engine Optimization.
Search engine optimization is the process of increasing the visibility of your law firm website when people Google search for terms such as “bankruptcy attorney,” “estate planning,” or “lawyer near me.” The easier it is for potential clients to find your law firm website and learn more about what you have to offer, the better you rank in search engines.
Many people get frustrated with SEO because it is constantly changing. Since SEO changes so quickly, it’s essential to know what Google requires of your website for it to rank well.
We have perfected our local SEO strategy at Advantage Attorney Marketing for solo attorneys and small law firms. We will build an SEO-friendly website for you and provide current legal content to help law firms with local SEO.
Our small law firm marketing agency offers Attorney SEO, Search Engine Marketing, cloud solutions, and mobile SEO for lawyers. Yes, we make it easy to use your website, even on mobile devices. Call us now to make an appointment and give your law firm the advantage it needs!
SEO 101: Why Doesn’t My Site Show Up When I Google Search?
Google presents several challenges. Here are some potential reasons why your law firm website isn’t appearing in search results:
- Your law firm website has not yet been indexed by Google (too new)
- Your law firm website is not crawler friendly for search engines.
- The market for your keyword is very competitive.
- There are “no index” tags on your law firm website.
- Google has penalized and delisted your law firm website.
Here are some in-depth reasons why your WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace website isn’t ranking, along with tips on how to appear on Google search:
Your law firm website has not yet been indexed by Google.
The updating of search results by a search engine can occasionally take one week or longer, especially if your law firm website is brand new and has no inbound links.
First, register for a Google Search Central account. Formerly known as Google Webmasters, Google Search Central provides tools to improve your website’s visibility in Google Search results.
When you sign up and send Google to your sitemap.xml URL, you can ask them to re-crawl your URLs. Unfortunately, due to the high volume of requests, the feature occasionally experiences delays (more so if your site is new or large).
If you do not wish to sign up for an account in Google Search Central, try to use this link to add your URL to Google: http://www.google.com/addurl/
Google cannot predict or guarantee when submitted URLs will show in their index. Google does not include all submitted URLs in its index. However, it may take up to a week or more for your new law firm website to be sent out to the index if it’s crawled.
Your website is still in its very early stages.
Have you recently built and launched a new law firm website? On average, it takes four weeks before it starts appearing on search engine results. Even though we might be used to things being available online instantly, search engine indexes take a while. So before you feel anxious, be patient, wait, and study more on search engine algorithms.
There are “no index” tags on your law firm website.
Using custom code, you can instruct search engines not to index your law firm website or particular pages. It would make sense why it isn’t appearing in search results if you or the person who developed your website added this code.
Your law firm website is not optimized in a way that makes it possible for search engine crawling.
A spider will crawl your website for content when you submit it to a search engine. These spiders do not really look at your website the way a visitor would.
They check your website for various things, including keyword saturation, meta content, relevant content, and other factors.
As such, you need to consider what content search engines see when they look at your Web page.
You have a very competitive keyword market.
Millions of individuals worldwide use search engines to find specific content among the billion websites on the internet.
Ensure your target keyword market is less competitive to get your client’s attention.
Not every keyword is created equal.
In search engines, it is easy to rank for unimportant keywords. But search engine ranking for profitable keywords for your law firm is difficult.
Finding the most lucrative keyword for your law firm and having the skill to get to Page 1 Google ranking are both challenging.
Your website was taken off of Google.
If Google feels it is required to do so by law, some sites may be removed from its index and search results temporarily or permanently. Such may also happen if they do not adhere to Google’s quality guidelines or if they make it harder for users to find relevant information.
Following are several methods Google may use to remove your law firm website from search results:
- Deindexed – When Google entirely removes your domain; also referred to as “Banned.”
- Penalized – When your website or webpage is still around, but none of your webpages can be found using direct search queries. This penalty could be imposed either automatically by the Google algorithm or manually by a Google Quality Engineer.
- Sandboxed – Your domain or webpage was not de-indexed or penalized, but you suddenly got a lot less traffic from Google.
When your site does not adhere to its quality guidelines, Google may notify you via Search Console that your site is excluded from its index.
If they inform you that your website does not adhere to Google’s quality standards, you can make the necessary modifications and resubmit your website for reconsideration.
Are You Preventing Search Engines From Crawling Your Website?
You can instruct search engines not to index your website using a tool already built into WordPress. When you start a new WordPress website, this functionality is immediately activated. Thus, you must manually turn it off.
All you have to do is go to Settings » Reading and choose the option for Search Engine Visibility by checking the box.
How to Make Your Law Firm Website Appear on Google
You want your website to appear on the first page of search results (which generally has ten website listings). You might need to use search engine optimization and SEO tactics to raise your search ranking.
Do a comprehensive SEO audit.
Now is the perfect time to do an SEO audit on your law firm website to guarantee more future success. You’ll then clearly see where you stand concerning:
- Keyword selection;
- Off-site optimization;
- On-site optimization.
Put keywords in your law firm website content.
A single word or a phrase of up to five words can be used as a keyword. These should be important and useful keywords to your website that Google searchers will most likely use.
They must, of course, be related to the content of your website.
Incorporate more keywords using meta tags.
Your website visitors won’t notice meta tags since they are hidden code. But, Google search engine “bots” that crawl your site will find them.
If you use a web design tool or know how to code HTML, these meta tags can be added to your website by yourself.
Look for less competitive keywords.
You can find them by using Google’s free Keyword Planner.
With the help of this keyword research tool, you can assess the popularity and competitiveness of specific search phrases.
Tens of thousands of websites may be fighting for highly competitive keywords, making it less likely that you will appear on the first page of Google if you choose them.
Look for backlinks.
Pages on the internet that link back to your website: Having high-quality organic backlinks is vital for search engines. It is what search engines seek.
Google provides your page greater credibility and a higher search ranking if other websites link back to it.
Create a Google My Business listing for your website.
This advice is for brick-and-mortar businesses that have physical locations.
When people search for your law firm or use keywords related to it, they will see a Google map listing and be able to click on your website to learn more information. That is because Google My Business links your website to a map listing.
Publish content that is relevant to your business.
Use content (such as articles or other materials) that is specific to the services your law firm is offering. Avoid using a filler that has just a weak connection.
Google’s algorithm ranks websites with original, relevant content higher than those with duplicate content.
SEO maintenance.
You can’t stop managing SEO once you’ve optimized your website to rank on the critical first page of Google.
When you reach first-page ranking, your competitors will start pursuing you with their Seo strategies to overtake you.
Clients might also begin using different keywords to search. Maintaining a high SEO ranking requires a regular SEO audit of your website.
What if Your Website is Indexed by Google But Does Not Appear for the Keywords You Want to Rank for?
Earning Trust is the Secret to Growing Search Share.
One may legitimately contend that this is the entire purpose of search engine optimization (SEO). It often happens that someone launches a website for a law firm they own, only for Google to bury it on page 9 (or not show it at all).
However, let’s consider it from Google’s point of view: why should it direct its users to your website?
Is there anything exceptional about your law firm or website? Why should Google favor your website over those that have been around longer?
How to cultivate trust.
One of the most divisive subjects in SEO is having two opposing sides bitterly fighting for their point of view.
White Hat SEO
White Hat SEOs adopt the strategy of providing value to online users to gain their trust. Google encourages us to manage our websites in this way.
First, identify and research topics important to our industry and useful to online consumers. Next, create original, high-quality content around such topics (similar to this article you’re reading at the moment).
Google notices whether visitors seem to find what they are searching for on your website or if they still need to visit other websites to get what they are looking for.
Additionally, other websites will inevitably link to your unique assets if you are producing valuable resources for clients. This is referred to as “link building” or “earning links.”
By satisfying searcher intent and earning links from other websites, you show the search engine that people can trust you and that it should list your website in the results when users look up topics relevant to your web pages.
Black Hat SEO.
Black Hat SEO forge trust by getting links to their websites through several SEO techniques. Adopting these methods typically results in faster performance with less effort than white hat SEO techniques. The drawback is that Google’s engineers are often quick to detect their various techniques, making them less than ideal long-term strategies for a law firm.
Utilize Advantage Attorney’s SEO Services to Control Your Web Site Rankings
Advantage Attorney Marketing from Upland, CA has perfected its local SEO strategy for small law firms and solo attorneys like you.
We will create an SEO-optimized website and supply you with fresh and relevant law content marketing that will improve local SEO for your firm.
Local SEO can help promote your law firm by increasing your online presence in Upland, CA. In general, local SEO seeks to convince search engines like Google and Bing that your law firm merits being listed in their search result for particular keywords or keyword phrase.
Although it has been available for a while, desktop computers were the only devices that could use it. But nowadays, mobile search has skyrocketed due to the unexpected increase in smartphone usage.
The success of any law firm now depends more than ever on local search optimization. Advantage Attorney provides mobile-friendly Attorney SEO, search engine marketing, and cloud solutions. We make your site easy to use, even on mobile phones.
Call us now to make an appointment and give your law firm the advantage it needs!
