As you probably know, content is one of the most important components to effectively marketing your law firm online. However, merely "writing great content" and hoping to gain visibility within search engines, is not a complete web marketing campaign. The other half of the equation is getting your content in front of an audience that is ready, willing, and able to link to it and further publicize it. This is where content syndication can come into play.
To me, content syndication is just another way to distribute your best content across the web. Why would you want to do this? Well there are a host of benefits from effective content syndication. Distributing your content on different sites will attract new visitors from those sites and increase the number of links back to your website (a critical component to gaining more visibility within search engines).
While there are many factors that go into deciding where and how to distribute or syndicate your website and/or blog content, there are two that strike me as more important than the others: Location and Uniqueness.
When we talk about location, we are referring to the deciding where you should distribute your content. As a rule of thumb, you want to distribute your content to relevant websites that have authority. For example, if you are distributing content on criminal legal matters, you will want to find other websites that publish content on that subject that have authority. In terms of authority, you should identify other sites that "rank well" for relevant search phrases and have a good quantity of quality back links.
Next, we need to think about uniqueness. You may be tempted to automate your content syndication. The problem with automated syndication techniques is that you may create duplicate content across the web. Search engines (and users) don't like that. Therefore, I generally recommend against automated content distribution unless you can implement a dynamic page template or vary your content from site to site. There are also software solutions that can help you vary your content. However, be extremely careful about using such software. Always maintain the quality of any content that you publish online.
If you're looking for places to syndicate your legal content, we have recommended JD Supra & LawFirms.com to many law firms.
Sometimes using additional topically specific sites to syndicate your content can make sense. Here is a quick example:
This DC Medical Malpractice Blog syndicates content on a variety of more specific dc medical malpractice law malpractice patient advocacy and birth injury law domains.
Again, implementing content syndication should never be done at the sacrifice of your professional reputation. Stay away from any strategies that cast your firm in what you deem to be a negative light.
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Conrad and I recently joined Zack at Lawyerist to record a conversation about AI and marketing. You might think that we spend the whole time on how lawyers can use AI to publish content. You'd be wrong. While AI can certainly support publishing, there are many more interesting ways to use it in legal marketing. […]
As more legal services consumers turn to ChatGPT for local law firm recommendations, a fascinating intersection between AI, search, and maps unfolds. While Google remains the undisputed leader in local business data, ChatGPT is increasingly becoming an entry point for searchers seeking legal representation. But hereโs the kicker: instead of keeping users within its ecosystem, […]
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I'm grateful for my friend, Charley Mann of Law firm Alchemy. If you're a lawyer, subscribe to his Free Email List. In a recent email, Charley calls out bad guru advice on hiring: "Trying to execute a major SEO improvement? You need to find people who will help you, instead of trying to DIY it […]
If youโve spent any time on LinkedIn, youโve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an โup and to the rightโ trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And itโs not just the agencies celebratingโ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ […]
Meh, links! All things being equal, links still tend to move the dial more than any other factor in legal SERPs. Maybe links are having a diminishing impact internet-wide. But in my experience, quality links, especially relevant links (both topically and geographically), tend to improve law firm visibility in search more than most everything else. […]
