Some of my law firm clients have asked if they can improve their SEO by posting on Medium or LinkedIn. Specifically, they wondered if they could use these sites to boost their traffic and build backlinks.
The answer is… kind of.
Most lawyers know the professional network LinkedIn. In case you’re not familiar with Medium, it’s a social network based on long-form blogging. Anyone can sign up and post an article. Like other social media websites, you can browse content by category, search, or hashtag.
Medium operates as a magazine as well, highlighting and curating content for readers. It has “publications” that feature articles by topic.
You can use Linkedin and Medium to post content to your network and beyond. The goal is to link this content back to your law firm’s website or blog.
Is this strategy worth your time and effort? It depends on what you plan to get out of it.
Click here for answers to the most frequently asked questions about law firm content and SEO.
How Can Posting to Linkedin or Medium Help My SEO?
If you’ve read anything about SEO, you’ve probably heard of backlinks, also called inbound or incoming links. These are links from external websites back to your website, and they carry a lot of SEO weight. When another website links to you, you get link equity from them.
What Is Link Equity?
Link equity is a big part of the equation that makes up your search engine rankings. That’s because a link from one website to another is like a “vote of confidence” for search engines. The more reputable and high-ranking your referrer, the better.
Based on the website linking to you, you could get a huge SEO boost from the link equity.
How Do You Get Backlinks?
One way you definitely shouldn’t get backlinks is by paying for them. This was a popular practice for a while, but if you do it now the Google algorithm will penalize you.
Besides, now the quality of your backlinks matters more than the quantity. One link from a high-reputation source can give you more link equity than 100 low-quality links.
LinkedIn and Medium are established sites, right? So if you’re already blogging, posting on one or both of them sounds like a good idea. You could get a backlink and some traffic from these networks to your law firm’s website. Seems like a win-win.
If only SEO were that simple! Unfortunately, the net result isn’t so clear-cut.
How to Get a Backlink from Medium
Most links from social sites – including Medium and LinkedIn – are “no-follow” links. No-follow links stop any link equity from passing from their site to yours.
Websites use no-follow links when they don’t know if the site they’re linking is trustworthy. This makes sense for social media, where it’s impossible to screen every single posted link.
Does that mean you should give up engaging these platforms? Not quite.
Don’t discount “no-follow” links completely. They don’t hurt and the link can still add legitimacy to your website, especially if you’re just starting out.
Social sites like LinkedIn and Medium are simply another online marketing tool. You just have to use them correctly to see results.
Posting Duplicate Content on Social Media
So you’re thinking of posting on Medium or LinkedIn in addition to blogging on your law firm’s website. Do you have to create all new content for these platforms? Can’t you just repurpose content you’ve already created to reach more people on these networks?
The problem with posting duplicate content online is that you sabotage your own SEO efforts. It’s why I run every post I write through a plagiarism check before publishing.
SEO algorithms change every day but their core purpose stays the same: to find the best, unique content for every search. Duplicate content is a problem because:
- Search engines prefer not to show multiple versions of the same content, so they’re forced to choose between duplicates. This dilutes the visibility of both pages.
- Other sites must also choose between duplicates, which dilutes the link equity you get from backlinks.
Fortunately, canonical links fix this problem.
Even better? Medium can automatically create canonical links for you.
Medium Canonical Links
A canonical link is a line of code that tells search engines to treat a page of content as a copy, with a link to the original page. With canonical links, you can copy-paste your blog posts in their entirety to Medium and reap the benefits of SEO without doing any extra work.
In fact, when you use the Medium import tool to post content from your website onto your Medium account, it automatically sets up the canonical link back to your site.
LinkedIn Marketing for Lawyers
LinkedIn is more about professional networking. Most people don’t log in expecting to read long blog posts. They want something quick and interesting that they can repost and share with their network. (Another reason headlines are so important!)
So while it makes sense to copy-paste your blog articles to share on Medium, the same tactic won’t translate so well on LinkedIn.
Instead, post short snippets of your content with a link to the page to read more. Even with a no-follow link, you get visitors to your site and potentially some shares – and it doesn’t cost you much extra work.
Benefits of Blogging on Medium or LinkedIn for Lawyers
If you’re thinking of adding LinkedIn or Medium to your online marketing strategy, you must consider the purpose and tone of these platforms for the best results.
When you’re writing blog posts for your website, your purpose is to target keywords so that prospective clients can find you when they search for your services. Once they’re on your website, your goal is to convert them into client calls with strong calls to action.
LinkedIn is a good place to engage with your industry, your colleagues, and your prospective clients, especially if they’re businesses. If you’re writing good content, you should share it – just make sure to sound human about it. The more genuine you are, the better.
Medium is more of an editorial and social website. The calls to action you use on your website might sound too heavyhanded on Medium. Your purpose is more about potential exposure over direct sales and your tone should reflect that.
My Tips for Lawyers
Posting your content on LinkedIn or Medium might be an easy step to take if you already have a legal blog. The question is whether it’s worth your time and effort in SEO.
The answer?
- You might get a slight bump to your SEO and search engine rankings, especially if you’re just starting out and your website could use a boost in visibility.
- It won’t hurt and it requires little effort.
- The amount of engagement you get out of these networks will change based on how much effort you put into them. Make sure to respond if people engage with your content.
Posting on LinkedIn and Medium is unlikely to lead to huge results or direct client acquisition – unless you already have a large following or you’re willing to dedicate a lot of time to growing one.
If you genuinely enjoy engaging on these social platforms, then by all means do so. But if you have limited time and resources, content marketing on your own website or blog is the most valuable online marketing strategy you can pursue.
Wherever you post your content, make sure you include keyword research.
Want to talk about your content marketing? Schedule a consultation now.