Lawyers URL Not Indexed Properly

[Web3Marketing87]

Hello Moz Community,

We have been working with a local company to improve their SEO.

The website is http://parkerdubrulelawyers.com/

I have typed up an email for my programmer with the following comments:

One suggestion is the local address - it should have a local address (probably right below the copyright info)

Also, please check caching and xml sitemap.

Please add 2x alt tags:

edmonton lawyers
lawyers edmonton

Can you guys spot anything else that might be of use?

I forgot to mention - the original URL was http://parkerdubrule.com/ I changed it so that we could get the keyword in there. The 301 strategy does not seem to work as well these days. Do you think it needs to have more authority built, or do you think it would be a wise choice to go back to the original URL?

Thanks,

Anton

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Anton,

In my opinion, this situation is one in which I'd be recommending a complete audit of the website for its local and traditional SEO, content, links and off-site local search marketing. Here's a great place to start: http://moz.com/blog/ultimate-local-seo-audit. In the space of a Q&A forum, no one is going to be able to do a thorough job of this, but I have some resources to share that I feel may be helpful to you in troubleshooting issues with the site and, also, improving it.

1. First, discover if any obvious mistakes are being made by starting here:

http://moz.com/blog/troubleshooting-local-ranking-failures

http://searchengineland.com/citation-inconsistency-no1-issue-affecting-local-ranking-210643

http://www.brightlocal.com/2014/12/04/insidelocal-webinar-troubleshooting-local-ranking-issues/

https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en

2. Next, be sure the website is utilizing basic Local SEO best practices:

http://www.smallbusinessonlinecoach.com/blog/seo/onpage-optimization-local-seo-perfectly-optimized-local-page/

3. Next, dig into the numerous factors that make up local search rankings to determine how well your client is doing with the most important ones:

http://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

http://www.brightlocal.com/2014/11/13/insidelocal-webinar-local-ranking-factors-discussed/#watch

4. Check out what experts are recommending as best Local SEO practices for the coming year:

http://moz.com/blog/how-to-have-a-successful-local-seo-campaign-in-2015

http://www.brightlocal.com/2014/12/17/insidelocal-webinar-state-local-search-2015/

5. Keep current on changes that will indubitably roll out this year by following people who make it a habit of writing about these things. I recommend following Mike Blumenthal, Linda Buquet, Phil Rozek, Darren Shaw, Greg Sterling, authors as Search Engine Land who write about Local SEO and authors here on the Moz blog who do the same. This is a short list, there are lots of very great options out there for daily reading.

Local SEO, in my opinion boils down to:

1. Not violating Google's guidelines

2. Avoiding obvious pitfalls

3. Publishing the very best website you are capable of in your industry/geography, possibly earning links for the qulity of your content and having a strategy for ongoing content publication and that the basic SEO of the site is correct rather than problematic

4. Ensuring your citations are in tiptop shape

5. Social participation, if appropriate

6. Keeping up with the news, because it's a given that there will be both minor and major changes that may impact your rankings and your strategy.

I hope these resources are helpful!

[TheeDigital]

http://parkerdubrule.com/index.html  This was the page linked in the their image on the old site, and it was never redirected.

http://parkerdubrule.com this is the old page, never redirected. What you redirected was the www. version of the domain, which is not what they were using.

Honestly though, a quick look at their links tells me they're not going to be in the ball park even with amazing on page optimization. Most of the major link sources I would expect to see for lawyers like avvo, justia, findlaw, lawyercenteral, etc are no where to be found. Spend some time claiming their profiles in the niche specific sites. Unfortunately with lawyers, there are tons of these sites and a lot of them require proof of identity, so a lot of coordination and time will be needed to gain these links.

[Ray-pp]

If possible, have the development team wrap the NAP (Name Adress Phone number) in the proper schema: http://schema.org/LocalBusiness

Consider bringing all of your content from the 'real estate' and 'faq' tab to the front and no longer use tabs (tabbed content is suspected to be discounted, from a recent hangout with John M. of Google).

Nofollow that 'Web3' link in your footer.

Whichever URL you choose to go with, stick with it and allow it some time to adjust properly in the SERPs. 301s do pass authority properly still, but the search index needs time to adjust that change.

I think you really need to consider improving the content on your home page. I read through it, but the information presentation is not easily digestible (blocks of text rather than easy, readable sections of text) and the value proposition isn't immediately recognizable. Maybe add some additional headers and break apart the content to clearly showcase the lawyers' area of expertise.