Most attorney SEO tip lists include things like keyword research, link building and content marketing. And while these are undoubtedly important pieces to the SEO puzzle, they don't communicate the bigger picture of how organic search marketing fits into the marketing of a law practice.

Here are 10 SEO tips for attorneys to keep in the back of their heads at all times:

1. Be Authentic: There are a variety of reasons to be authentic online. In the context of SEO, you should remember that search engines are evolving to reward authenticity. Attorneys who are authentic online will have greater success in organic search results.
2. Be Ethical: No organic search rankings are worth your license. Read, understand and apply your state's rules of professional responsibility to all of your communications marketing and advertising campaigns. This includes your SEO strategies.
3. Be Technical: There is simply no denying the fact that there is a technical component to SEO. If your pages aren't organized in a logical manner and easily crawlable and understandable to search engines, you aren't going to have success in organic search.
4. Be an Expert: Search engines reward the "best" content on a subject. People link to and share "stuff" that they can rely upon. The more that your expertise comes through in what you publish online, the better you will do in search results and the more you will turn visitors into potential client inquiries.
5. Be Social: People are social. It should be no surprise that the internet is social. You don't build offline relationships by being anti-social. The same is true on the web.
6. Be Interesting: You might not like to accept this, but people don't want to hear about your boring legal stories. If what you publish online is boring, people will be less likely to link to and share it. Which is a problem for your SEO campaigns. Is that to say you should post pictures of kittens on your legal blog? Of course not. But you need to find a way to strike a balance between demonstrating your expertise and keeping your content interesting.
7. Be User-Focused: Search engines invest significant resources in understanding users and delivering a great user experience. User experience is a core part of SEO. Give users good experiences and they will reward you by sharing, linking to and further publicizing what you publish online.
8. Be Present: For most attorneys, time is a scarce commodity. However, if you want to have success in organic search results, there are certain time investments that are unavoidable. If you are not present in the online conversation, you will be greatly limited in terms of the success you can have with SEO.
9. Be Involved: You may think that you can simply write a check to have someone else execute your SEO campaigns. This is a mistake. You should be intimately involved in understanding what is being done your behalf, why it is being done and what the value is to your practice.
10. Be a Good Lawyer: Because search engines want to provide their users with the best experiences, they reward businesses that are providing customers with good experiences too. Therefore, providing your clients excellent service which motivates them to sing your praises online, is critical to SEO.