As a legal professional, you know that staying on top of search engine trends is key to success in a digital world. Just when you think you’ve gotten ahead of the curve, something new and unexpected comes out of the woodwork.
Google's latest updates, rolled out in March 2024, bring significant changes that legal professionals need to understand and adapt to. These updates have the potential to reshape the digital landscape for law firms, affecting their search rankings, website traffic, and, ultimately, their ability to attract and retain clients online.
We at Rankings.io are here to dive deep into the specifics of the March 2024 Google Core/Spam Update, its implications for law firms, and actionable strategies to ensure your legal website not only complies but thrives with the new guidelines. Whether you've already noticed a shift in your website's performance or you're proactively looking to improve your legal SEO strategy, this guide is tailored to help law firms navigate the post-update landscape confidently.
What to Know About the March 2024 Google Core + Spam Update
First things first, a Core Update is Google's way of fine-tuning its algorithm to better meet searcher needs. Think of it as a routine check-up ensuring Google delivers its users the most relevant, high-quality, and credible content. These updates can have a varied impact on search rankings across the board, making some websites rise in search results while others may see a decline.
The Latest Google Core Update Further Prioritizes Helpful Content
The newest Google Core Update focuses on enhancing search results' overall quality and relevance. This update has a keen focus on enhancing the user experience by prioritizing content that demonstrates expertise, authority, and trustworthiness—traits that are particularly critical for law firms online. This update also places a stronger emphasis on website usability, encouraging law firms to ensure their sites are not just content-rich but also easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and fast-loading.
The Spam Policies Update Aims to Purge Low-Quality Content
The Spam Policies Update targets deceptive practices and aims to purge low-quality content from search results, reinforcing Google's commitment to improving the user search experience. Google considers "spam" to be anything from keyword stuffing (overusing certain words or phrases in an attempt to rank higher) to cloaking (showing different content to search engines than to users) and everything in between that compromises the integrity of search results. In addition to these metrics for identifying red flags, Google has updated its policy around three other areas:
Expired Domain Abuse
Google has identified and is now cracking down on the misuse of expired domains. For example, an entity may acquire expired domains with previously established reputations to fast-track its rankings. Under the new policy, Google aims to neutralize the advantage gained from such practices, ensuring that a website's current content and offerings influence its standing in search results.
Site Reputation Abuse
This update targets websites that artificially inflate their reputation by associating with or falsely claiming endorsements from reputable sites, organizations, or individuals. Google's enhanced algorithms are now better equipped to verify the legitimacy of such claims and endorsements.
Scaled Content Abuse
Lastly, Google is addressing scaled content abuse—practices where websites generate large volumes of content, often using automation, to dominate search results across various queries. This policy aims to prioritize content that brings genuine value and insight over quantity and manipulation. For law firms, this means focusing on producing high-quality, informative content that directly addresses the needs and questions of their target audience rather than resorting to content farms or automated content generation tools.
For law firms, this means that the stakes for online visibility and credibility are higher than ever. Adapting to these changes is not just about safeguarding your current search engine rankings; it's an opportunity to refine your digital marketing strategy, improve your website's user experience, and establish your firm as a leading authority in your legal niche.
Early Reports from the Front Lines
While some consequences of the new Google updates are likely to manifest more visibly in the coming weeks and months, the consensus among webmasters and SEO professionals is that the update has already been a game-changer, especially for sites that were previously on the borderline of Google's quality guidelines. Many have noted shifts in their rankings, with high-quality, informative content receiving a notable boost in visibility. Conversely, sites with thin or low-quality content have seen a decline.
On March 6th and 7th, Google began to issue manual action penalties related to the new spam guidelines. Google's manual actions are essentially a way for Google to reach down and adjust a website's visibility or rankings by hand, rather than relying solely on their automatic algorithms. This happens when a site is found to be in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines, such as using black-hat SEO techniques. It's Google's way of ensuring that their search results remain useful, relevant, and safe for users, even if it means individually addressing websites that step out of line. For site owners, receiving a manual action can be a wake-up call to review and rectify their practices.
Strategies to Safeguard Your Law Firm's Website
From crafting high-quality content to perfecting the user experience, here's how your law firm can rise to the challenge and enhance its digital footprint.
- Focus on High-Quality Content: Create comprehensive, authoritative, and original content that addresses your audience's needs. For law firms, this could involve detailed blog posts on legal issues, FAQs, or guides that demonstrate your expertise.
- Enhance User Experience (UX): Prioritize the user by designing a website that’s easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and quick to load. A seamless UX can significantly influence your website's standing in search rankings.
- E-E-A-T Principles: Emphasize Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness in your content, especially for law firms where these attributes are critical. Highlighting your lawyers’ credentials and publishing in-depth, quality-assured legal analysis can bolster your website's E-E-A-T.
Spam-Proofing Your Website
Your law firm can maintain a strong and positive online reputation by fortifying your online presence against spammy tactics and ensuring your SEO practices are clean and effective.
- Audit Your SEO Tactics: Regularly review your SEO strategies to ensure they align with Google’s guidelines. Avoid aggressive or deceptive tactics that could be considered spammy, like keyword stuffing or invisible text.
- Secure Your Site: Implement robust security measures to protect against hacking and spam. Trustworthy sites use HTTPS encryption, keep software up to date, and monitor for unusual activity.
- Quality Backlinks: Focus on earning backlinks from reputable sites within the legal field rather than resorting to link-buying or exchanges, which Google might penalize.
Emphasizing Technical SEO
The trifecta of content quality, user experience, and technical SEO has never been more crucial in the aftermath of Google's latest update.
- Website Performance: Regularly test your website’s performance on different devices and browsers. Address issues related to slow load times or broken pages immediately.
- Structured Data: Utilize schema markup to help search engines understand and index your content more effectively. This is particularly beneficial for event listings, FAQs, and bio pages of attorneys.
- Mobile-First Indexing: Given Google’s mobile-first approach, ensure your website is optimized for mobile viewing, providing a positive experience for users on smartphones and tablets.
Recovering from Potential Negative Impacts
Even with the best practices in place, Google's updates can sometimes lead to unexpected dips in rankings or traffic. Actionable advice and insights will help your law firm navigate the recovery process should you get hit with a dip in rankings or traffic you didn’t expect.
- Revise and Improve Content: Update old posts, remove low-quality pages, and ensure all content is valuable, informative, and user-focused.
- Remove or Disavow Toxic Backlinks: Use tools to identify and remove harmful backlinks, or use Google’s disavow tool as a last resort.
- Seek Professional Help: Consider consulting SEO experts, especially those experienced with legal websites, for a more targeted recovery strategy.
And there you have it — your navigational chart through the shifting tides of Google's latest Core/Spam update. So, gear up, align your strategies with Google's latest policies, and watch your firm rise to the top, one quality click at a time
