Lawyer Marketing

The internet is as vast as the universe and yet at the same time can be as focused, niche and specific as a grain of sand. With these opposite and intertwining realities working both with and against each other it’s daunting to think about how a single website is ever discovered let alone becomes a popular destination.

Traditional SEO tools and practices still play an important role in search visibility however the landscape is always changing. One of the more recent and well-known changes is the role that social media plays with search visibility. I think John Battelle says it best in his blog post “On FaceBook, Comments, and Implications” September 30, 200. Mr. Battelle comments that:

“With search, we declared private intention, then chose our links to click.

With social media, we publicly declare our intentions and our links. It's a shift of models that is very, very meaningful.”

Think of the web as an ocean, your site as a sole shipwreck survivor and Google (or another search engine) as the Coast Guard. Both parties can use tools to aid discovery. In this example tools such as flares, beacons, reflective surfaces, binoculars, satellite imagery, and good old-fashioned birds-eye view fly-bys can help the survivor’s chances of discovery. 

With sites and search engines traditional tools such as optimized meta tags, relevant/unique/attractive content, sitemaps, back-links, etc. can help with a site’s discovery. Much like the shipwreck survivor floating out there in the ocean waiting for the Coast Guard to find them a site sits and waits to be discovered by search engines. 

The moral of the story is, the more tools you have to aid discovery the better your chances are of being found. With the semantic web still charging ahead, it is now more important than ever to embrace the paradigm shift of sharing links via social media as a valid and useful method of driving SEO value to your site.