Legal information can affect someone’s rights, finances and future. That makes accuracy and clear authorship especially important on a law firm’s website.
Why and how do they do this?
Google’s quality guidance uses E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. E-E-A-T is not a single ranking factor; it helps describe qualities Google’s systems aim to recognise.
Google added Experience to its quality rater guidelines in December 2022. It means first-hand or life experience of the topic, such as a practitioner explaining a process they have worked through.
Additionally, Google employs the principle of "YMYL" - "Your Money or Your Life" - to further set a high bar for quality content. In essence, Google understands that legal information can have a deep impact on a person's life or financial situation. As such, it enforces that websites giving legal advice, which can influence a person's well-being, must provide well researched, truthful, up to date content. This places a substantial responsibility on law firms to meet these standards with their content.
Why is this so?
When turning to the web for legal advice, users are placing their trust in the information they encounter.
If someone spends $50 on a bedside lamp they end up liking it's not the end of the world but if someone makes a poor decision relating to a legal matter based off information received online, it could have a hugely detrimental impact on their future life.
Therefore, Google prioritises content from credible sources. It plays a crucial part in guiding important decisions related to a person's rights, legal choices, or even their income.
But we are experts, surely Google know this?
Ironic though it might seem, Google is not always privy to your expertise— not without clear and unequivocal evidence.
Demonstrating your expertise and authority goes beyond simply claiming you are the best lawyers in your area of law. Google assesses it based on the quality of your content, the level of onsite search engine optimisation (SEO), and numerous other factors.
How can we demonstrate experience, expertise, authority and trust?
As with any industry, you need to get the basics on on-site technical SEO right such as implementing proper metadata, including title tags and meta descriptions.
- Use Article schema: Show the real author and any reviewer on the page, then make sure the Article structured data reflects that attribution. Link the author to a biography or professional profile that explains their relevant background. Schema helps identify the author; it does not verify qualifications or guarantee rankings.
- Showcase Legal Credentials and Achievements: Prominently display the credentials and awards of your lawyers on your website. These can be in the form of individual bio's on a dedicated "Team" page. Further, you can emphasise their specialty areas, years of experience and client testimonials. This not only exhibits expertise but also enhances the "Trustworthiness" of your firm.
- Link to your solicitors Linkedin profiles as this will show Google detailed information on their experience, education and endorsements (assuming your team keep their profiles up to date).
- Link to original website of any awards won to help Google verify these claims - As an example, if you won a Doyles Award for family lawyers in Sydney then you'd want to include a link back to the awards list at https://doylesguide.com/leading-family-divorce-lawyers-sydney-2023/ (I did check this for the top ranked lawyer on the list and they had done this, nice job Paul!).
- Deliver Insightful Legal Content: Regularly post content that provides valuable insights into various legal matters. This could encompass blogs, articles, short videos, or podcasts. Well-researched and easily understandable content shows your expertise and enhances the "Authoritativeness" of your site.
- Think about your audience before you start writing any content: An article aimed at others within the legal profession is likely to be very different to one aimed at potential clients, especially for consumer law topics such as family law, wills or personal injury. Dry text heavy content full of legal jargon is likely to lose people pretty quickly if they don't have a legal background.
- Answer questions people are already looking for: Tools such as SEMrush or AnswerThePublic can help you find questions people search for every month. By providing quality answers you can attract traffic from a far wider range of searches than just the top level searches such as 'family lawyers sydney'.
- Keep content accurate: Review articles when relevant law or practice changes, and correct outdated advice. Record substantive updates honestly; changing the date alone does not make an article more useful.
- Utilise Trust Signals: Incorporate elements like client testimonials, case studies, and successful verdicts to establish credibility and trust. These 'trust signals’ show you are reliable and successful in your field, contributing to your overall "Trustworthiness".
- Show first-hand experience: Include useful observations from your solicitors’ work, such as how a process works in practice or common questions clients ask. Keep client details confidential and distinguish practical experience from legal advice. This is the Experience component of E-E-A-T.
- Make the website easy to use: Clear navigation, readable pages and fast loading help visitors use your information. Website user experience is separate from Experience in E-E-A-T. Tip: Check PageSpeed Insights and your Google Search Console account for technical issues.
- Good reviews demonstrate trust: Getting regular good Google reviews can be a way of demonstrating to Google you are creating positive outcomes for your clients.
- Try to earn high quality backlinks: No, I'm not talking about dodgy backlinks from those SEO agencies or guest post providers you get three times a day (sigh)! I'm talking about links for other sites that will give Google the confidence you should be trusted. Here are some ideas:
- Write articles for legal publications or associations: Offer to write articles for legal journals and magazines or the blog of legal associations.
- Event sponsorships and charities: You may be able to get a link by sponsoring an event such as a legal industry conference or from a school, university or charity.
- Links from awards: By entering into reputable legal awards then you may receive a link back to your site if you are a winner.
Want more traffic to your legal website?
Explore our law firm marketing services or request a free strategy call for initial insights into what could improve your website by booking a free call with our Director, Richard Greenwood - book call here.
Richard was SEO Manager for Australia's largest travel agency, Flight Centre Group and massively grew the organic traffic while heading up marketing activities in-house for two fast growing personal injury law firms in Queensland.
