September 17, 2008
Marketing for Attorneys and Audio Indexing
Today's good news in the marketing for attorneys world is that Google announced the launch of audio indexing. Part of Google labs, and called GAudi, audio indexing works with YouTube and catalogs the words mentioned during an audio or video clip. The transcript then becomes part of a database that can be searched: according to Google, you can "[s]earch what people are saying inside YouTube videos." GAudi is currently in beta form and only indexes video and audio related to politicians or politics. Thus, GAudi has a large Barack Obama section and a smaller John McCain section. Although there is not yet a Sarah Palin section, I wouldn't be surprised to see one in the near future.
The significance of GAudi for internet marketing for attorneys is that it signals a potential shift toward search engine recognition of the content of video and audio segments on law firm websites. Lawyers should not hesitate to place video and audio content on their websites, and requisite SEO credit looks likely as GAudi grows and develops. According to an article today in TechCrunch, it will also be possible to click on buttons to find the place in a video where a particular keyword is used.
On an unrelated topic, it is heartening to see the demographics on Facebook shift away from dominance by users who are of college age. According to an article today on radar.oreilly.com, some of the fastest growing age groups on Facebook are middle-aged and young professionals. Thus, both online video and Facebook continue to show more promise and potential in the marketing for law firms space. Internet marketing for lawyers should not be confined to a static Web 1.0 website.
Please leave me your candid comments below on how audio indexing, online video and social networks like Facebook are influencing marketing for lawyers.
Comments on Marketing for Attorneys and Audio Indexing »
This is really an exciting development! It's been predicted for quite some time and it looks like the time is drawing near when audio/video content will be indexed and spidered for SEO by Google! I, for one, can't wait for this to happen as I have heavily invested in both types of content on my sites and find that human visitors like video (in particular) more than any other type of content. Why? Because people are basically lazy and want their content spoon fed. I can't really blame them. Up until now though, pure audio/video content gained the webmaster no love from Google. On the flip side, Google will likely start to notice that I use my videos several different ways? That being the case, I still think it will work out for the better for webmasters using audio/video and result in a richer experience for users.
Darrin,
Great comment! I looked at your site and was very impressed with your use of video. You are on the cutting edge, and I believe that the Internet is going in the direction of video. It would be nice for Google and the spiders to provide some "love" for videos. If you're okay with mentioning it, I'm interested in your use of videos in "several different ways"; is it a duplicate content issue?
Thanks for sharing your insight on this issue.