Three Law Firm SEO Trends for 2019

To make sure you stay on top of your law firm’s marketing, take some time to familiarize yourself with some of the key law firm SEO trends for 2019. The techniques behind search engine optimization are always changing, so it is essential to know what works and what does not, which will allow you to adjust your SEO strategy accordingly.

Mobile-First Indexing

One of the most important law firm SEO trends for 2019 is mobile-first indexing, and this applies to law firms as well as any other business or service provider. Mobile-first indexing refers to the fact that Google relies on your mobile website for ranking and indexing. While the desktop version continues to play a role in your ranking, the mobile version is becoming much more important and will eventually be the primary one that Google uses for rankings. In fact, Google began migrating websites to this type of ranking in March 2018, but the process will not be complete until some point in 2019. Even so, now is the time to act. Optimizing your law firm’s website for mobile users is no longer optional, but necessary. Keep in mind that Google suggests sticking to either responsive or m-dot designs, not both, since using both will confuse crawlers and hurt your ranking.

Brand Reputation

Since law firms tend to focus on a specific geographic location, your brand recognition may or may not be very large. Either way, you should know that Google utilizes your brand mentions to help with its search algorithm. This is done in two ways, including unlinked brand mentions that help Google determine your law firm’s brand entity to figure out your authority status within your field. Additionally, the context and sentiment of every component are important, including trust, reputation, complaint-solving, and advertising. Google uses context to separate positive from negative to help determine brand sentiment.

To take advantage of this law firm SEO trend for 2019, work toward organically creating linkless backlinks by mentioning your law firm online within natural opportunities. You should also maintain your reputation by engaging with happy clients and addressing any pains with your brand. Additionally, you can use influencers as part of this aspect of your SEO strategy.

Fast Page Speeds

The page speed has always had an impact on your SEO ranking, but this is, even more, the case for 2019. Recently, Google added page speed for mobile websites to its ranking criteria as well, with grades for optimization and speed. Importantly, the speed score comes from the real Chrome User Experience report, meaning it reflects real-world loading times. For now, the optimization score is more important than the speed score. But the speed score will become crucial in 2019, so now is the time to take steps towards getting your page to load more quickly.

Takeaway

Of course, SEO trends are constantly changing so your law firm’s marketing team should do its best to stay up-to-date on recent developments regarding Google’s ranking algorithms and SEO strategies to remain competitive. If you’re ready to improve your law firm’s search rankings in the new year but still have some questions, contact us for a free consultation.