You could be giving your website a makeover, or you may be setting up a fresh new one – in either case, SEO plays a vital role.
Unless your website is optimized for SEO, you could miss a whole lot of opportunities.
As a business owner, you may have wondered whether every business truly needs SEO. The answer is a loud and clear “Yes” because it will give your website the chance to appear at a higher position on search engine results.
When your law firm website design incorporates advanced SEO, it can be a gamechanger, yielding higher traffic, better conversion rates and lead generation.
What is SEO?
Today, terms such as SEO have become so ubiquitous that few of us stop to think about what they mean.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of enhancing the quality/quantity of traffic from search engine pages to a website/webpage. These search results are termed “organic” since they are natural and not direct or paid-for. Such traffic emerges from video or image searches, keyword searches, academic, industry-specific searches, etc.
SEO is a vitally important marketing strategy for businesses provided it’s incorporated into the web design process in the initial stages of the build and not tagged on later. Website SEO is a fundamental component of design that allows the search engine algorithms to explore the entire site across all pages.
This helps the algorithms to understand the nature and extent of the content so that your site can be accurately ranked on the search engine page.
Optimization is closely linked to the main search engines in the market such as Google, which represents 75% of all searches, regardless of language. There are very few countries in the world whose needs don’t recognize Google as the leading search engine.
SEO Friendly Web Design:
SEO and Advanced SEO friendly web design involve different degrees of knowledge of how Google’s algorithms work.
This means that Google looks for sites with pages containing high-quality, relevant content that syncs with what the searcher is looking for.
It’s also essential to have a simple, straightforward site architecture that correctly links all the pages.
Using a URL that accurately describes your page is something that crawlers love.
The algorithms read or “crawl” through the content pages and evaluate mathematically whether the content is in sync with the search terms used.
The other criteria for evaluation are the number and the quality of links to your site or page. If the number is high and the linked pages’ quality is also good, your site gets a higher ranking on the search engine pages.
How people engage with your website, how much time they spend on it, whether they share it with other people, whether the content is unique, fresh and original, and whether the site loads swiftly or not can be determining factors in ranking.
Creating an SEO optimized website means taking all these factors into account.
For starters, as with every excellent website design, it all begins with knowing who your target audience is. It’s essential to figure out the demographics, location and behavioural aspects, the kind of terms they may use in searches, the issues they may face and who else they patronize.
The designer must be clear on what exactly they’re optimizing for. If your law firm specializes in certain areas of law, such as personal injury or divorce law, the keywords relating to these subjects are the ones that searchers would use most when looking for the website.
The SEO strategy must involve analysis, such as keyword volume (how many people use a particular keyword), relevance, and a good understanding of the competing keywords.
A compelling meta description offers the opportunity to plug your site once more, while the focus remains on ensuring consistently great content.
Google crawlers prefer long, unique and thick content that can be easily and frequently shared. If the website is riddled with duplicate, low-value, unreliable content, it’s terrible news in the rankings.
UX is one of the newer criteria for rankings. This means faster load speeds and more straightforward navigation, with a smooth user journey through the site. Too much pressure from ads and pop-ups are a big turn-off, and they can drive users away.
Advanced SEO:
Advanced SEO requires skills that involve some degree of tech knowledge and in-depth understanding of the algorithm eco-system.
In 2016, mobile internet users overtook desktop users in number and degree of engagement. Google followed up with mobile-first indexing policies, and today, websites find it crucial to ensure that they have a mobile version. The responsive website design must be integrated into the site as soon as possible if you already haven’t.
Loading speeds can be enhanced by moving your site to a more efficient hosting service, optimizing images, eliminating unnecessary JavaScripts and CSS files, identifying and removing 404 errors and bringing down the number of redirects.
Video content is currently trending, with more than 85% of Americans watching online videos, explainers, how-to explainers, DIY etc.
Ensure that all pages are fully-indexable.
You can enhance voice-enabled search engine ranking, schema mark-up and structured data.
Confirm that the content is crawl-friendly and indexable by way of an SEO browser.
Finally, your website design must focus on local SEO for the best results. Studies show that 95% of all smartphone users tend to perform local searches on the mobile when they require information on local businesses, services, products, people, etc.
How to Find the Best Web Designer Who Knows Advanced SEO Within Your Budget?
· Analyze your requirements
· Firm upon your needs, preferences and budget
· Enhance your awareness on advanced SEO so that you can communicate clearly with the designer
· Get references from trusted sources
· Examine their portfolio in detail
· Check real-time examples of their work
· Ensure that they use the right tools and analytics for reporting
· Give a firm commitment to your inputs and ensure that you are punctual and prompt with feedback, sign-offs, etc.