The inescapable truth of search engine optimization (SEO) is that it is neither a clear, straightforward process, nor one that can be done quickly. Online search engines, Google in particular, are notoriously tight-lipped about how their search algorithms function. They operate inside a kind of black box, where the ranking factors they use are somewhat hidden from the public. Google does provide extensive guidance on how to best optimize your site to rank well, but the specifics of the algorithm remain a mystery.
Because of the opaque nature of the guidance from search engines like Google, many common SEO myths still persist, despite people’s best efforts to dispel them. Part of this is thanks to deliberate obfuscation to protect search providers’ intellectual property, but also because many site owners just don’t understand how SEO works, and what doesn’t work, to get their pages appearing at the top of search rankings. That includes law firms, whose expertise is in their area of legal practice, not necessarily in running an optimized website.
