Study Shows Quality of Links Counts More Than Quantity for Top-Ranked Lawyer Websites

This new report shows that link quantity does not guarantee top search engine ranking.

San Francisco, CA (Law Firm Newswire) September 21, 2015 - The findings of a new Custom Legal Marketing Lab report challenge the widespread view that law firm websites with large backlink portfolios tend to outperform ones with smaller portfolios.

Titled “Does the Top Ranking Website Have More Links?,” the study analyzed the backlinks of law firm websites that naturally ranked first and second in Google search results for each of the major metropolitan regions of the United States. Law firms practicing in areas such as personal injury, bankruptcy and estate planning were examined.

The Legal Marketing Lab research team found that around 54 percent of the websites that ranked second in search results had more backlinks than their first-place competitors. The reverse was true for over 45 percent of the searches. The slim margin between the data indicates that a high volume of backlinks does not negatively impact a website’s placement among search results in a significant way.

Backlinks play a key role in extending the reach of a website and providing new sources of traffic. A link portfolio refers to a summary of all the backlinks that lead to a site’s webpages from various locations across the internet, including blogs, websites, legal networks and directories.

Quality is as important as quantity when it comes to the link portfolio of a law firm’s website. The websites ranked highest among the search results had diverse link profiles that pointed to more government, regional and education-oriented websites rather than free web directories in comparison to their competitors. The results imply that link-building is no longer just about the high volumes of traffic that a backlink brings to a website. Without quality content that has real value for its audience, bulk links generated through duplicate directory listings and other similar practices fail to achieve the desired search results.

The study is available on the Custom Legal Marketing website and the Custom Legal Marketing to Go App available on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

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