Law Firm Marketing Agency
t’s a running joke that if you want to hide a dead body, look no further than the second or third pages of Google results — after all, no one looks there.
Last week, Google made headlines when it announced that it will now offer continuous scrolling for desktop users for up to six pages of results before requiring a user to click on “more results.” This deviates from Google’s former model which featured just 10 URLs on each search engine results page (SERP). The search engine announced continuous scrolling for search on mobile earlier this year.
What does this mean for my law firm?
We expect this update will be a welcome change for most law firms. As you have probably noticed, the first page of the SERPs has become increasingly crowded in recent years with the addition of LSAs, featured snippets, media and more. By allowing Google users to find more results without any clicks, we expect that web pages that have sat on the second, third and even fourth pages of results will get greater visibility and more traffic.
Can I dial down my SEO efforts?
While it might be compelling to stop chasing first page rankings, we encourage firms who want to generate leads from the web to continue, or increase, their investment in SEO. While it’s true that more sites will be available to Google users without clicking a “next page” link, sites that rank higher in the SERPs will inevitably see more traffic — this has always been the case. Even with Google’s previous model that supported 10 URLs, the first URL listed was 10x (~30%) more likely to be clicked than the site in the tenth spot (~3%) of the SERPs.
What should my firm do now?
With the introduction of continuous scrolling, users have more information at their fingertips which means it’s never been more important to ensure your site is a comprehensive resource that establishes expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. This information-rich, user-centric approach will help you deliver more value to site visitors and lay a strong foundation for establishing credibility with the search engines.
With this new format, it’s also important to ensure that each page on your site has a compelling title tag and meta description; both of these attributes appear in the SERPs and can make a huge difference when it comes to capturing the attention of Google users and, ultimately, increasing your click-through rates.
Have questions about this update or SEO trends in the coming months? Join us for a webinar on January 12th: SEO for Attorneys in 2023: Best Practices for Improving Your Site’s Ranking