How Trustworthiness Affects Law Firm SEO

E-E-A-T is a set of guidelines developed by Google to evaluate and engineer the algorithms that control search engine queries. Many digital marketers believe that trustworthiness is the most influential of the four E-E-A-T criteria.

Improving factors related to trustworthiness, as stated by Google, is an effective strategy for increasing your website’s organic traffic. There are several steps that you and your digital marketer can take to improve trustworthiness.

How Does Google Determine Trustworthiness?

Google search engine results are determined by algorithms that rely on AI technology. Google has a team of Quality Raters who periodically review search engine results to evaluate the content that gets chosen in queries. Information collected by Quality Raters is used to update Google’s algorithms.

Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines (SQRG) include a set of recommendations known as E-E-A-T, which stands for

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authoritativeness
• Trustworthiness.

Talk to Your Digital Marketer About Improving Google Trustworthiness

E-E-A-T plays an important role in search engine optimization (SEO). In 2014, Google introduced the acronym YMYL as part of its SQRG. It stands for “Your Money or Your Life.” In 2018, Google performed the Medic update, which focused on YMYL industries that impact people’s physical health and financial well-being, such as doctors, lawyers, dentists, hospitals, accountants, and brokerage firms.

Since the Medic update, Google has been applying strict oversight for law firms and other YMYL industries, and this includes a heavy emphasis on E-E-A-T. Google says that E-E-A-T is not a ranking factor because it does not directly influence search engine queries. However, Google Quality Raters use E-E-A-T as a guideline when they make decisions that impact how search algorithms are calibrated.

Experience, expertise, and authoritativeness all impact trustworthiness, and trustworthiness stands above the other three E-E-A-T guidelines. Google defines trustworthiness as providing credible information that is accurate and comes from reliable sources.

Trustworthiness is enhanced by having an attractive and well-designed website that’s easy to navigate. It also helps to develop a social media campaign that supports your law firm’s objectives, interacts with clients and the local community, and provides links to your website.

Your digital marketer can perform the following actions to increase your website’s Google trustworthiness:

• Backlinks. Encourage backlinks from reliable and relevant sources, and take measures to remove low-quality, irrelevant, and spammy backlinks.
• Content. Make sure your content is accurate, well-written, and informative. Remove or update old content that is no longer accurate.
• Sources. Use credible sources and cite them when possible. Make sure information supports the professional consensus in a particular field.
• Social proof. Include trust badges, testimonials, and reviews from third-party sources.
• Social media. Keep Facebook and other accounts up-to-date and engage with clients who leave comments by thanking them, addressing their concerns, and asking open-ended questions.
• Contact information. Provide a brick-and-mortar address, a phone number, and an email address where you can be reached. Make sure your NAP (name, address, phone number) and email address are consistent throughout your website and everywhere your firm is mentioned on the internet.
• User experience (UX). Fast loading speed, an attractive color scheme, readable fonts, intuitive navigation, engaging pictures and graphics, and other design features will increase the number of visitors who remain on your website, and it will also convert more leads.
• Crawlability. The Google bots that index websites are assisted by site structure that includes internal linking, strategic anchor text, proper coding, and other features. Your digital marketer can perform an audit to evaluate website crawlability.
• “About Us” page. Staff photos and bios, awards, achievements, affiliations, education, professional milestones, and social proof all improve credibility, and your About Us page will also put a human face on your law firm.
• Customer service. Answering incoming calls and returning emails, texts, and voicemails will reduce complaints that would otherwise harm trustworthiness.
• Google Business profile. Your GBP page is essential for establishing a presence as a reliable business on Google.

Ready To Start Getting More Leads?

At SLS Consulting, Inc., we know all the ins and outs of SEO marketing, and we provide outstanding ROI for your law firm. Our websites have a conversion rate of five to seven percent. That’s much higher than the industry average of only two to three percent.

Call (323) 254-1510 to schedule a FREE consultation today.