SEO shenanigans pose danger to law blogs

Lawyers call me all the time wanting a blog for the sole reason of higher search engine rankings. ‘I don’t care what I have to pay you, I don’t want to learn about blogging, and I don’t have time to write blog posts, I just want to rank higher than my competitors.’

Though law blogs often rank higher on Google than websites, law blogs don’t exist for SEO shenanigans. Law firm website developers and law firm ‘SEO experts’ who don’t have a clue about blogs don’t understand this.

Unfortnately, I’m seeing the same disturbing trend as Edelman Senior Vice President Steve Rubel.

Some respected experts are advocating launching social media marketing programs solely for the purpose of influencing search engines, rather than with the intent of fostering collaboration and genuine communication.

This represents a clear and present danger to the fabric of the community. If you care about the social web, then you should be alarmed.

Search engine optimization (SEO) professionals of late seem poised to take over blogs, digg, StumbleUpon and other sites with a range of tactics, some legit, others more questionable with the intent of building Google Juice and nothing more.

Steve goes on to explain that if you’re using blogs appropriately, high rankings will follow anyway.

To be clear, I do not object to the way that blogs, digg links and Wikipedia rank highly in search results. What does get me hot and bothered is when consultants and bloggers propose launching such an initiatives solely for influencing search. SEO, like word of mouth, should be a byproduct outcome, not a primary objective. Any brand that plays in this space should be aiming to create value. Do that and the other stuff will follow.

The vast majority of LexBlog’s 300 plus blogs rank near the top of Google for their area of law. That’s happening as a result of good blogging and proper blog site architecture, not because of SEO shenanigans.