Law Firm Markerters : Legal Marketing, Lawyer Marketing, Attorney Marketing, Law Firm Website Design and Development

Changes in Google Places and how it affects attorney marketing

You may or may not have noticed the changes in late October to the search results displayed in Google.  Whether you have noticed it or not, these changes have had a great impact on how internet marketing for lawyers workers. 

The changes to the search results on Google have changed the way that SEO and Local Places listings should be approached for lawyer marketing.  The changes have now required that SEO and Google Places Optimization be worked in unison for effective exposure in search listings for Google.

Below we will look at the timeline and how the changes are affecting legal marketing.

Google SEO and Places (Local Listing) Prior to 2010

Prior to the changes in October 2010 of the Google search results, people mainly focused on the organic search results and optimized the ranking in the organic listings with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or SEM (Search Engine Marketing).  In the last few years prior to this, people were appearing in the Google Local Listings 7 Box or smaller boxes in the top of the page next to the map.  In the last year, many internet marketers started to optimize the local listings results and with great success.  The advantage of the Local Listings was because of the ability to get a site to appear in the local listing for a competitive keyword in a much shorter time than would be possible under the organic listings.  In the last year, people were optimizing both separately as they involved different optimization strategies. 

Google Local changes to Google Places in the mid 2010

In the spring/summer of 2010, the Local Listings changed to Google Places officially.  While there were no there changes at the time this seemed to be the starting point of where the larger changes would be starting.  It also marked the beginning of a more concerted and organized Google Places which seems to be monitoring and focusing more on the results listed.  We now see a more organized and involved Google Places staff that is even humanly editing certain listings and expect this trend to not only continue but to increase.

Google Places changes in October of 2010 and its effect on SEO

In October of 2010 as many SEO and online marketing firms were adjusting to the benefits of optimizing the Google Places and adding it to their SEO routines Google made some changes in the listing requirements and the algorithms for Google Places and what would also be the search listings of a standard search.  Today, if you make a search for most terms, the default page you get is called the Everything listing.  The Everything listing basically has incorporated the SEO results with Google Places listings on the top results.  As a result, the sites that show up on the top of the page are sites that are optimized efficiently for SEO and Google Places benefit.  What it has hurt are sites that were purely optimized for one of the aspects whether organic listings or Google Places.

How the Everything Listing affect Attorney Marketing

The effects of the Everything Listing affects all internet marketing but as it stands today, it will have a large effect on legal marketing and in most aspects lawyers marketing their sites on Google today.  Google’s Everything listing does not necessarily incorporate the merged listing on all terms searched that are legal.  So if someone were to search a particular law or legal query, the chances are that a organic listing without local listings will appear.  If you do a search for a “H1B visa” you get a traditional result.  However, if you search for “immigration lawyer” or any type of lawyer, you will see an Everything listing.  This affects lawyers as they are targeting terms that are specific to people who are looking for lawyers.  This also benefits the searcher as they will be shown lawyers that are local to them without having to place the city in the search query.  Only makes sense.  However, it changes how many legal marketing SEO companies have traditionally practiced.

We have also seen the downside of the Everything Listing and thus have changed our strategy in an effort to see the results we are looking for.  Sites that were excellent SEO performers have now been bumped back to the bottom of the first page by local optimized pages and still rank well for searchers outside of the local targeted market, but not for the local searchers that the client has targeted.  This has been rectified later with the Google Places listings.

Today’s Strategy for Legal Internet Marketing

The bottom line is that legal marketing on the internet is all about getting clients for the lawyers.  One can’t just rely on SEO or SEM for the organic search results.  Today you have to focus on optimizing the organic search results with traditional SEO and a good and active Google Places listing that is maintained and optimized to get search engine visibility.  Any efforts that are one or the other without both are futile in today’s internet marketing.

The Future of Google Listings

No one knows the future of what Google will need to change in the future to maintain their dominance as the number one search engine and world’s largest company. All we know is that it will constantly need to make the changes needed to remain so.  As for Google Places and the Everything Listing, we can only assume that they will continue making changes as this October event is only the beginning.  As or right now, we are of the opinion that their will be changes in the Everything Listing as it has taken the place of some Adwords PPC (Pay Per Click) positions and logically it is something that as positioned is cutting into their profits.

What should you do now?

If you are new to marketing your law firm or have had a presence on the internet for some time.  The best thing to do is to evaluate your current efforts and see where you are and where you want to be.  If you haven’t optimized your site for either organic or Google Places then you should start doing so. As well, as a standard practice it would be a good time to integrate social media marketing for your firm.

If you have any questions regarding SEO for your law firm, Google Places, social media marketing, or internet marketing as whole, contact us and see how we can help you.