Google Local (also known as Google Places or Google Maps) is typically found when the searcher performs both a keyword and geographical search… for example “Civil Rights Lawyers in Cleveland OH” or “Toledo Ohio Accident Attorney“.  Between the pay per click ads and the natural (or organic) results appears a map and a list of law firms, a pin indicating each firm’s location.  Google has also begun selling priority placement on these map results.  The location of the map on the search results page, and now it’s potential for being an additional revenue source, point to the Google Local area playing a big part in future internet marketing strategies.

Essentially all this means is that the law firms that recognize the opportunity that the internet has to grow their practice have one more thing to consider.  A well optimized website, although essential right now, may not be the only thing that will maintain a strong internet presence in the future.

So the natural conclusion is to look for as many linking opportunities as possible.  In a recent announcement regarding links, Google’s anti-spam engineer Matt Cutts, reminds us to proceed with caution especially when it comes to paid links.  The official Google policy on paid links is as follows:

“Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.”

It now appears that Google has been working on new algorithms and tools to be able to detect paid links.  So although these types of instant rankings boosters may be temporarily beneficial, ultimately they could result in devastating consequences for your website. Once paid links are found going to your website, Google will completely remove your website from search results as soon as they are discovered.  Google also allows for the reporting of link violations, something that your competitors may also be on the watch for.  So between the algorithm itself and vengeful competitors, it’s not about if but more like when you will be discovered.

The better alternative is to build credible in-bound links from websites that do not engage in any link selling.  Although this takes more time, you avoid the risk of having your website disappear all together.  This type of consistent, gradual increasing of the value of your website will show the search engines that your website’s position is warranted and not stolen.

Factors in Search Engine Optimization from Matt Cutts

In an interview published on March 14th, Google’s Matt Cutts outlined some of the factors that play a part in determining a website’s search rankings.  For many of you reading this article, the vast majority of those factors are completely controlled by your website developer.  So your best action plan as it relates to those elements is to hire a website builder that will build your site with both design and optimization best practices in mind.

However, one area that you can help control is the number of websites that link to yours.  And not just your website, but also all of the pages within your website.  When asked about how many pages Google will index within a website (which plays a big part in determining rankings), Matt Cutts made it very clear that links are a big part of that equation…  “There is also not a hard limit on our crawl.  The best way to think about it is that the number of pages that we crawl is roughly proportional to your PageRank.  So if you have a lot of incoming links on your root page, we’ll definitely crawl that.  Then your root page may link to other pages, and those will get PageRank and we’ll crawl those as well.  As you get deeper and deeper in your site, however, PageRank tends to decline.”

So I know what you are thinking… let’s develop as many links as possible from as many websites as we can.  Your on the right track, but proceed with caution.  The value of the website that is linking to your website is as important as the link itself.  Relevance and credibility of the site play a part in how much value will be given for that link.  Especially if the link is coming from a website known for selling links, or as Google likes to call them “spammy” websites.

This is a common tactic used by companies that solicit their optimization services with offers that are too good to be true… “guaranteed page one ranking on Google for only $500!”.  As my mother always says, you get what you pay for!  These types of optimization companies will sell links from websites in which their only purpose is to create link juice.  So when implemented, the website experiences a temporary boost in rankings – “Hello first page of Google”.  But once these tricky links are discovered, the value of the link is lowered and the rankings are lost – “Easy come, easy go”.

The best bet in creating these valuable links is to contribute to the on-line community in relevant and legitimate ways.  Blogging, Twittering, FaceBook, YouTube, LinkedIn – all are great ways to establish relevant inbound links to your website.  Or, you could always hire a legitimate search engine optimization company to do it for you

It’s not possible to get top 10 rankings on Google by focusing on a single strategy. Getting listed on Google requires you to work on all elements of your website. Here are the top 5 factors that influence the position of your website in Google’s search results:

Ranking factor 1: website accessibility

It doesn’t make sense to optimize your web pages if search engines cannot access your web pages:

• The HTML code of your web pages should be error-free and your web server should return the correct response code. The contents of your web pages should be readable to search engine spiders.

Ranking factor 2: site architecture

Google wants to show relevant websites in the search results. Your website shouldn’t be a collection of random web pages. If you want to get top 10 rankings on Google, the pages of your website should be related.

Your web pages should show Google that your website is relevant to a certain topic. All pages of your website should be linked. If possible, web surfers should reach any page of your website with a maximum of three clicks.

The links and the directory structure of your website should make it easy to search engines to categorize the contents of your website.

Ranking factor 3: keywords

Choosing the right keywords is one of the most important steps. If you choose the wrong keywords, you won’t succeed with your campaign.

• Optimize different pages of your website for different keyphrases. The more pages of your website you optimize, the better.
• Start with very targeted keyphrases that consists of many words, for example “find inexpensive hotels in brussels“.
• When you have top rankings for these targeted keyphrases, proceed with more general keywords such as “hotels in brussels“.
• When you have top rankings for these keyphrases, you can proceed with very general keywords such as “hotels“.

In general, targeted keywords have a much higher conversion rate than general keywords, i.e. you will get more sales per visitor with “find inexpensive hotels in brussels” than with “hotels“.

Also think about the type of visitor that you attract with a keyword. Are these people interested in information or do they want to buy?

Ranking factor 4: content

Your website won’t get high rankings on Google if it only offers articles and affiliate links that can be found on dozens of other websites.

Separate your website from the rest by creating unique and trustworthy content. Write your own articles about the topic of your website, publish them on your own website and make your website a useful resource.

Ranking factor 5: links from other websites

It is not possible to get high rankings on Google without having links from other websites.

The more links point to your website, the more likely it is that your website gets good positions in Google’s search results. The links to your website should be from trusted websites.

If a web page that links to you is related to your own website then the effect of that link on the search engine rankings of your website is higher than the effect of an unrelated link.

It also helps if social bookmark websites link to your website. If many people bookmark your website on social bookmark sites, then this is a sign that your website might deserve high rankings.

A small error in one element can destroy your effects in all other ranking elements. For that reason, it is important to use the right strategy when optimizing your website.

So someone who would type “lawyer” into the search box will receive 90,200,000 results on their screen.  No matter how well optimized your website is, let’s be frank, your website doesn’t have much of a chance being on the first page.  The next step for this searcher is to do one of two things – 1) visit a directory (like Lawyers.com) or 2) refine their search.  Now, the importance of your website comes into play.

Wordtracker has a great study on their website that illustrates the importance of optimizing your website for rankings on long tail searches.  The main take away from this study is that lead conversion and efficiency of rankings dramatically increases the more targeted the search.  A natural conclusion when you consider the likeliness of generating a new client from a “dayton bankruptcy lawyer” searcher than a “bankruptcy lawyer” searcher.

From the Bing Engineers:

“Link building is a very important form of self-promotion on the Web. You contact webmasters of other, related websites and let them know your site exists. If the value that you have worked so hard to instill in your site is evident to them, they will assist their own customers by linking back to your site. That, my friend, is the essence of link building.”

“Think of link building as your chance to build your reputation on the Web. As your website is likely one of your business’ most valuable assets, consider link building to be a primary business-building exercise. Just don’t make the mistake of believing it will result in instant gratification. Successful link building efforts require a long-term commitment, not an overnight or turnkey solution. You need to continually invest in link building efforts with creativity and time. Good things come to those who wait (and work smartly!).”

It wouldn’t be far if they encouraged linking without also giving us some guidelines to work within.  Below are some of the things that Bing recommends for successful link building campaign:

• You should develop your website as a brand and brand it consistently. People like to link to high quality websites.
• You should find relevant bloggers, industry websites and product reviewers and make them aware of your website.
• You can publish concise and informative press releases online.
• You can publish expert articles in article directories.
• You can participate in relevant conversations on blogs and forums and add a link to your website when applicable.
• You can use social networks to connect to industry influencers. Your profiles should contain links to your website.
• You can use email newsletters to notify people about new content on your website.
• You can launch a blog or a forum on your website.
• You can participate in relevant industry associations and their online forums.
• You should strive to become a trusted expert voice for your industry while promoting your website.

Just like Google and other major search engines, Bing doesn’t like to be cheated. If they detect unnatural linking patterns, your website might be penalized. The following things can trigger search engine filters and should be avoided at all costs:

• Your website gets a lot of additional inbound links for a very short time.
• Many links that point to your website are from unrelated websites or blog comments.
• Your web pages containing hidden links.
• You get links from links farms or automated link exchange systems.
• Paid links that point to your website.
• Known spammers linking to your website.

Among those adopters of Twitter, a culture is forming that businesses must be aware of – even if they don’t decide to incorporate Twitter into their Internet marketing strategy.  Twitter has taken a “I want it now” society and given it a shot of Red Bull.  Instantaneous answers and immediate attention will be the key to providing the much needed information to both your current and potential customers and clients.

So how can you address this, without  setting up a Twitter account?  Include GOOD FAQ’s on your website, return phone calls and emails from your website quickly, and make sure you create a culture in which your customers know that you are there for them… right away.