How do I get high search engine rankings for my law blog?
A solo lawyer asked that question on a listserv. The discussion was going the typical direction of keywords, meta tags, exchanging links, and all the other SEO gymnastics.
I’ll give a you little secret about why good bloggers are ranking high in the search engines. It’s not keyword magic in meta tags and that garbage.
It’s about entering into a conversation that’s already going on in your niche. By referencing other blogs and news sites in your posts and commenting on other blogs, publishers of blogs and news sites get to know you. They’ll subscribe to your blog. They’ll see you in their keyword RSS feeds.
You’ll gain their trust. They’ll start to reference your content. Not only will you have an effective Internet presence with people seeing your name as they do research on your niche area of the law, your search engine rankings will improve through the links you will naturally, as opposed to cross linking, pick up.
There’s nothing magic about. It should be as natural as attending a Rotary meeting (painful as that may be) where all the Rotarians have an interest in your area of law. They’ll be both prospective clients and those who influence them. Who you are and the expertise you have will be amplified by those you network with at this Rotary meeting.
Sure it takes a little time to get known through online networking. But it’s like dog years compared to the offline world of networking. You can do in a year online what would take you 7 years through online networking.
Blogs are not about beating out web sites in the search engine rankings. They are a new way of networking and marketing.
Blogs get back to the way lawyers got work prior to the 1977 Supreme Court decision in the case of Bates v. Arizona State Bar. Until Bates, lawyers weren’t permitted to advertise. Not even a tombstone ad in a newspaper or yellow pages saying ‘Wills – Call This Number.’
Back then lawyers got their work by being viewed as a trusted and reliable authority within the network of people the lawyer got to know. This network of people retained the lawyer when they had a need for legal services and referred friends, co-employees, business associates, and relatives to the lawyer.
Blogs are the same thing – getting known by people as an authority and having those people talk about you, or at least referencing your writings.
Until you exit the womb and get out there and network by joining the online conversation, you’ll never achieve your potential through blogging. You may even be conspicuous by your absence from the conservation among authorities in your niche.