There’s definitely a difference between off-page SEO and on-page SEO. But when we talk about off-page SEO, we’re referring to activities external to the website that still affect search engine rankings. Essentially this is any type of marketing you put out there that isn’t just focused on your law firm’s site. For example, public relations, blogging, submitting press releases, and building links.
Your goal with off-page SEO is to increase your website’s credibility and visibility. If you can show search engines that your site is a popular destination on the web, it will give you a higher rank amongst your peers in competitive listings.
It is essential for any law firm to understand how off-page SEO works because of how tightly these ranking factors are intertwined with on-page ones. In other words, it’s important for your site to have great content and the right amount of links pointing back to it in order for someone searching online to find you.
Below are some off-page search engine marketing activities you should consider incorporating into your overall digital marketing strategy.
1. SEO
There are two types of backlinks that you should focus on building for off-page SEO: natural links and earned links. Natural links are those that come as a result of your site being shared, talked about, or referenced in an article somewhere else. In other words, these are the ones you can’t control.
Earned links are the ones you can. They are created through activities that help increase your site’s credibility and visibility, including submitting press releases, guest blogging on related sites, participating in link-building campaigns with bloggers and industry influencers, engaging in social media outreach to build relationships with other influential members of your market, etc.
There are also some older, well-established link-building techniques you should not ignore. For example directory links and resource page links. These types of links may be frowned upon by the latest search engine updates but they still help increase your site’s visibility. If done properly, they can provide both natural and earned links that work to enhance your site’s ranking power.
2. Social Media Marketing
The most popular social media sites today are Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But there are others with a greater impact on off-page search engine optimization.
Here is a list of the top six that you should consider engaging in: community forums, industry-related groups, and discussion boards; social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Reddit, and Delicious; multimedia sharing sites such as YouTube, Flickr, and SlideShare; news-focused sites such as Yahoo News, Google News, and Techmeme; microblogging platforms such as Tumblr, Plurk and Posterous.
Also, consider niche social media sites that cater to members of your target market. This can be a great way to build natural links and outreach for your law firm’s site.
3. Blogging
Blogging is another tool that helps increase your website’s visibility with both on-page and off-page SEO benefits. However, it requires regular updates in order for search engines to consider it valuable.
Try to post at least once a week in order to get the best results. Or use other types of content, such as infographics or videos, which can help you stay active on your site.
4. Track Your Progress
To truly benefit from search engine rankings, you need to track your progress. Google Analytics is the gold standard solution for this. It will help you monitor all the activities that go on behind the scenes on your website, including traffic sources and conversions.
There are also several free tools available online that will help you keep track of all the social media profiles you’re building. Here are some of my favourites:
- Google Alerts – regularly sends updates on new posts, press releases, and other relevant news items
- Talk walker Alerts – provides a detailed report of your brand’s mentions across several social networks
- Social Mention – shows how often people are talking about you in the blogosphere, forums, and social networks
- URL Shorteners – not only make it easier for people to see your links on Twitter (140 characters is a pretty small space), they also tell you how many clicks your links are getting
Similar to analytics, social media tools can provide you with valuable insights into how search engines view your site.
For example, if you discover that people are regularly sharing your content on Digg and Stumble Upon, it’s safe to assume both communities have indexed your site. Which means they’re giving it a lot of credibilities online.
5. Content Is King
When it comes to SEO, quality always wins out over quantity. You should strive to create fresh, unique, and helpful content that’s chock-full of keywords. This will help you rank higher in search engine results because it provides users with exactly what they’re searching for.
It’s not enough to simply write blog posts or articles though! You also need to distribute your work across the web using social media, directories, and guest blogging on other relevant sites.
The benefit of this strategy is that it boosts your off-page SEO for law firms. In other words, you’re not just relying on internal ranking factors to improve your site’s visibility in search engine results pages.
6. Engage With Others
Always keep in mind that the more people come into contact with your law firm and its offerings. The higher your site’s search engine rankings will climb. The key here is to create a win-win situation for everyone involved.
This means seeking out your target markets and establishing relationships with them on social media, blogs, and other types of communities. This way you can spread the word about what you do from multiple angles.
Conclusion:
SEO is no longer an option for law firms wanting to remain competitive in the market. To see results, you need to adopt a nine-pronged approach that consists of numerous strategies and tactics (such as those listed here). Once you start seeing results on your website, it’s time to reassess your SEO game plan.
SEO can be a powerful tool for law firms to generate targeted, high-quality leads while establishing trust with potential clients. If you’re not using SEO strategies in your marketing plans, it’s time to get started so you can excel this year!
