Many people have heard that the age of their website, as well as their links, can affect the way Google “credits” the website. To most SEO consultants, it makes perfect sense why the domain name is now used as a legal SEO consideration—think about it, older domains have obviously been around longer, garnering them at least the perception of being more successful and reliable. Since most spammers only ply their tricks for a limited time, with Google giving high points for domain age, the spammers are no longer able to pull in high rankings using black hat tricks. Of course the age of your domain name and links are far from the only part of the equation in your law firm SEO ranking, meaning the effect may not be the only deciding factor—good news for those of you who are just jumping into the marketing waters via your legal website.
Establishing Your Law Firm’s Reputation
In fact, many solid legal firms can establish a good SEO ranking within a year of the domain name’s registration. Keep in mind, however, that it’s not only the registration date, but also the number of back links and the period over which those particular back links were created. That’s why, when a reputable legal firm decides to go with a new domain name, they thankfully don’t lose their ranking as the back links from their old site are simply redirected to the new website. As far as Google is concerned, your firm is creating a “library” of sorts over time which consists of unique, quality content with back links, giving you a decided advantage in the SEO wars. Like it or not, however, the newest legal websites truly will take a good year before they have a high—and more importantly, steady—ranking.
The “Other” Side
Just as there are those who believe age of site and links is vitally important, there are others who think it matters not at all. It’s been noted that it could be more related to correlation rather than causation if you are backing up your age theory by the fact you will quite often pull up websites which may be dated two, three, four, even more years back. Perhaps those people who registered early simply got great domain names, exact match domain names, or short domain names. They’ve had a longer time to build their brand, let more people know about them, reference them, link to them. They’ve likely been in the media or press, and are included in directories and lists which are linked to by the important people. Because of all these factors, it may look as if these earlier sites perform better simply due to their age. Those who don’t believe in the age factor will tell you that if you produced a site today, and accomplished all the things a ten-year old site has, you would likely outrank them because you’ve earned those links, reputation and brand much faster. Personally, I’m still leaning toward the side that says age of your law firml website actually does matter.
Update Frequently
Many SEO professionals believe that a website’s age and constantly updated content will, in the end, get them much higher up in the rankings than going strictly on backlinks and keywords. Not to imply that the backlinks and keywords aren’t critically important, but if you are thinking about the long-haul rather than the immediate results, you just can’t forget to update your content frequently and be patient as your domain name ages. Bottom line is that Google, as well as other search engines reward older websites in the belief the content will remain solid for people to read—again, as long as it is updated regularly in order to keep your readers coming back for more. I realize I’ve mentioned it more than once, but you just can’t neglect the last part of that sentence—update regularly. Even a once-powerfully performing page can gradually work its way down the list if it hasn’t been updated since initial publication.
Just as having children requires a great deal of patience and fortitude as they struggle through their awkward or difficult periods, so will your legal website require some of this same patience and fortitude. Be steady, add content often, make sure your keywords and backlinks are stellar quality, then wait patiently as your attorney website grows up, matures, and becomes what you knew it could all along!
Call (769) 218-6099 for free advice from experts in the Law Firm SEO and link building industry.
