Online advertising is a fact of life in our always-connected digital world. Most people use computers, smartphones, and other devices to browse the internet during their daily lives, and they have come to expect that ads will be a part of this experience. However, many online ads are intrusive, limiting people's ability to use websites properly, access the information they are looking for, and complete tasks. To address this issue, standards have been put in place detailing the practices that websites should follow, and these standards are taken into account by search engines such as Google. To avoid potential search engine optimization (SEO) penalties, website owners will need to make sure they are complying with these standards.

What Are the Better Ads Standards?

The Coalition for Better Ads has identified certain types of online ads that website users dislike. These ads can affect a website's user experience, making people more likely to navigate away from a site and look elsewhere for information, products, or services. Websites that use intrusive or distracting ads may be penalized by Google or other search engines, making them less likely to be listed in search results.

The majority of people who are looking for information online will perform searches through Google. Any changes that Google makes to the way it returns search results can have a huge impact on a site’s ability to be found in online searches. This illustrates the importance of search engine optimization (SEO), since websites that follow the correct practices are much more likely to show up in search results and be found by people who are searching for information online. Website owners will want to be aware of the following changes that Google has made that may affect them throughout 2022 and beyond:

• Page Experience Update - One of the most significant updates Google made over the past year involved a focus on the experience that users have when they access a website. Google searches will now consider factors known as “core web vitals” that measure how quickly a page loads, the speed at which a site responds when people click a link or perform other interactions, and whether the visual elements of a site are stable or shift unexpectedly while someone is viewing a page. Google will also look at whether a site is easy to use on mobile devices, whether there are any intrusive ads or pop-ups that affect users’ experience, and whether a site is secure.

• Multitask Unified Model (MUM) - Google has worked to incorporate artificial intelligence into its search algorithms in order to better understand what people are searching for. According to Google, MUM is 1,000 times more powerful than its previous AI techniques, which were known as BERT. These changes will help refine topics people are searching for and suggest subtopics that can provide relevant information. MUM will also help incorporate visual searches, return translated search results from content in multiple languages, and understand misspelled words in search queries.

The internet is a busy place, and for law firms or other types of businesses, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. Fortunately, there are a variety of search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that can be used to make sure your website shows up in search results for people who are looking for the services you provide. When building and maintaining your website, you can use on-site search optimization to ensure that your content and blogs are relevant to your audience and contain the keywords that people are searching for, while also including metadata that will improve the chances that people will click through to your site from search results pages. In addition to on-site optimization, you can also use different types of enhanced SEO techniques. One of the best ways to boost your rankings in search results is by posting guest articles on other websites.

The Value of Guest Posts

Links from other sites are some of the most important “signals” that search engines such as Google use when determining how to rank a website in search results. These “backlinks” show that other people consider a site to be relevant and helpful. Links from a site that has a high domain authority can be very valuable, especially if the site receives a large amount of traffic and is known as a reliable source of information.

One of the best ways to build backlinks to your site is to submit guest blogs or articles to other sites. These articles can discuss issues related to your law firm’s areas of practice, providing people with helpful information about legal matters that they may need to address. This will help establish you as a trusted authority who can be relied upon to answer people’s questions in a clear and easily-understandable manner. An article can contain links to your website and let people know that they can contact you for more information or to get legal help. 

For many people, Google has largely morphed into “the new homepage for local business,” and some believe that the information provided within Google search results has replaced the need for a separate website. However, there is no overstating the value of a quality website. Even if it appears that websites are less important in today’s world, this notion is far from reality.

Changes to Google Search

Not long ago, a search for a local business on Google would bring up a search engine results page (SERP) with 10 local businesses and links to their websites. As the format of Google’s search results changed to make paid ads more prominent, the number of listed businesses has shrunk. Instead of sending searchers to company websites, Google now tries to keep users engaged on its own platforms. A SERP offers information in a Knowledge Panel that includes a business’s address, phone number, hours of operation, photos, and more, and for many users, this provides them with the simple information they need without searching further.

Why Websites Are Important  

While some users may never click through from Google search results to a company’s website, having a quality site in place continues to be essential in helping improve search rankings. Business websites that rank high on Google organically are likely to appear in the SERP “local 3-pack,” the listing you see on the first page of search results that includes a business’s address and description, as well as reviews and photos. The best way to end up in that 3-pack is to have the strongest website possible, which is achieved in part through:

You probably see the letters HTTPS hundreds of times a day as you scroll through your favorite websites, check your email, and interact with people on social media. You may not know their meaning; however, this letter combination holds a lot of power over the websites you visit and how they rank in Google search results. 

HTTP vs. HTTPS

HTTP is an acronym for HyperText Transfer Protocol, which enables communication between different computer systems on the internet. This protocol allows data to be transferred from a web server to a browser, allowing you to view the hundreds of sites you look at each day.