Google SEO For Lawyers Ranking Factors – #41 – 75
Google recently released a document which shows that there are at least 200 Ranking Factors, 200. Some obviously are more important then others, and some have almost no influence. So its key to know what works in 2018 and 2019 to get your lawyer website ranked higher, so you can start getting more leads from clients looking for your legal services.
I have gone over the first 40 in other posts and am listing the next 35 here. Then I will create a post on what the TOP 20 overall ranking factors are out of these 200 possible factors. Bottom line is there are a LOT of different things that go into ranking your website, so you cant go overboard on any 1 thing, other then creating high quality unique content. If you do that, you will have a big advantage. Yet if everyone else is doing that, then it will come down to who is doing the most of these 200 different factors.
SEO Ranking factors from Google for Lawyers:
41. “Hidden” Content on Mobile: Hidden content on mobile devices may not get indexed (or may not be weighed as heavily) vs. fully visible content. However, a Googler recently stated that hidden content is OK. But also said that in the same video, “…if it’s critical content it should be visible…”.
42. Helpful “Supplementary Content”: According to a now-public Google Rater Guidelines Document, helpful supplementary content is an indicator of a page’s quality (and therefore, Google ranking). Examples include currency converters, loan interest calculators and interactive recipes.
43. Content Hidden Behind Tabs: Do users need to click on a tab to reveal some of the content on your page? If so, Google has said that this content “may not be indexed”.
44. Number of Outbound Links: Too many dofollow OBLs can “leak” PageRank, which can hurt that page’s rankings.
*** So this is interesting because it makes sense that you dont want to include a ton of links, BUT it can help to include a couple of outbound links to authority websites.
45. Multimedia: Images, videos and other multimedia elements may act as a content quality signal. For example, one industry study found a correlation between multimedia and rankings:
*** No doubt having more images and videos will help you rank better and keep people on your site longer, which is key.
46. Number of Internal Links Pointing to Page: The number of internal links to a page indicates its importance relative to other pages on the site.
*** So this means you should make sure that you links other pages together, especially when they make sense. So if you do a blog post on divorce law, link to the divorce law practice page, and other related posts.
47. Quality of Internal Links Pointing to Page: Internal links from authoritative pages on domain have a stronger effect than pages with no or low PageRank.
48. Broken Links: Having too many broken links on a page may be a sign of a neglected or abandoned site. The Google Rater Guidelines Document uses broken links as one was to assess a homepage’s quality.
49. Reading Level: There’s no doubt that Google estimates the reading level of webpages. In fact, Google used to give you reading level stats:
But what they do with that information is up for debate. Some say that a basic reading level will help you rank better because it will appeal to the masses. But others associate a basic reading level with content mills like Ezine Articles.
50. Affiliate Links: Affiliate links themselves probably won’t hurt your rankings. But if you have too many, Google’s algorithm may pay closer attention to other quality signals to make sure you’re not a “thin affiliate site“.
51. HTML errors/W3C validation: Lots of HTML errors or sloppy coding may be a sign of a poor quality site. While controversial, many in SEO think that a well-coded page is uses as a quality signal.
52. Domain Authority: All things being equal, a page on an authoritative domain will rank higher than a page on a domain with less authority.
*** So here you want to get quality links from authority websites in your niche, this will help raise your domain authority score.
53. Page’s PageRank: Not perfectly correlated. But pages with lots of authority tend to outrank pages without much link authority.
54. URL Length: Excessively long URLs may hurt a page’s search engine visibility. In fact, several industry studies have found that short URLs tend to have a slight edge in Google’s search results.
55. URL Path: A page closer to the homepage may get a slight authority boost vs. pages buried deep down in a site’s architecture.
56. Human Editors: Although never confirmed, Google has filed a patent for a system that allows human editors to influence the SERPs.
57. Page Category: The category the page appears on is a relevancy signal. A page that’s part of a closely related category may get a relevancy boost compared to a page that’s filed under an unrelated category.
58. WordPress Tags: Tags are WordPress-specific relevancy signal. According to Yoast.com:
59. Keyword in URL: Another relevancy signal. A Google rep recently called this a “a very small ranking factor“. But a ranking factor nontheless.
60. URL String: The categories in the URL string are read by Google and may provide a thematic signal to what a page is about:
61. References and Sources: Citing references and sources, like research papers do, may be a sign of quality. The Google Quality Guidelines states that reviewers should keep an eye out for sources when looking at certain pages: “This is a topic where expertise and/or authoritative sources are important…”. However, Google has denied that they use external links as a ranking signal.
*** Everything Ive heard is that this is a ranking signal, if you link out to the right sites that make sense to the page and dont overdo it.
62. Bullets and Numbered Lists: Bullets and numbered lists help break up your content for readers, making them more user friendly. Google likely agrees and may prefer content with bullets and numbers.
*** This is an interesting one but I think it makes sense and it makes it easier for the reader to view your content when the info is in lists and has bullet points….
63. Priority of Page in Sitemap: The priority a page is given via the sitemap.xml file may influence ranking.
64. Too Many Outbound Links: Straight from the aforementioned Quality rater document:
65. Quantity of Other Keywords Page Ranks For: If the page ranks for several other keywords, it may give Google an internal sign of quality.
66. Page Age: Although Google prefers fresh content, an older page that’s regularly updated may outperform a newer page.
*** SO a thought here is to go back to older content, update it and change the date to show Google the content is now freshly updated….
67. User Friendly Layout: Citing the Google Quality Guidelines Document yet again:
68. Parked Domains: A Google update in December of 2011 decreased search visibility of parked domains.
69. Useful Content: As pointed out by Backlinko reader Jared Carrizales, Google may distinguish between “quality” and “useful” content.
70. Content Provides Value and Unique Insights: Google has stated that they’re happy to penalize sites that don’t bring anything new or useful to the table, especially thin affiliate sites.
71. Contact Us Page: The aforementioned Google Quality Document states that they prefer sites with an “appropriate amount of contact information”. Supposed bonus if your contact information matches your whois info.
72. Domain Trust/TrustRank: Many SEOs believe that “TrustRank” is a massively important ranking factor. And a recently-filed Google Patent titled “Search result ranking based on trust”, seems to back this up.
73. Site Architecture: A well put-together site architecture (for example, a silo structure) helps Google thematically organize your content. It can also helps Googlebot access and index all of your site’s pages.
74. Site Updates: Many SEOs believe that website updates — and especially when new content is added to the site — works a site-wide freshness factor. Although Google has recently denied that they use “publishing frequency” in their algorithm.
75. Presence of Sitemap: A sitemap helps search engines index your pages easier and more thoroughly, improving visibility.
Thats a lot of factors for SEO Rankings ! So its key that you have someone update your website on a regular basis and make sure your following as many of these factors as possible. Create high quality content for your law firm website, get solid links from authority websites and follow all of Googles rules in order to get your lawyer website ranked in the top 10 at Google organic results.
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