Industry-leading SEO services firm Searchmetrics releases a report every year that chronicles the ranking factors and correlations for producing higher rankings in Google search.  If you rely on organic search to produce leads for your law firm, understanding the factors that Google considers important in ranking sites for the type of law you practice is vital to your success.

The infographic below details the 2014 Searchmetrics report on how certain factors like relevant keywords, social media shares and backlinks correlate with Google rankings.  The key takeaways for ensuring your website ranks well in Google search include:

• Be sure your pages have quality links from different, authoritative websites (not just your own)

• Have a short, impactful URL and use a .com domain

• Host your blog on your own domain (i.e., lawfirm.com/blog)

• Optimize your site for fast loading speed

• Have meta titles and descriptions for every page of your site

• Have a Google+ profile page

• Engage in social media

• Focus on long, relevant content