1. Search Engine Campaign Consultation - during site development, the firm will be consulted to set goals, identify the target audience(s) and determine the key phrases that best describe the firm.
2. Optimized Pages per FirmSite - this is the number of pages that will be optimized to become search engine-friendly. Optimized pages help the site be more easily indexed and searchable. It is important to select no more than 10 top pages whose content clearly supports the goals of the SEO campaign to be optimized.
3. Optimized Search Phrases - key phrases that best describe the firm are identified and used as metatags, title tags and content that search engines use to rank the site in its results.
4. Keyword Research - SEO specialists will research how popular a search term is within the top 8 search engines to see if visitors are actively using the key phrases identified for the FirmSite. Adjustments will be suggested as appropriate.
5. Content Evaluation - SEO specialists will discuss content development suggestions that will best support the SEO campaign.
6. Keyword Hyperlinking - specialists will create hyperlinks for keywords within the site to help spiders index more pages in the site.
7. Optimized Description Tag - the description for the site will be optimized for searchability.
8. Optimized Title Tags - title tags appear in the title bar that appears at the top of the Internet Explorer browser. Specialists will place keywords in the tags to help the page's search engine ranking for the keywords.
9. Optimized Alt Tags - alt tags are alternative text that appears when a mouse cursor is held over a graphic on a Web page. Spiders will use this text to index sites within the search engine.
10. Competitive Site Research - SEO specialists will look at competitive law firm Web sites to see how we can tweak the SEO campaign to try to gain higher placement than the competition.
11. FindLaw Reciprocal Link - your site will be linked in FindLaw, and since other search engines value the sites that are linked from FindLaw, your site will be deemed valuable as well.
12. Search Engine Submissions - each FirmSite will be automatically submitted to the search engines on this list. Due to the changing nature of search engine popularity, these sites change almost monthly. To view the latest list, go to the FindLaw Resource Center. Once a site is submitted, it could take up to two (2) months before it begins to appear in the search engines. Sites are not always accepted on the first submission.
13. International Search Engine Submissions - at the firm's request, we will substitute up to three of the standard submissions to domestic search engines for international ones to help make the firm's exposure global.
14. Manual Search Engine Submission - manual submission is the preferred method because it allows the submitter to choose the directory category to submit to. (Some automated submission processes do not allow a submitter to choose the category to submit the site to.) Manual submission is also important for those search engines such as Yahoo!, Open Directory and Alta Vista that do not allow automated submissions.
15. Paid Submission - some search engines now provide an expedited entry into their indexes through a paid submission program that ranges from $30 to $299 per URL. These paid submissions provide faster inclusion as well as more frequent spidering that will get a change made to the site in the search engine faster.
16. Crawler Page- a crawler page provides search engine crawlers with a direct path to all pages of the site so that they can be easily indexed.
17. Acceptance Monitoring for Top 8 Only - FirmSites will be reviewed periodically for search engine acceptability. Sites will be resubmitted to the engines in which they do not appear.
18. Additional Page Add On - firms may want to add a page to a Web site that can stand on its own, such as a workman's comp page or a page dedicated to a product recall. This feature gives firms the option of optimizing a unique page at a reduced price that can be searchable outside of the designated campaign for the main site.
19. Ranking Reports per Year - ranking reports provide the client and SEO specialist reports detailing the performance of the chosen search phrases for an SEO campaign. Ranking reports are produced 2,4 or 6 times per year, depending on the level of SEO service. Search engines will often change their ranking algorithms to enhance their results. Our specialists will keep abreast of these changes and make modifications as needed.
20. Tune-Ups Per Year - by monitoring the results over time, it's possible to make changes, as needed, to make sure that the site is still performing well in the search engines for the various search terms.

Other Useful Definitions

1. Inktomi - utilizing their new Search Submit program Inktomi provides 48-hour refreshes of a site that is supplied through its Web search partners, such as HotBot and MSN.
2. Metatags - metatags are used to provide an overall summary of an HTML Web page by providing a description of the page/site's content. Metatags do not display within the page the user sees, but are part of the underlying HTML coding. Some search engines use metatags to categorize and rank Web sites.
3. Search Directory - directories utilize human editors to create their databases. When a site is submitted to Yahoo! or Open Directory, two of the most popular search directories, an actual person reviews the site for inclusion into the index. Listings in Yahoo! and Open Directory also assure indexing by Google.
4. Search Engine - search engines utilize spiders and search bots to create their indexes. Google is a good example. Other prominent search engines include Alta Vista, Inktomi (MSN), Lycos and Fast.
5. Spider - a program used by search engines to index sites according to that engine's search algorithm. A spider is also known as a crawler, robot or bot.