I run a small law firm and I've been getting calls from SEO companies lately trying to sell me google optimization for a few hundred bucks a month.
Is SEO worth it Jow Forums?
I'll admit my website is getting almost no hits outside of what I'm getting through ad placements. I have good reviews and it's mobile optimized and rated as extremely fast but the best I can get is on the 2nd or 3rd page of google results.
Should I pay these guys to SEO? Should I be trying to do it myself? What is SEO even, is that still a real thing now that google has stopped caring about things like metadata?
SEO is ultimately shilling for your clients. Don't go there if you still care for your soul.
Colton Phillips
Just activate AMP, and u will get in chrome recommandation.
Leo Moore
That's the direction I was going in as well. I'm already working on updating to amp, which is a pain because because I built my site with django and bootstrap and neither work with amp.
But good to know the effort will be worth it, thanks user.
Aaron Nguyen
Think about it user. If they have to cold-call you to sell it, how good could it be?
Grayson Lee
Search Engine Optimisation is a trade-secret that “SEO companies” don’t have a fucking clue how it works. In short, Google has a robot, it checks out your page and then in the magical black box back at Google figures out where you rank. Google, Bing and others won’t disclose how their robot indexes your website, otherwise it could be gamed to have results rank higher than they should otherwise.
And perhaps even more stuff like that. Next time SEO company approaches you, ask to see some of their client’s sites, then just copy the entire webpage and try figure out what they’ve got that you haven’t. Better yet, ask them what work they intend to do to for you/your website and ask for specifics. I bet they’ll give you vague jargon sprinkled with bitesize acronyms. I hope this helps.
Liam Price
Whatever you do, don't give the phone marketing fucksticks a goddamn dime. Do not enable their kike asses, giving them money validates their cold calls and ensures a future of you being bombarded with annoying fucknuts trying to peddle their extremely low quality services.
Carter Hughes
Isn't SEO a meme?
Nathan Hernandez
it does actually, these guys were giving vague jargon and only talked about meta data so I guess they're likely clueless.
but your tip of copying the current top sites is definitely worth a go. The current top lawyer sites in my area seem like crap, but they're probably doing something behind the scenes worth copying
cold calling is so normal in b2b contexts for high priced goods and services that I don't give it a second thought. I usually give them a fair hearing. But I think in b2c contexts it's definitely a red flag
That's what I'm trying to figure out
Jackson Richardson
There's value to be had in it and I'm sure some SEO companies have a decent track record of getting their results to appear first. However, just because they have a procedure they like to apply, that doesn't mean its infallible, because they can’t prove their methods. It’s one gigantic Hot Hand Fallacy that turned into an enterprise unto itself. The only people who can decisively prove whether their tactics work are probably locked up in one of Google’s basements somewhere.
Dominic Peterson
Google has a political bias in favour of Hillary and the Democratic Party, so I suggest you put in a bunch of keywords in some hidden text field on the site so that the robot picks it up and puts you above the rest.
Christopher King
>Hillary 2016 called, it wants its memes back
Zachary Wood
google is unsavory as heck. They're extremely unethical and difficult to worth with, and constantly rip me off on ads services. I hate them.
The problem is you need them. They control over 80% of search results in my area meaning you have no choice but to bow to them since they control the means customers use to find you.
Eli Torres
SEO is definitely useful and a properly optimized page can increase your chances to show on the 1st page.
>I run a small law firm >I've been getting calls from SEO companies lately trying to sell me google optimization for a few hundred bucks a month.
You wouldn't happen to practice Lemon Law, would you?
Also no, at best, they're just going to ruin it with padma-mccord tier blackhat seo at worst they take your money and run.
General rule: NEVER buy anything off cold callers, same applies for email. If you didn't go looking for it, chances are you don't need it and are going to get ripped.
This, unfortunately, is why I will likely never go into business for myself in my field.
Benjamin Murphy
SEO is standard arsenal for businesses and if you aren't on the first page then consider yourself done dude. It's not worth the price and if you know a little html and common sense then you can do it quickly.
t.got a certificate in Google analytics
Logan Campbell
I do criminal, working on branching into personal injury and wrongful termination
yeah I know html, it's starting to sound like the diy approach is best
It's worth it I think. Because while google is unsavory, they are nowhere near as unsavory as the things I've seen go down in the business world. Google is limited by the fact that they are big and have national attention, when that disappears, the things you see people do for money or even just the feeling of power that comes with being in charge of other people in a business will make your stomach churn.
Running a business means you have more control and that includes moral control to do things the right way that you often don't get when working for someone else. I don't think everyone can do it, but if you have the ability it's definitely something you should try, if nothing else as a side project.
Lincoln Perez
Yeah its still a thing and always will be, they're offering to help make your site easier to find on search engines, it might be worth it to at least look into it.
Ian Bennett
In my experience it's a lot easier to just advertise. Like 10 cents per click or something. If you get a client from every 500 clicks you'll be fine.
Jordan Foster
I wish, I'm advertising now at between 3 to 4 bucks a click and that's only because I have a really high quality score and am using broad match. The average spend for lawyers is 6.50 a click and there are plenty of lawfirms in my area spending much more than that - the top of page bid for some of my keywords ranges from $10 to $15 a click but I'm nowhere near stupid enough to do that.
I think I could pull of 30 to 50 cents a click on the display network but I haven't tried it yet because it's a pain to set up right and I heard it's rife with click frauds and very low conversion rates as you pointed out
