About the law firm that just wouldn't rank

I once worked with an agency client managing 11 different law firms. As part of my service, I conducted a detailed website audit for each firm, pointing out critical changes they needed to make to boost their maps rankings. Most of the lawyers jumped on board and had no problem with their agency making the necessary adjustments. Once those changes were made? Their rankings went through the roof.

We are talking super competitive terms in cities like San Diego, Miami and Austin.

But one lawyer was different. He refused to implement the recommendations because he liked how his website was set up. I could understand that—people get attached to how their site looks—but his maps rankings were stagnant and every time a new Google update hit, they would drop.

Nothing we tried was working. We experimented with a few other different strategies, but no matter what we did, the results just didn’t come.

After a few months of frustration, I decided to send the site to

@Mike Clay

for his input. He took one look and confirmed what I had suspected all along—the issue was the site’s structure.

It was far too flat. The pages weren’t organized in a way that gave Google a clear picture of what this firm really did.

In fact, Google saw their pages about paralegals as just as important as their main services!

The problem was that the site didn’t have a proper SILO structure, meaning there wasn’t enough topical relevance or depth for Google to understand what this firm really did. Without a robust structure, Google couldn’t prioritize their most important pages, so they weren’t ranking for their key terms. And most people think well...this is just a website ranking issue.

But, this directly tied into their ability to rank in maps. The two are very connected.

The moral of the story? If you want to rank, you need more than just a good-looking site. Your website needs depth. It needs structure. Google needs a clear, organized view of who you are, what you do, and where you’re located. A strong foundation with a deep, relevant SILO is what truly helps you rank and get the attention you deserve

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