Top 9 SEO Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Traffic and Rankings

December 26, 2017

If you have never considered the gritty details of how search engines rank content, search engine optimization can seem very overwhelming. For those that want to try their own hand at their law firm website marketing instead of hiring a professional company like Law Firm Sites, here are a few of the most common mistakes you must avoid.

1. Your website can’t be crawled or indexed

The most basic SEO error is not allowing Google’s web crawler bots to index your business’s website. This means that Google can’t gather any information about your business, and therefore won’t display your business listing when potential customers search for what you offer.

2. Disregarding your business’s local SEO

For small to midsize operations, especially those with just a single location, placing an emphasis on your local search strategy is key. Local search optimization means ensuring your law firm appears in a search for law offices in your specific area.

3. Not taking care of duplicate links

Another consideration for local search optimization is to use something like the Moz Local Search tool – this helps you find inaccurate or outdated business information online that can be hurting your rankings and losing you traffic. If you locate any errors, give Google a call to get them cleared up.

4. Great SEO, just for the wrong keywords

Which is more valuable; getting in front of the person down the street looking for an attorney, or getting in front of someone on the other side of the globe? If your focus is on gaining local referrals, consider trying to rank for location-specific keywords instead of generic ones.

5. Writing lackluster content

Too often, business owners prioritize quantity over quality – unfortunately, this comes at a cost. Readers aren’t likely to share content that doesn’t provide them significant value.

6. Forgetting how your users search

Consider the phrasing you use when you search on Google. Do you more often search for “SEO keyword tips” or do you search “how do you optimize your content”?

7. Prioritizing link building over content quality

Another issue when writing content is focusing on link-building over the quality of the article itself. Ultimately, if your content is of high quality and provides a real value to the reader, they are likely to share your content with their friends.

8. Not keeping your business information up to date online

When a potential customer finds your business, they need to be able to get in contact with you. To do that, your business’s contact information must be up to date – if you’ve recently moved or changed your phone number, that needs to be reflected immediately on local search.

9. Expecting immediate results

Unfortunately, SEO results take serious time and effort; that’s why many businesses leave it up to professionals that stay up-to-date on industry trends. As leaders in the lawyer marketing and legal web design industry, Law Firm Sites specializes in improving your law firm website marketing online presence.