Marketing Resources
There are many ways to have your web text be search engine friendly. Let’s start with some simple ones that most of us can understand and implement. We hope the following tips will help you assess whether your web text needs to be improved and how to improve it. Or, the next time you create a new web page, keep these guidelines in mind.
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Establishing the key words/key phrases to use
Each of your web page should deal with one topic e.g. You could have a page about you called “Attorney Profile” and it would be about you being a family lawyer, or you could have a page just about your divorce service. In the first case, your keywords would be your name, family Lawyer, family law. If you practice in San Diego, another related keyword to use would be “San Diego divorce lawyer”. In the second case, your keywords would be divorce, divorce lawyer etc.
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A tool that tell s you what keywords or related keywords are most used by surfers.
Often our clients go by their “gut feel” as to what keywords they should use. While that is a good place to start, we recommend you check it against this tool from Google which tells you the number of times a specific keyword or key phrase has been used by surfers. Here is where you can find this Google tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?defaultView=%202
For example, do you know that the word “divorce lawyer” is used more often by surfers than “divorce attorney”?
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Use of related keywords and key phrases
To provide variety and to help your web text from sounding repetitive, it is recommended that you use three to four related keywords per page. It also allows you to capture related phrases that are used by surfers. e.g. you would want to use the phrase “divorce lawyer” and “divorce attorney” interchangeably on the same page.
- Where to place your key words on your web page
- Place the keywords in your headlines and sub-headlines, assuming it makes sense for the content.
- Work the keywords into your body text. You can follow this simple rule of using the keyword once or twice per paragraph.
- Include the keywords into your first and last paragraph.
- Start your paragraph with keywords, especially your first paragraph.
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For example, you could say “Profiles of our lawyers” but why not say “Profiles of our Family Lawyers”. You can say “About us” but why not say “About Divorce Marketing Group”.
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Keyword density
There is also a rule of 5% keyword density – if your page has 100 words, than your keyword should appear 5 times.
- Call to action
- This is often a perfect place to work in your keywords. e.g. instead of “Contact Us”, why not say “Contact Martha Smith, your San Diego family lawyer to discuss your divorce today.”
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Look for places to add a call to action other than at the end of the page. If your text is long on a web page, add a call to action just above the first fold, i.e. make it so that the visitor can see your call to action without scrolling.
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The final test
The important thing is to read the text from beginning to end one last time, and if it sounds unnatural, then delete some keywords or find a different way of incorporating them naturally. You may not end up with 5% keyword density, and you may not
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What you must not do
Do not stuff the page with keywords, do not “hide” your keywords by putting them in the same color as the background color of your page. Not only are these tricks not search engine friendly, sarch engines actually frown upon them.
This article was written by Martha Chan, Co-Owner and Vice-President of Divorce Marketing Group, Divorce Magazine, and www.DivorceMagazine.com. Martha Chan and her company specialize in marketing divorce professionals and helping them grow their practices. Divorce Marketing Group offers a wide range of marketing services, including website design, hosting and promotion, video production and promotion, print advertising, advertising on multiple divorce websites, electronic promotions, and providing content to divorce professionals with websites.