Have you ever noticed that every URL has the letters “HTTP” or “HTTPS” in front of it? You may not have even paid attention to those letters, but they can play a significant role in your law firm SEO and Google rankings. The following is a brief explanation of how these protocols work. For more detailed information and to discover how to improve your website’s rankings, contact Matador Solutions today.

HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP is an acronym for HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is the way our computer systems communicate over the internet to web servers, sending HTTP requests, and receiving HTTP responses.

While HTTP and HTTPS do basically the same thing, there is one critical difference and that is security. The S in HTTPS stands for the security of a website. HTTPS creates an encrypted link between the browser and the webserver. This can be done in two ways, either through a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or through a Transport Layer Security (TLS), which is the new version of SSL. This is done by using a digital certificate, also referred to as an SSL certificate.

The SSL certificate provides the following:

• Higher Google ranking: When a URL does not have an SSL certificate, Google shows the “not secure” icon, which can have a negative impact on your law firm SEO.
• Improves the speed: By encrypting and reducing the size of data being transmitted, the speed of that transmission is much faster.
• Integrity of data: Even if hackers should somehow manage to intercept the data being communicated, the encryption prohibits them from reading or modifying it.
• Secure communication: All communication takes place over an encrypted link, protecting the information that is being passed between the browser and the server.
• Security and privacy: Hackers are unable to listen to the communication being passed.

Move to Eliminate HTTP

Because of the high risk of having your data compromised if there is no protection from an SSL certificate, in 2018, Google began the not secure labeling on all sites that were only HTTP, letting users know that by going on that site, there was a potential danger of being hacked.

In addition to the Google warning, there is also the potential invasion of privacy from the consumer’s own internet provider. Providers are allowed to look at a consumer’s web browsing history and sell that information to advertisers. But when browsing HTTPS sites seriously limits the amount of data that an internet provider can see. They can see a consumer has visited a website, but they cannot see which pages of that site were browsed.

Let Our Company Help

If you would like to learn more about HTTPS, SSL certificates, and how your law firm SEO may be affected, contact Matador Solutions today. Our digital marketing agency provides a myriad of services, including search engine optimization, email marketing, pay-per-click, and more.

Law Firm SEO in the Digital Age 

If you have a law firm and do not have a digital presence on the internet or if your website is not attracting the numbers and kinds of clients you want, a company that knows how to do law firm SEO may be just what you need.

Search engine optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, is a way to get search engines such as Google to recognize your website as better than your competitors so that potential clients see your law firm before they see your competition.

If you are looking to get more traffic to your website so that more potential clients see it, law firm SEO may be for you.

SEO Marketing

While traditional marketing strategies that use television, print, and radio advertisements to get the public’s attention are still relevant, more and more, people are relying on the internet when they are interested in a new service or product. This means that it is getting more and more important to have a strong internet presence with a user-friendly website that is easy to find. 

If you are a lawyer, you know how hard the competition amongst other firms in your area is for lawyers who provide the same kinds of services you do. Depending on the location of your office(s) and the kind(s) of law you practice, the competition for cases can be stiff.

When potential clients are looking online for a lawyer, many of them just assume that the top spots on Google are for the best and most popular lawyers who are highly rated. The reality is that when Google “decides” to put a law firm on the first page, it has nothing to do with client, peer or professional reviews and ratings. It has to do with whether or not Google recognizes it as a website that is higher quality than other websites. 

Law firm SEO is becoming more and more important to lawyers who want to stay ahead of the competition and to get potential clients into their digital door (i.e. looking at their website). 

SEO Is Cost-Effective

A key advantage to investing a part of your marketing budget in SEO is that SEO is typically much more cost-effective than traditional modes of advertising. Many law firms are finding that for just a fraction of what they have been spending in the past, with SEO they get more bang for their buck. 

Not only is SEO cost-effective, a good law firm SEO company knows and understands how busy lawyers are and the time constraints they work under. Some of the better SEO companies offer different kinds of plans to meet the needs of different lawyers. Some lawyers have more time than others and/or want more of an input into their marketing plans whereas others just want to know that their marketing company is making sure their website stays at the top of Google searches.

Types of Blog Posts

Your firm’s website is the first thing many potential clients see when they are searching for an attorney. In order to drive those potential clients to your site, there are may tools that a law firm SEO company can provide, such as creating blog posts that are relevant, as well as contain the keywords that people are searching for and the metadata that will increase the odds of people clicking on your site. All of these things are referred to as on-site search optimization.

When it comes to posting blogs, there are three formats that have better rates of driving traffic to websites. The first type is those blog posts that answer an online user’s question. Having blogs that answer specific questions that a potential client might be typing in the search bar or speaking to a voice-activated assistant like Alexa or Siri will attract more traffic.

The second type of blog post format that is more successful at law firm SEO are those that discuss current events. Publishing a blog post that is covering a hot topic item demonstrates to the clients that your law firm stays on top of current events. These types of posts can include the passage of new laws, court rulings, or high-profile cases.

The third type of blog post that drives more traffic to websites is those that use numbered lists. For example, a numbered blog post for a family law firm could be the three most important issues that should be covered in a parenting plan. These blog formats do very well in search rankings and are even sometimes used as a featured snippet.

There are also enhanced SEO techniques that can be used. One of the most successful of those enhanced techniques is posting guest blogs to other websites which are recognized as a reliable source of information and receive high amounts of traffic. When Google and other search engines are determining where a site should be ranked in a search, there are certain signals the search engines look for. One of these signals is links from other sites – or backlinks – which indicate that online users consider a site to be helpful and relevant.

Posting guest blogs to these types of other sites is a great way to build up backlinks to your own website. There is a wide array of topics and issues that you can submit that relate to your firm’s particular areas of practice.

For example, if you have a divorce and family law practice, your firm could submit posts on popular parenting blogs about some of the issues that need to be addressed in divorce and custody cases. These guests blog posts can help establish your firm as a trusted authority in that area of law, as well as providing a source of information that can help people who are going through a difficult legal time. That same reader who is searching online for answers about how divorce can affect children is likely considering divorce or has already decided to divorce and will need a divorce attorney to represent them. It is a strong way to build up law firm SEO.

How We Can Help

Our SEO marketing experts have been in the field a long time and know what they are doing. We have over 30 years of experience in this field and retain 95% of our clients, which shows just how satisfied people are when they hire us to help them with marketing their business. We know that your goal is to increase viewership and reach a wider audience, and we know how to do that through correct keyword usage and other prospecting techniques. 

We will take care of marketing so that you can focus on your caseload and law firm. This helps you to make a difference where you are needed, and we will take an extra weight off your shoulders so you can fully put your time into something you care deeply about. 

Our Strategy 

When we create your pages, we like to include a certain amount of popular keywords we know people will be searching for. We also always share what makes you unique and why people should use your firm above another one. Customers will care about factors like having an empathetic lawyer or someone who is available around the clock to help them. We will include details like this in your SEO pages so that people who find your pages see how you stand out. 

We create each page carefully and intentionally so that you get the most out of your content. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to law, so we don’t use that for SEO marketing. We will personalize each page carefully to match your values and your practice. You are welcome to work with us as much or as little as you would like to create the perfect pages for your firm. 

Get Started Today

Get started in SEO marketing with us today so your law firm can reach its maximum potential. By communicating to a larger audience you will be able to gather more customers online, some of which might refer you to friends and family. This gives an enormous opportunity for growth and can really send business skyrocketing. We will be happy to help you so you can begin to help more clients. 

Contact Matador Solutions for Your Law Firm SEO Needs

For all of your marketing needs, contact Matador Solutions, forerunners in the law firm SEO race that can help you be the first law firm to get to the top- the top of the search engine page where potential clients will see you first. This will give you a leg up on the competition and help people think to contact you before your competitors. Contact us today to see what plan would be a good fit for you and we will get started on creating content for you right away. Don’t hesitate — the sooner you start focusing on search engine optimization for your law firm the better.