Which local links are worth a law firm’s time?

The local links worth your law firm’s time start with a useful place for people to find you. I favor accurate professional listings, community work you already support and local news you can help explain.

A link is a path from another website to yours. Before spending money or a lawyer’s afternoon to get one, ask who will use that path and why.

Fix the listing you already have

I open the page a visitor will land on first. If it sends someone to the wrong lawyer or an old phone number, that is a problem worth a lawyer’s time today. Then I look at existing professional and community listings before suggesting another membership. Open each page and try to use it as someone looking for your firm.

Can you find the practice area? Is the phone number right? Does the link take you to a page that helps you choose a lawyer?

For example, an attorney listing that links to an old biography needs a correction. Updating it is a clear job. There is no reason to plan a new event while that simple fix waits.

For a bar-association profile, I check the description against the status the lawyer actually holds. A membership and a referral listing need to be described accurately.

Finish these corrections first. You already have a reason to appear on those pages, and you can approve the changes without another meeting.

Join a chamber you intend to use

A chamber membership needs a purpose beyond a link. Read its member pages and event calendar before adding it to your firm’s budget.

For example, if you want to meet local business owners, choose an event you would attend. Name the lawyer who will go. Check that the membership gives you the chance to meet the people you have in mind.

The listing deserves its own look. Read it on your phone and follow the link. Check whether the page says what you do and makes it easy to contact you.

Leave a new membership out of the budget until someone can name how the firm will use it. If you value the contacts and activities, assess the fee against those benefits.

Keep community work within the time you can give

I prefer making existing work easier to find over creating an event to fill a link report. Start with the groups your lawyers already help.

For example, take a workshop your firm has agreed to support. The event page can explain your lawyer’s role and link to a relevant biography. You have a useful editing task: make that description accurate and the linked page helpful.

An afternoon away from paid work belongs in the decision, even when the event itself costs nothing.

Put the time beside the task. For a workshop, include preparing the talk, attending and answering follow-up questions. Choose a topic your lawyer can cover within that time. If the plan needs more hours than you can give, offer a smaller role before agreeing.

For a sponsorship, read the benefits too. Decide whether the event and recognition justify your support before giving the link any weight.

Understand what comes with a link

Memberships, sponsorships and requests to link back all deserve plain terms. I stop to read what your firm must pay, provide or publish in return.

Google’s link rules bar links made mainly to manipulate rankings, while allowing properly labeled advertising and sponsorship links.

Examples covered by that policy include:

• Buying links to improve rankings.
• Trading goods or services for links.
• Excessive link exchanges.
• Partner pages made only to link to each other.
• Links from low-quality directories.

The purchase needs to make sense for the audience you reach and the support you give.

Sponsored and nofollow are website labels that tell Google about a link; Google’s labeling guidance prefers sponsored for paid links but accepts nofollow too.

For example, a sponsorship proposal can set out the event support, logo mention and link labeling together. Get those terms before approval. If your firm must promote another business in return, include the page and the wording you would publish.

Approve a worthwhile sponsorship for what it offers the firm and community. A promised ranking gain alone is too little reason to spend the money.

Offer local news something useful

For local news, I start with the issue your lawyer can explain. A local address alone gives me little reason to pitch a story.

For example, a proposed pitch about a local business issue can name the question your lawyer will answer. Read that question. Is it within the lawyer’s practice? Can they set aside time to respond?

Approve the pitch before it goes out, with someone at the firm ready for follow-up. Offering a comment and buying a promotional article are different arrangements; the proposal needs to say which it is.

Allow for coverage without a website link when deciding whether to spend time on the pitch. If coverage appears, read the whole piece. Check the firm’s description and follow any link to your site. If something is wrong, send the exact correction you need.

Decide what deserves another month

At review time, open a page that now names your firm. Follow its link and compare it with the work you approved.

Google’s questions for an SEO provider include how success is measured and why changes are recommended. For local links, I turn that into a short review:

• What went live, and what is still pending?
• Did we use the membership or deliver the activity we agreed to?
• What visits or inquiries can we trace to the mention?
• What deserves more of our time?

A finished link and a useful result answer different questions. A claim that one mention caused a ranking change needs evidence. Your firm can judge whether any inquiries were worth pursuing.

For example, a membership review can end with a simple decision: keep it because your lawyers attend the events and want to stay involved. If nobody used it, name an event and someone who will attend before renewing. The link can stay in the report, but the next bill still needs a reason you believe in.

Write the renewal date beside that decision. Review the work before the notice deadline, while you can still choose whether to pay again.

Questions law-firm owners ask