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    should-law-firms-buy-links

    Backlinks continue to be the primary driver of high search engine rankings.

    Why? Because backlinks are normally very difficult to get, and a site that does get them is seen by Google as an “authority” website.

    One of the simplest ways to get backlinks is to buy them. But are paid links effective in terms of boosting your website’s rankings?

    Let’s explore.

    Google says they don’t want people buying links

    It’s no secret that paid links go against Google’s quality guidelines. Google has held this position for years:

    paid-links-google-guidelines

    But like many of Google’s statements regarding SEO tactics, one look at real world search results indicates that not only are paid links not punished by Google, they’re rewarded.

    To illustrate how Google appears to be all talk when it comes to enforcing paid link abuses, let’s look at a website that ranks in the top three organic results for highly competitive keywords:

    URL: https://baumgartnerlawyers.com/
    Keyword Example: [houston personal injury lawyer]
    Suggested CPC: $135.11
    Google Ranking: #2 Organic

    Of this website’s top 30 backlinks, 10 are obvious paid links:

    1. http://www.milliondollaradvocates.com/Member_List.html – Membership purchase
    2. http://forum.snitz.com/donations.asp – Donation
    3. http://www.redmine.org/projects/redmine/wiki/Donors – Donation
    4. http://www.worldthrombosisday.org/action/partners-events/ – Sponsorship
    5. http://www.ghsa.org/html/about/assoc_members.html – Membership purchase
    6. http://www.mediate.com/Texas/ – Membership purchase
    7. http://www.findapersonalinjuryattorney.com/Blogs.aspx – Directory listing purchase
    8. http://www.jasminedirectory.com/business-marketing/law/ – Directory listing purchase
    9. http://americawalks.org/about-us/sponsors/ – Sponsorship
    10. http://www.business.com/misc/legal/ – Directory listing purchase

    Another nine of the site’s top 30 links were gained as a result of a scholarship contest that the firm offers. While this does not involve an explicit exchange of cash for links, one could make a strong case that it still goes against Google’s guidelines, since the links would never have been placed without the firm offering up cash:

    1. http://www.phoenix.edu/tuition_and_financial_options/scholarships/external-scholarships.html
    2. http://www.callutheran.edu/financial-aid/scholarships-grants/outside-scholarships.html
    3. http://www.oll.usouthal.edu/departments/financialaffairs/scholarships/externalscholarshipsa-z.html
    4. http://www.columbiabasin.edu/index.aspx?page=106
    5. http://personal-injurylasvegas.net/scholarship-directory/
    6. http://louisville.edu/financialaid/scholarships/outside-scholarships.html
    7. http://marketersmedia.com/baumgartner-law-firm-announces-2016-scholarship-winner/136626
    8. http://www.law.northwestern.edu/admissions/tuitionaid/grants/outsidescholarships.html
    9. https://www.law.unlv.edu/students/external-scholarships

    So, at the very least, ten of this firm’s top 30 backlinks are explicitly paid links. Another 9 of them were gained as a result of the firm’s promise to pay out cash to a scholarship winner. That means that two thirds of this top-ranked website’s best links are of the paid link variety.

    This example is NOT an outlier. We see legal websites whose best links are paid links performing well in incredibly competitive markets all the time.

    So, should I buy links or not?

    Reality is this: Even though Google doesn’t want to reward sites that buy links, in many legal niches, you’re unlikely to rank highly for your primary keywords in the absence of paid links.

    If you do decide to pay for backlinks to get your site moving, it’s critical to consider the following factors.

    Factors to consider when evaluating paid link options

      1. Website relevance

    In general, you want to avoid paying for links on websites that have nothing to do with your firm’s services or mission. If your law firm does business litigation and you find yourself considering purchasing a link on a technology forum, think again.

    Alternatively, if you’re a business litigation law firm and you’re considering sponsoring a local non-profit that helps encourage young entrepreneurs, this makes much more sense because this group’s website is relevant to your firm’s services and mission.

      1. Authority of the linking page

    If you’re spending good money on a link it’s crucial that you know the “authority” of the page that will contain the link to your site. Notice that I’m not saying that you need to know the authority of the website overall, but rather, that you need to know the authority of the specific linking page.

    For example, have a look at this page:

    http://lawyers.findlaw.com/lawyer/firm/personal-injury-plaintiff/houston/texas

    Using the Moz Open Site Explorer, I can see that this page has an authority of 35/100:

    page-authority-moz

    This is a pretty good page authority. But, what happens if your link doesn’t get placed on this page, and instead is buried in a deep archive page:

    http://lawyers.findlaw.com/lawyer/firm/personal-injury-plaintiff/houston/texas?random=656&stq=80

    page-authority-moz-low

    All of a sudden, you’re getting a lot less value for your money.

      1. Followed link or nothing

    If you’re going to spend good money on a link, it’s essential that the link be of the followed variety. Many sites that sell links do not make it clear that the link you recieve will be a “nofollow” link.

    While there is evidence that nofollow links could still have positive ranking benefits in certain cases, they’re certainly not optimal, especially when your paying for them.

    The BBB is a great example of this. You can pay $600+ per year for a listing on BBB.org, but you’ll get the same nofollow link as their free, non-accredited profiles.

    bbb-nofollow-link-small

    Takeaways

    • Technically, paid links are against Google’s quality guidelines, but…
    • Many of the top rankings legal websites in the most competitive markets rely on paid links
    • If you do decide to buy links, you should consult with an experienced SEO professional before buying to ensure that you maximize benefit and minimize risk
    Matt Green Hi, I'm Matt. I am the Chief Strategy Officer here at Juris Digital. I love SEO, content marketing, and brand development, and I am so grateful that my job is to help exceptional lawyers deploy these marketing tools to help more people. If you have specific topics you'd like to discuss with me, please feel free to email me.
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