After spending a great deal of time and money ensuring that your law firm’s search engine rankings are good, the last thing you will want to do is put these rankings in jeopardy and lose the attorney SEO you’ve been working on.
Therefore, if you plan on moving your law firm’s location, it would be natural for you to be concerned about the effect this move could possibly have on your SEO rankings.
The fact is that the process of moving your business can affect both your Google My Business and organic search rankings if you are not careful. This makes it important that you take certain precautions in order to minimize the effect your move has on your business’s rankings.
To help get you started, here are a few steps that you can take to maintain your search engine rankings as you move your law firm’s location.
Update Your Law Firm Website First
In order to ensure a smooth transition during your move, you should update your website as soon as possible during the moving process with your new business information.
For SEO purposes, you should have your law firm’s name, address, and phone number (NAP – Name, Address, Phone Number) listed on your website in several different and never neglect your SCHEMA markup within your website’s underlying code. You can test your website’s SCHEMA markup using Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool (https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool). If you are currently not using SCHEMA, we can help you with this.
Once you have moved, make sure that you update your address (and phone number if applicable) throughout your website, and be careful not to miss any instances of your NAP. Make sure that wherever your NAP is present that it is listed in an identical fashion in order to further boost SEO.
Common places to check for your NAP is on your website’s About Us page, Contact page, and on your website’s header and footer. While making these updates, it would also be a good idea to update your website with fresh pictures depicting your new location.
Change Your Google My Business Listing
Next, it is important that you update your Google My Business listing with your new information. If you are moving into a building or office that previously housed a business, your first step will be to make sure that their old Google My Business listing is closed, as you do not want two competing listings for the same address as this will create problems for search engines and clients.
If a previous listing still exists for your new address, mark the business as closed, and include a comment letting the editors know that a new business is moving into that location.
After making sure that all competing listings are closed, you will want to log into your own Google My Business account and update the address and phone number for your listing. Once you have inputted your new information, check to make sure that the pin marker is displaying the correct location for your business on the map. If it does not update automatically, Google may send you a postcard to your new address to confirm your location.
Update All Digital Listings
In order to maintain your search engine rankings, it is also critical that you find and update all of your business’s listings online.
Search for your law firm and update every instance of your business’s NAP that you can find whether it be on Yelp, Foursquare, AVVO, The Yellow Pages, or on the website of the Better Business Bureau. While it can be time-consuming, it is important that you find all digital listings pertaining to your business and update them with your new information, as maintaining a consistent NAP online is a key component in helping you to maintain your Google My Business rankings.
When moving a law firm, it is also important that you update your information with your Secretary of State/Business Licensing Authority, and you will need to update state and local bar directory pages pertaining to your firm and each individual attorney with your new information. Not only is it generally required to update these listings when you move your firm, but also, these listings can affect your search engine rankings, making it important that you find and update each professional listing for your firm.
There are also many data aggregators online. The four major players for data supplied to online directories include Infogroup, Localeze, Acxiom, and Factual in the United States.
Update Offline Directories as Well
While it may seem obvious, it is also important that you update all of your information with all utility companies and government agencies such as the phone company, cable company, your electric company, and your financial institution, and you should also update your business license. Not only are these essential updates to make as part of any business move, but also, online listing may pull information pertaining to your firm from these sources, making it important that you keep these sources updated during your move in order to maintain a consistent NAP online.
Keep Your Social Media Pages Updated
In order to maintain your search Engine rankings, it is also important that you update all of your firm’s social media accounts with your new information including your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, as these pages can affect your rankings as well.
Additionally, you will want to keep your social media accounts updated throughout the moving process, as this can help keep current and prospective clients aware of what is going on. Keep followers updated on the process of your move, where your new office will be, and when the move will be finalized in order to prevent any confusion.
Partner with a Professional Minnesota Web Design and SEO Firm
Maintaining your law firm’s search engine rankings during a move requires constant proactive work. This process can often seem overwhelming, as you may be uncertain how to find and update all listings pertaining to your business, and you may not know what tasks to prioritize in order to maintain your rankings.
You may then want to consider working with an experienced SEO company during your move, as SEO professionals will know what needs to be done in order to ensure that your search engine rankings do not suffer as a result of your firm’s move.
Contact us to learn about how we can help you to maintain your law firm’s search engine rankings if you are in the process of moving locations.
