We’re Number 1 – So Why Are We Listed Number 126 in Search Results?

Your law firm is number one. You’ve got the best attorneys, all of whom graduated from prestigious schools, and your firm is consistently voted the best in the city. Why, then, does Google list your firm number 126? The truth is that no one at Google ranks law firms or any other subjects. Google’s and all search engines rankings are completely automated.

Search engines use complicated algorithms to determine search order results.  When a search is initiated, millions of web pages are searched to determine the “relevancy” of these pages based on many factors to the specific search term(s) used. These factors include page content and Meta tag information, the number and “quality” of links to the page, and many other factors. The exact factors used, and the weighting of the factors, are proprietary trade secrets of each search engine company which is why the same search in different search engines usually leads to completely different list of results.

Because your firm is modest, your firm’s website probably doesn’t include many pages proclaiming it as “the best law firm in Chicago.” Therefore, therefore, Google doesn’t list your firm at the top of the results for this search. As a side note even if you did include this type of content, it’s questionable whether Google would recognize this self-proclaimed rating. However, if a number of other sources cited your firm as being the best in XYZ city, than your firm might be listed at the top of such search results.

However, in search engine optimization (SEO) context, the goal is not to appear at the top of search results rankings unless that search term is used by the people that the firm wants to find it (these people are sometimes referred to, and shall hereinafter be referred to, as “potential clients”).

Web pages can only be optimized for one or two key phrases. Trying to optimize a page for more phrases can result in pages not being optimized for any phrase, which defeats the optimization process and leads to low rankings. If a webpage is optimized for “best law firm in St. Louis”, it can’t also be optimized for “traffic lawyers in St. Louis.” And, if potential clients aren’t using the term “best law firm” to find attorneys, from an SEO perspective there is not point in optimizing any pages on the firm’s website for this term. You want to optimize your page for terms that potential clients are actually using when they search for a lawyer.

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