How a Florida Law Firm and Social Media Company Teamed Up to Work in SEO Tandem
Background
ShuffieldLowman, an Orlando-based law firm focused on real estate, litigation, corporate law, and high-net worth trust and estate planning, became a client of AmpliPhi in December 2018. Amanda Koplos, Executive Director, and Lauren Blackwelder, Marketing and Business DevelopmentManager, joined forces with AmpliPhi with the goal of increasing Search Engine Optimization(SEO) of ShuffieldLowman’s online articles.
Koplos and Blackwelder choose article topics internally with her attorneys for blogs or videos directed toward keywords/phrases. AmpliPhi then optimizes the article for SEO, structuring the title, header tags, and meta description, and ensures key phrases are used within the article to support efforts of visibility.
Long vs Short Tail Keyphrases
Typically, oft-coveted positions in the legal industry stem from search phrases such as, “Best Law Firm in Orlando,” “Best Lawyers in Florida," or the like. The downfall of this goal lies in the data - more often than not, those using those search terms are attorneys and staff themselves, in an effort to benchmark vs. the competition. Potential clients, however, more often look for answers to their questions.
Therefore, we aimed for ranking for “long-tail” keyword phrases. Long-tail keywords are search queries that are specific and tied to an action, topic, or location. This allows attorneys to write about topics purposefully within their expertise and craft their message to fit the long-tail keywords chosen. This method helps drive more visitors who actually seek your services to your website.
Short Tail Keyphrase
“Settlement agreement”
Long Tail Keyphrase
“Motion to enforce settlement agreement Florida"
The long-tail keyphrase includes a location (“Florida”) as well as the purpose (“motion to enforce”) related to the main topic (“settlement agreement”.)
The Articles Discussed & Their Key Phrases
In this case study we will focus on three articles in particular. Links to the articles, along with their highest-ranked search phrases are below.*
#1
"florida abandoned property law"
"florida abandoned property on private property"
"when is personal property considered abandoned"
#1
"motion to enforce settlement agreement florida"
#2
"motion to enforce settlement florida"
"florida settlement agreement"
#1
"how long does a judgement last in florida"
About the Client
Practice Areas
Whether your legal needs are straightforward or highly complex, our broad portfolio of services protects and furthers the interests of individuals, families and businesses.
Attorneys
Experienced, dedicated and client-focused, ShuffieldLowman’s attorneys are committed to building lifelong relationships by providing exceptional and efficient legal services.
Offices
ShuffieldLowman’s four Central Florida offices in Orlando, Tavares, DeLand, and Port Orange offer a full range of legal services, located right in your community.
Featured Snippets
"Featured snippets are selected search results that are listed on top of Google's organic results, below the ads, in a box. Featured snippets aim to answer the user's question right away (hence their other well-known name, "answer boxes"). Being featured means instant additional brand exposure in search results." (moz.com)
How does Google work?
As your article appears within search, connections are formed within Google to deem if there is demand for your content.
As articles from your website are labeled as “in demand,” your future articles will be given more credence within your area of focus. Relevance within a given field begets more relevance.
Once your article is shown as a potential option on which to click in search results, Google begins to “watch” its interaction in two ways:
1. Pre-click
Google shows the post among others related to the searcher's key phrases to gauge if the searcher clicks through to your result.
2. Post Click
Did those who clicked get what they came for? Google assigned a “credit” when users stay on your page, indicating they found what they wanted. Google also tracks to see if the searchers return to the Google Search Results and clicks a different article. If so, you earn a “demerit.”
This ranking system proves that it is extremely important to match your page/post titles and associated content to the resource you purport to have on your website.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIS) on Google Analytics
The positive response can be measured by the Average Time on Page, found through Google Analytics. For example, the article “Florida Landlord Laws on Abandoned Property in 2019” averaged 5:57 minutes, and "Enforcing a Settlement Agreement in Florida" at 6:37 minute average from January to August 2020. This metric directly shows that the reader remained on the page, reducing the Bounce Rate*, and more importantly, earning a Google “credit.”
*Bounce Rate: average percent of people who landed on a page and then left your website, not to continue on any other page on that site after visiting that page.
How We Achieved Top Google Rankings:
Here, we have multiple articles related to different areas of the law, but they're aimed at Florida-specific situations. The articles themselves are not lengthy, but do closely or directly fit the search queries that point to them via the the "long-tail" key phrase(s).
Within the article, we built our header tags to align with this purpose - this is key. Listed below are the H1 and H2 tags used in the articles discussed.
H1
Title of your page that includes keyword, or key phrase
- Enforcing a Settlement Agreement in Florida
- Florida Landlord Laws on Abandoned Property in 2019
H2
tags that themselves speak to topics we can target for search queries and the related content
- Is a formal written agreement required to enforce a settlement in Florida?
- Negotiating a settlement over email – the considerations
- Florida Abandoned Property Notice - How to Use
- When is Property Considered Abandoned in Florida?
Case-Specific Findings
It's not only acceptable to focus on smaller segments and write specifically toward your target audience, it is something we encourage. ShuffieldLowman is not aspiring to gain potential clients surrounding just any location or practice area. Choosing keyphrases that include a geographic identifier, “Florida” in this case, purposely excludes the other 49 states while focusing on their niche audience.
Once the Enforcing Settlement article began to receive Google credits for positive reader attribution, it is now easier for ShuffieldLowman’s other content to rank well, especially on topics related to those which have done well historically.
After the positive response from the Enforcing Settlement article, and similar success of the newer Landlord article, Google now makes the connection that “this resource (i.e. the ShuffieldLowman website) is producing great content.”
As a result, their future articles will be given greater attention in the eyes of Google. We also see older posts trending upward in ranks, such as the “Collecting on a Judgment under Florida Law.”*
*Ahrefs.com Data August 2020
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Meet the Author
lauren miles
Lauren is a Client Success Manager at AmpliPhi Social Media Strategies. She has continually proven to be a valuable asset to our team with her ability to develop, create and implement client training materials and her consistent growth and knowledge with strategic planning and website development.
Lauren graduated with honors from the University of Florida earning a BA in Economics and a minor in Retail Leadership. Lauren is based in Fort Myers, FL, as our only remote team member.