As a law firm there is really no better marketing way of getting your company name in the public domain than appearing in a Google search result page. As most people know however, this is only useful to you if your services are shown on the first page of results. It is not often people will look any further than that. This means it is of vital importance that you know best how to ensure your place at the top of the results page. The first major step you must take towards achieving first page position is a close inspection of your website content. “Content is king” is the old adage and it really does apply. Firstly, and most importantly, your content should include information that you know your target demographic will be searching for. If for example you are trying to get more traffic on your pages about family law, you must make sure that your content includes all the relevant information prospective clients would be likely to search for on this topic. You must also make sure that your content is updated as regularly as possible. Frequent updates of fresh, original and relevant content are essential to the improvement of your Google ranking. Another thing to consider about your content, is the use of graphics and images. Whilst it is good to use photos to showcase your office and staff, filling your website with images will do nothing to help your position. Search engines find images difficult to understand, so make sure you don’t display key information in images without providing text alternatives. Your site layout will have a huge impact on your position in a search result. It’s great to have a big, informative site. This will, however, be wasted if the geography of your site is not carefully considered. Firstly you should ensure that you have a sitemap. This should be a page or menu, dedicated to helping people to quickly and efficiently find the information they are looking for. In the same way this will help individuals find what they are looking for, it will also help Google do the same. It is important that the structure of your site is as simple as possible. This doesn’t mean that you cut down on the content, only that you have clear routes for people to get to it. As a general rule of thumb you should make sure that users are only ever two clicks away from your home page. This simple style will help Google to find the correct information for someone using their search engine. There are some very simple ways to quickly improve your position. Firstly, you can look at your use of keywords and phrases. You should start off by making a list of any terms you feel should be included in your content. For example, a page about immigration should incorporate the words ‘visa’ ‘citizenship’ ‘asylum’ ‘migration’ etc. It is important to make your page keyword rich without “over-stuffing”. So continue on to make a shortlist of these words and phrases then work to incorporate as many of them as you can while still maintaining a high standard, understandable and informative nature to your page. Another simple step to take, is to increase your use of back-links. This means placing a link to your site on other sites. This is an easy way to increase your sites traffic. For this to impact your Google ranking the links must be relevant to the information you are displaying. This helps you on your way to a place on the first page. Google+, if used correctly, can make all the difference on your position in the search results. It is a great tool to help you improve your ranking. You can sign up to Google+ in minutes, and it is a completely free service. You then need to ask for reviews of your company. It is important to think carefully about who you ask for a review, as you need them to be positive to have the desired effect. It is important that you find the right time to ask for these reviews to make sure they frame your firm in the best light. Aim to get 2 – 3 each month, totaling 24 – 36 in a year. Such a volume will have a huge impact on your ranking and boost you onto the first page of results both locally and nationally. Another free service that can help is ‘Google Analytics’. This easy to use page can give you an important insight into the success of your site. It can help you to see how many people are visiting which parts of your site on a daily basis. This in turn can help you to work out which bits of your site are working well and which bits may need improving. Keeping up to date with this and learning from the statistics can quickly help you to improve your traffic to specific pages on your site, and also the site as a whole. To find out how we can assist you in improving your Google ranking, please phone us on 01767 600544.