OK – long tail search never really went away but the ever
changing landscape of the search engines are certainly giving it a new emphasis.
This was recently
written on Search Engine Watch and here are some of the biggest drivers
leading to an increased emphasis on long tail search for attorneys…
INCREASING USE OF
MOBILE SEARCH
As
we have previously discussed, mobile search for attorneys is expected to
exceed PC based search by 2016. We also recently learned that 77%
of mobile search takes place at home or work – not exactly places requiring
high mobility. In short, mobile search is the future of search.
One of the more interesting aspects of mobile search is the growing
popularity of voice-based commands over typing. Thanks to the technology
provided by smart phones, more people are talking to search instead of typing leading
to longer and more specific queries (i.e. long tail search).
GROWING LEVELS OF
TARGETED KEYWORD SEARCH COMPETITION
How many times have you heard an attorney (or yourself)
judge results by how they (you) show up for a specific search term? Did you
ever think to ask yourself that what you are paying for may also be what other
attorneys are also paying for? Why invite such high levels of competition and
at such high costs? Since 50-70% of attorney searches online are typically
non-repeatable searches, why focus only on the smaller number of terms that
cost more? As we have reported, attorneys
are spending record amounts of money on PPC terms and driving up the costs
at the same time. Remember: everything online is a function of competition and being
a lemming is not typically the smartest way to lead.
CHANGES RESULTING FROM
GOOGLE PENGUIN AND PANDA RELEASES
Last year Google made 665 changes to their search algorithm.
In addition the quantity of changes, Google also made two of the arguably most
impactful changes with the Penguin (Links) and Panda (Content) changes. These changes were so transformational that
it has led many in the SEO community to literally change all of the rules they
worked under for many years…or go out of business altogether. Some law firms responded
by successfully changes to a more rich-content strategy with social media while
others simply gave up on SEO and started buying PPC ads again. Remember, Google
makes over 98% of their money from their paid advertising and the more people
who give-up, the more competition and higher prices they will command…which is exactly
what they want and you should not.
CONVERSION AS A
MEASUREMENT OF SUCCESS
There is an old saying that “you cannot manage what you cannot measure.” When it comes to
attorney marketing online, most failure comes from a lack of quality
measurements. In short, many attorneys continue to infatuate on search term
rankings, traffic levels, etc. while losing site on the whole reason they
advertise to begin with: new cases and client generation. Why would an attorney
want to be #1 for a specific search term that is more ubiquitous at the expense
of a more case-specific term? To wit: Is being #1 for “Kansas City Injury
Attorney” any better than showing up #1 for “Need Attorney For Truck Accident
Injury on 435”. Which term do you think is more case specific? BTW, both of these
terms came from actual searches to a client’s site…I am pretty sure how they
would answer this question. The question is a function of conversion. So if you
measure success by your overall level of visits, wouldn’t more case specific
(long tail) visits naturally convert better? Then why, assuming the same level
of visits, would an attorney want better results for lower converting terms?
Again, false measurements lead to bad results.
If you are an attorney who wants to be successful online,
you need to understand how ‘targeted” content and an active content strategy is
the key to capturing long-tail search results, leading to new case and client
generation.
WHAT TO DO NEXT…
Being a successful attorney online is not complicated if you
clearly define your goals and
utilize good and knowledgeable resources to help you achieve them. One of the
most cost effective ways to doing this is by creating a long-tail search
strategy around true measurements (cases and clients) of your results. Or you
can choose to be a lemming and see where that leads you.
Good analysis. I wonder how much lawyer v attorney matters in the end because I would think google may be smart enough to realize the terms are synonymous. This certainly did not used to be true but it may be true now.
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