Lawyers must take care on how they drive traffic to their websites.

Using secretive techniques to lure Internet users to a law firm website with false or deceptive information is wrong, members of the Bar's Standing Committee on Advertising agree, but the committee wants more time to research the technical issues before approving an advisory opinion.

The committee met September 20 at the Bar's Midyear Meeting in Orlando and reviewed a proposed advertising advisory opinion that addressed hidden text and meta tags (words on a webpage that are not visible to the viewer).

But Chair Mike Faehner and committee member Mel Wright said they showed the proposed advisory opinion to the experts who handle their websites and learned from them that the technical matters addressed in the opinion "are five years out of date."

The heart of the issue is SEO--search engine optimization--and the strategies employed by website managers attempting to have their pages displayed high on the lists served up by search engines.

Strategies include the use of hidden words, meta tags, links from other sites, mentions on blogs or the use of a blog by the website, as well as links from articles. Problems arise when deceptive or misleading tactics are used, which committee members referred to as "black ops."

Examples include that "Law Firm A" might use the name and motto of "Law Firm B" in meta tags and hidden language on its website, which would result with people searching for "Law Firm B" to be referred by a search engine to "Law Firm A." An actual Bar grievance case resulted from a similar situation, although in that instance the lawyer said his optimization expert added the hidden language without the lawyer's knowledge. The hidden language was removed when the Bar member discovered it.

The proposed draft advisory opinion presented to the committee noted that lawyers should not use meta tags or hidden text to imply they practice in geographic areas where they don't have an office.

Additionally, the draft opinion stated, "A lawyer also may not use hidden text or meta tags to be listed as a search result for an area of law the lawyer does not currently practice. For example, a lawyer may not use 'mesothelioma' as a meta tag or hidden text so that consumers searching for lawyers who handle such cases are directed to the lawyer's website if the lawyer has no intention of actually handling that type of matter and, instead, intends to refer the matter out and divide fees with the lawyer to whom the matter is referred."

The opinion...