If you are relying on your law firm marketing websites to bring you prosperity in 2013, you cannot just count on luck to make it happen. Those sites will not do you any good if prospects are not finding them – which is why it is critically important that you follow these top SEO essentials for your legal websites and blogs:

Keywords in title tags – title tags are those words that appear in the title bar of web browsers and what generally shows up in search engine results pages. For example, when you open this blog, you will see this title tag: The Rainmaker Blog: Law Firm Marketing and Business Development: The Rainmaker Institute: Stephen Fairley: Professional Legal Marketing. Title tags are coded into your site and should contain the most important keywords relevant to your prospects.

Header tags – these go in your main content, separating thoughts and/or paragraphs with keyword-rich subheads.

Fresh content – creating new content and updating old content regularly boosts authority and news ranking.

Content diversity – search engines reward diversity in format and content, so include photos, videos and presentations wherever possible.

High quality inbound links – creating high quality, unique content that others will want to link to and reference can have a huge impact on your website ranking.

Authority – build authority for your site through participation in social media, providing commentary and links to other authoritative sources in your space and quality inbound link building.

Feedback – syndicate, promote and provide people with an easy way to share feedback via a blog hosted or linked to your website.

Quality user experience – Google rewards sites that are well designed, easy to navigate, load quickly and keep visitors engaged (low bounce rates).

Browser compatibility – your site needs to be compatible with the latest browser versions, including mobile.