Is ‘Search Plus Your World’ A World for Lawyers?
Let’s be honest: Lawyers have always faced a public image problem. That’s what drove the Association of Trial Lawyers of America to brilliantly rebrand itself as the American Association for Justice. The change helped promote the values of its members and overcome the negative stereotypes of “ambulance chasers.”
Individuals often need attorneys when they have suffered physical and / or emotional trauma. This allows attorneys to be heroes. But it also makes them easy targets for attack – particularly in the realm of social media.
For this reason, Google’s recent introduction of “Search plus Your World” presents both familiar and new challenges for lawyers marketing in the non-traditional world of the Web.
Welcome to Search Plus Your World
First, here’s a quick introduction to the primary changes that “Search plus Your World” brings to the Google search experience.
Google delivers a rich search experience. It has expanded over the years to include images, videos, news, shopping options and more.
“Search plus Your World” represents a dramatic further expansion of the Google search experience. It promotes personalization of search results based on one’s social interests, activities, relationships and related media.
In Google’s official announcement, the company offered that “Search plus Your World” is “a search engine that understands not only content but also people and relationships.”
So, what’s different?
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New Sources for Search Results–This recent update dramatically expands the primary sources for information searched and displayed by Google.
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Expanded Auto-Personalization of Search Results– The Google search algorithm has always focused on delivering relevant results from across the Web (almost exclusively websites). “Search plus Your World” significantly expands this search environment to search and return results personalized with information from Google+ profiles, Friends photos and profiles and information from related connections and social circles.
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The Search Engine Results Page (SERP) – The search engine results page (SERP) now includes several new visual cues to help cite the sources for the search results, including information that your online Google+ Friends have posted, image results from your online photo galleries (Picasa) and related information courtesy of Google+ Circles. Personal results are marked with a
icon on the SERP.It is important to realize that there are now effectively two Google SERPs – the personalized view just described and the universal view, which is available by toggling ‘off’ the personalized results and selecting the
icon.In summary, the new Google “Search plus Your World” concept allows the user (your law firm’s potential client) to customize the display of their search results by flipping between the personalized view (
) and the universal view ().Note: The “universal” view is still dynamic to the search history and geographic location of the user. Also, just as your firm’s potential client can toggle between universal and personalized search results, they can choose to view only personalized information as well and exclude all universal (public) results from their search query.
What Does Search Plus Your World Mean for Law Firms?
As with any change on the Web, lawyers and law firms need to adapt to “Search plus Your World.”
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You need to get more popular – quick. Here’s a tip: Read or re-read the latest edition of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People– pronto! Generating and promoting new ideas, sharing enthusiasm, taking interest in others and encouraging the goals of others are fundamental concepts in building a healthy, active social life – both in-person and through your social network.
Some attorneys may feel daunted by the prospect of an online social community. But remember, this is still akin to traditional referral relationships and business networking. There are ‘real’ people on the other side of the computer screen, and the new media just makes it easier to shake more hands and get to know more people who can promote your firm and funnel business to you.
If you want more business for your law firm, it has to come from other people talking about you and your services. Social media can be very effective at starting those conversations and keeping you active within relevant social ‘Circles’.
If you have not found a reason in the past to make the plunge into social media, “Search plus Your World” should be the main reason to revisit that decision.
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You won’t know exactly what your potential clients see on Google.The results displayed to the user are customized based on their personal search preferences, browsing history, specific geographic location at the time of the search, social interactions via Google+ and their extended ‘Circles’ family.
While the following disclaimer is within the Google privacy policy related to “Search plus Your World,” it underscores the dynamic and private nature of exactly what your potential clients are viewing on their SERPs:
The realization that you no longer can have confidence in what your potential clients are viewing on Google’s search results should immediately shift your thinking in two distinct ways:
1. Reconsider the methods by which you monitor and evaluate your Web marketing campaign’s performance. Simply looking at rankings reports is not enough. In fact, it will be increasingly misleading as Google’s search environment continues to become more customized to the individual searcher. The only way to build an effective snapshot of your website’s performance is to factor in the rankings reports, traffic analytics, local traffic statistics and lead generation figures. These may be coupled with other supportive materials, including click maps and social media activity stats.
2. Recognize that your online marketing strategy should not rely on only a singular, primary law firm website. The most successful Web marketing strategies will include a broad range of strategies to expand visibility and accessibility for your law firm. This holistic approach to Web marketing might include your primary law firm website, a network of practice area and/or locale specific satellite sites, an active blog, social media marketing campaign, supplemental pay-per-click investments and other aggressive marketing drivers to construct the broadest possible online profile for your firm.
Google’s new “Search plus Your World” ups the ante when it comes to your active engagement in the social Web. But remember: All the individuals you have been able to help throughout your career. They needed a lawyer in their life, and there are many more individuals waiting on the social Web that need your help, too.
To answer our question, “Is ‘Search Plus Your World’ A World for Lawyers?” – the answer is a resounding YES! But only if you include yourself in your potential clients’ world.
To learn more or to speak to one of our law firm marketing consultants, please contact us at (800) 872-6590 or marketing@consultwebs.com.
