How to Report Sites Violating Google’s Best Practices

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

I am constantly asked how to report “bad sites” to Google.  Personally, its not something I do a lot of as I’m confident that Google will usually root out the Black Hats given enough time.  But, for those of you who do want to take action I think Google’s Matt Cutts has some of the best advice.

See Matt Cutts’ post here:  http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-report-paid-links/

Want Proof That Google Doesn’t Like Black Hat Tactics?

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

Although I’ve never heard it firsthand, a lot of my clients tell me about solicitations they get from other website developers and SEO companies and how they claim that their companies can get away with certain “Black Hat SEO” tactics because they have a special relationship with Google.

Now comes proof from Japan that Google doesn’t play favorites, even going so far as punishing themselves.

(see Techcrunch article here)

That’s right, when Google Japan played some games with their own PageRank, Google responded by lowering their PageRank.  So, to continue my train of thought, wouldn’t it seem very odd for Google to punish themselves but let other companies get away with Black Hat techniques because of a”special relationship?”   Of course that is absurd.

As I always tell my clients, Black Hat tactics can work for a while, and in some businesses with short shelf lives that might be fine.  But if your plan includes using your website for years into the future, it makes no sense to risk all of your hard work on a little bit of gain.  As this story from Japan shows, if Google feels you violated their Best Practices, you will be punished.

Congratulations to Fierstadt & Mans On the Launch of Their Website

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

Fierstadt & Mans

An overdue congratulations is in order for Jack Fierstadt & David Mans on the launch of their new Real Estate Law website. The firm decided to go with a conventional looking site, but they executed it in a very “classy” way. The Los Angeles and Pasadena city shots, including the Disney Hall photo, do a great job of expressing the geographic focus of the firm.

The firm actually practices in areas outside of Real Estate & Real Estate Litigation, and the site focuses on those areas as well. On the site you will also find pages on Business Formation & Business Litigation as well as Personal Injury.

The site has been up a few months now and already the firm has been getting great traffic & is showing up really well in the Search Engines. One page of the site seemed to get immediate traction, even on Statewide searches; Landslide Litigation. The power of this page is its uniqueness, and that is a direct extension of the firm’s unique experience with this complex case type. There just aren’t many lawyers with experience in landslide cases, so not many lawyers market that as a strength. The rest of that equation is pretty clear. Since so few firms handle these cases, very few sites include content on the subject, and therefore good content on the subject quickly bubbles up to the top of Google searches.

The lesson here for all firms is to market to your uniqueness. If you are an attorney who has handled cases that most others have not, make that the focus of your site. Instead of just talking about Criminal Defense, market your experience as a Fraud Defense Attorney. Instead of just being a Bankruptcy Attorney, market the fact that you are a Mortgage Modification Lawyer. Google loves unique content, and your potential clients will love reading about your experience in their specific case type.

A Video From Google Explaining What They Display on Search Engine Results Pages

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | Lawyer Marketing | No Comments

Many of my clients ask how Google decides how to display their results on the SERP pages.   Rather than just giving you my own explanation , I thought it might be helpful to hear for yourself via the following video.  Matt Cutts is a Google Engineer and currently the head of their Webspam team.  More important to us, he is generally regarded as the man who enforces the Google Webmaster Guidelines and helps educate the public on how to improve their visibility on the Google Search Engine Results pages.

In this particular video, Cutts discusses “Snippets,” which is the term used for the information Google displays on the Search Engine Results Pages about each site.

One of the most interesting parts of his example, I think, is his explanation of what are called SiteLinks.  In the video, it is the section at the bottom of the snippet that looks like an index of the Starbucks site used in the example (Store Locator, About Us, etc).    Many of my clients ask how they can get this added to their sites.

Important to know about SiteLinks is that it isn’t something you create or request.  It just happens, and it only happens if your site is laid out in a Google friendly manner and on sites with a good bit of quality content.  Most importantly, it only shows up for the top listing in any search.

For people who want to fully understand what Google is displaying and why, I recommend watching the video.