Combining Law websites to boost local results?
-
So we currently have 2 separate websites for the 2 areas of law we practice, Criminal Defense and Family. Currently our Criminal Defense website is the one affiliated with our google+ page and so it ranks well in local results, where as our Family website does not rank at all locally.
Would it be best for our Family practice if we merged it with our Criminal site? We all work out of the same office and share address and phone number, so I don't believe we can associate the Family website with a google+ page, but I am wondering if each site would show up in Local results for their individual keywords if the criminal site and law site were both subdomains of a main Firm website.
-
You have answered many questions I wasn't even sure I was asking! Thank you for being clear and detailed, so many great people at Moz!
-
Hey There,
I agree with Hutch and Linda regarding the single site approach typically being more powerful than a multi-site approach. What shows up in the local search results is completely dependent on your Google+ Local page, and as your practice is only allowed 1 Google+ Local page (you can't have multiple listings covering multiple specialties) whatever is on that page is what will appear in the local results.
Now, that being said, something for you to consider is the multi-practitioner listing scenario. If there is more than one lawyer at the firm, you are allowed to have a Google+ Local page for each practitioner as well as the one for the practice. Google's most recent guideline update specifies that you must split up the categories between practitioners/practice. This has long been considered a best practice, but now it is a guideline. Without knowing the details of your specific scenario, I can only estimate how you would re-fashion the business to fit this marketing approach, but it would probably look something like this:
-
You consolidate your sites into a single site, with your brand being the unifying factor rather than your specialties being a cause for division.
-
You create a unique page on the website for each partner in the practice, including a unique phone number for each of the lawyers at which he/she is directly contactable.
-
You research Google's categories (the Moz Local category tool is great for this: https://moz.com/local/categories) and discover if there is an authentic way to divvy up categories like Family Law Attorney, Criminal Justice Attorney, etc between the partners and the practice. Remember - they cannot share categories.
-
You link the practice listing to the homepage and link the partners to their own landing pages on the site
In this way, you might be able to represent your practice, your partners and some of the specialties each of the lawyers has with Google+ Local pages and increase your chances of this business appearing in the local results for more than one category of terms.
*Now, all this being said, before you take such a step, you should spend some time researching two things:
-
Historic problems that have occurred over the years surrounding multi-practitioner listings. Linda Buquet's Local Search Forum would be a good place to look this up, as she has covered this topic many times and with great insight. Search other sites as well to get a sense of the potential issues with the multi-practitioner listing scenario.
-
Study Google's most recent guideline iteration in minute detail (https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en). I recommend checking out Mike Blumenthal's 2-part post comparing the older iteration to the latest one: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/12/05/google-my-business-guidelines-a-detailed-comparison-new-old/
This will be a big decision to make, involving a change in direction for how you think about marketing your business, and should only be undertaken if it truly feels like the right fit for your practice. It may or may not be. But I hope these ideas are helpful to consider in weighing your options!
-
-
Follow up question, is there a way to have the subsite show up in the local result? Or will I only be able to have a single url associated with the local result? for example could www.wearelawyers.com/family show up in the local result for family law web searches and www.wearelawyers.com/defense show up for criminal defense searches?
-
Yes I agree with Hutch.
Many companies feel like "divide and conquer" is the name of the game - but with Google Local "united we stand" typically works better. Then you are driving all your energy into one strong site instead of fracturing it. Many attorneys have a single site with multiple practice areas.
You are right, you can't have a separate G+ L page for the other practice area, but as long as the home page is optimized for both practice areas and you have the right categories you should be good.
-
Combining them will help your Family Law side. You can then create distinct landing pages for each type of law the firm practices instead of just having a generic home page for both, that way you can give a better user experience and better target specific keywords which I will assume are pretty different from the two law types.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Local SEO penalty?
Hi Moz Community We are in a unique position. We just launched a new site for a client. The site was doing fine before but it wasn't very user friendly. We created a site with almost identical architecture and content as the last one, just new design and layout. Within 5 days, the site dropped off of LOCAL search almost completely, it now ranks on the 9th page in Austin Texas. (reliantplumbingdotcom). Every other location (Dallas, LA, Philadelphia, Houston) all show the site on the first page for relevant keywords (Austin Plumbers, Austin Plumber) I have no idea what to think about this and don't know if we're being penalized somehow (checked GSC and no manual penalty) I have never experienced a site being blacklisted locally but well ranked everywhere else. Thoughts?
Local Listings | | GrueBleenAgency1 -
Facebook Locations - Good or Bad for Local Rankings?
Our company has multiple (3) offices, including our headquarters, and each has its own Facebook page. Other than the primary company page, the other two locations have only been claimed and do not have posts, reviews, check-ins, etc. Now, Facebook recently granted us access to Facebook Locations, which, if I understand correctly, would remove 2-out-of-3 office pages and add a "Locations" tab to our primary company page where people can see the other offices. _See Starbucks Example: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Starbucks/locations/?ref=page_internal _ I've read mixed reviews regarding using the Locations feature, but nothing definitively answers whether or not this would negatively affect local rankings. Does anyone have firsthand experience going from individual business pages to a single parent business page with Locations? Is there any trustworthy documentation out there about this?
Local Listings | | MPlata1 -
Hotel Local Listings Greatly Varying With Date
Searching for accommodation in a local region brings up a local listing block (e.g. http://puu.sh/irEoJ/635140594d.png). When clicking through to the block and changing dates, the order of the listings vary greatly. See attachments for 4 samples. How is Google deciding to order these listing blocks? I initially speculated they are pulling availability rates from Online Travel Agents like Expedia or Booking.com, but doubt this to be the case given a lot of those listings do not have Google Hotel Ads and smaller operators do not have their distribution system hooked up to Google Hotel. tVX816P,8U6RbcP,N6xGEdx,YC4K344#0 tVX816P,8U6RbcP,N6xGEdx,YC4K344#1 tVX816P,8U6RbcP,N6xGEdx,YC4K344#2 tVX816P,8U6RbcP,N6xGEdx,YC4K344#3
Local Listings | | fastrack0 -
Local Citations
So we are working on our citations. Now the issue is (not really an issue, but it is definitely very annoying) is that we have multiple locations. I get that you need to then have multiple listings. Where I get baffled is that I have read that you will then need to have more than 1 google + account for the different addresses. That seems like a lot of work to keep two google + accounts updated. Is this a must for SEO purposes?
Local Listings | | blackrino0 -
Is there any data about how user interact with the local 7 pack listing, do they scroll past it or use it like a normal SERP ?
Does any one have any data about how users interact with the local 7 pack listings in regards to position to CTR ratios, do everyday users tend to scroll past it to the normal SERPs as they might do with adwords ads (as the local pack is formatted slightly different to normal SERPs) ? bMvtUSe.png
Local Listings | | Sam-P0 -
Google Places: Can't link to website
Hi, how are you? I'm Having some problems with my clients Google Places/Plus listings. Everything is OK, but I can't get my website linked. I'm talking about what I point out in the image. I tried following this instructions: https://support.google.com/plus/answer/1713826?hl=en&ref_topic=3052532, but I can't find the Link website button next to my website URL. Do you know why is this happening? Thanks! 6v1eDG4
Local Listings | | arielbortz0 -
Why there is sometimes A-1 in Local result title?
Here is an exemple: https://plus.google.com/local/Montréal, QC/s/a-1?hl=fr Is this a legacy from Yellow Pages? A way to be first in the paper edition or it's something else?
Local Listings | | TVFreak0 -
Local Listings SEO: Which multi-location retailers are doing a super job with local listings? I'm also interested in finding retailers who are using schema.org microdata format to structure their store-level data.
Do you know of any enterprise level restaurant or retail chains that are doing a great job with their local listings content? Just looking for some links/examples of best practice executions. Also, I'm very interested in finding retailers or other multi-location businesses that are using schema.org microdata format to structure their local store location data.
Local Listings | | SeeMore2