Law firms that feel their websites, or a particularly important page on their site, are not performing well may want to try the Google reconsideration process.

Google issued new guidance on the reconsideration process recently that you may want to discuss with your webmaster. If you feel that your law firm website is in compliance with all of Google’s guidelines (i.e., no hidden text, no links to spammy sites, and high quality content) but still not getting the search engine visibility you expect, you can submit a reconsideration request to Google. Of course you will need to fix any known issues or violations before submitting your request.

In the past Google would respond by simply saying they processed your request. Most webmasters were left scratching their heads over what this meant. Now Google offers more specific feedback. You will be notified if Google took a manual action to improve your site’s position, if the site is OK now, if the site is still in a violation state, of if no action was taken. The latter generally means that you will see improved performance as the site is crawled in the future.

Don’t expect personalized feedback, but this more detailed albeit automatic feedback process is intended to be more responsive to and informational for the webmaster community.

Here are reconsideration tips from Google, including a reconsideration video from Google Webmaster Tools.

Remember, fresh content is one of the best ways to get SEO attention from Google.

Margaret Grisdela is the author of "Courting Your Clients: The Essential Guide to Legal Marketing," now in its 2nd edition. She founded the national legal marketing agency Legal Expert Connections, Inc., which helps attorneys and experts with new business development.