Nearly everybody realizes that the need to build links on your legal website is a constant, even though other factors may change, and trends may come and go. Having a large number of high-quality links has consistently stood the test of time, serving as a solid indicator of your legal site’s relevance and standing in the search engines. Quality links are responsible for infusing new life into your attorney website, creating a successful site which brings a steady stream of fresh new visitors on a daily basis. The question, then, is how much is too much? Is it possible to incorporate too much of a good thing into your law firm website? Well, Google seems to think so, but before you panic, realize that Google is not judging your inbound referrals, but rather on-page links from one section of your legal website to the other, or to external pages.
What’s Google’s “Magic” Number?
Google’s “official” recommendation used to be that the links on each page be kept to a reasonable number—they set this “reasonable” number as somewhere below 100. However the creepy-crawly spiders of today are able to perform much more effectively, and will now read a considerably longer portion of the page before indexing it. In this case, having more than 100 links will likely set off the spam filter’s “alarm,” and result in a lower-perceived quality for your page. While it is unlikely that any legal website will have more than 100 links on a single page, if you do, be ruthless and cut. If you are unable to cut, split your page into two or more new pages. Dropping the number of links in this way can get you out of the spam radar, allowing your legal website pages to rank higher.
Why 100?
If you are wondering about Google’s seemingly arbitrary number of links they “allow,” then you need to think about each link on your legal website’s pages as a choice your potential clients have to make. When they run across a link, they either decide to follow the link in order to get to the information they are searching for, or they ignore the link and continue on with the page they are currently reading. If you have 100 links on a single page, you are asking your reader to essentially make 100 choices—a simply overwhelming prospect in this fast-paced day and age.
How Many Links Should I Use in My Legal Blog?
Using keywords in your links is a great way to boost your legal SEO, bringing more traffic to your legal blog through search engine keyword searches. This is due to the fact that Google’s algorithm gives linked text heavier weight than non-linked text. But—too many links can be viewed as span, and Google will remove your law firm’s blog from search engine results entirely, which is exactly what you don’t want to happen. Experts in the field give the “accepted” link-to-text ratio as one link for every 125 words. Therefore, if your blog is 500 words, you are safe including four links in your post, and if those links are keyword-specific, all the better. Keep in mind that once a blog is flagged as spam and removed from search engine rankings, it can be sheer torture getting it readmitted. Where you legal blogs are concerned–stay within the acceptable limit.
As if you didn’t have enough things to worry about when considering your law firm’s SEO and website rankings, now you have to worry about having too many links. Well, it’s really not as bad as it sounds, and once you realize that a fewer number of higher quality links can garner you much more success than a larger number of so-so links, you are on your way to legal SEO success.
