We’d be surprised if you have never encountered the terms search engine optimization (SEO) or search engine marketing (SEM). These acronyms are everywhere on the web and it is important to understand their meaning and how they apply to your law firm’s marketing goals.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
This is a catch-all term that includes all tactics used to increase website search rank and generate traffic on the web. SEM includes organic (unpaid) search engine optimization (SEO) as well as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO describes the practice of designing, promoting and improving a website in order to increase the number of visitors a site receives from search engines such as Google.
What Do You Need to Get Started?
Crawling and indexing is a crucial part of how search engines operate. Without giving them a website to crawl and index, you don’t have anything to show up for for in search engine results pages. With this in mind, creating a website that is accessible to Google’s web crawlers is the first step in a successful SEO strategy. Two additional must-haves for basic SEO are:
- Compelling website content: Searchers are often asking a question and it is crucial for your content to provide the answers they need about their legal issue or need. That content can be long-form articles that go in-depth on an issue, shorter marketing pages that describe your services, or blog post that cover topical issues your potential clients are faced with.
- Keyword optimization: This goes hand-in-hand with compelling website content. Content that is engaging, useful and relevant for you users will almost always have the keywords in place that the search engines are looking for. After all, the quality and usefulness of the content is a major part of Google’s search algorithms.
Once these basics are in place, you can take additional steps to improve your competitiveness. Even better, you don’t have to do any of this on your own; you can leave your SEO and digital marketing needs in the hands of our proven pros at Above the Bar Marketing.
