One of the biggest mistakes lawyers make with their marketing is a failure to measure the results. With a free program such as Google Analytics, you can understand how visitors are interacting with your website, where they are coming from, what they are searching for to get there, how many leads your site is generating, and more.
However, the amount of statistics and information Google Analytics provides can be a bit overwhelming when you are first getting started. In order to help you better understand how to use this powerful tool, I have put together a list of 4 questions about your website we can answer using Google Analytics.
A report entitled Traffic Sources can help answer this question. You can access the traffic sources report from the menu in the upper left:
The traffic sources report divides your traffic into 3 groups: Direct Traffic, Referring Sites, and Search Engines.
Direct Traffic are people who visited your site directly by typing in the url. I have found that this section also acts as a catch all in case Google Analytics can't place the visit back to a referring site or search engine for whatever reason.
Referring Sites includes traffic sent because a visitor clicked on a link from another website, but not a search engine.
Search Engines are visitors who clicked a link on a search engine to arrive on your site.
Google Analytics allows you to drill down into any of these categories to get more detailed information. For instance, you can see the specific search engines that sent traffic and the keywords that people searched for to find your site. Or you can view the social media sites, such as LinkedIn or Facebook, that sent visitors through referring sites.
Most law firms are local or regional businesses. This means that if you are a bankruptcy firm in Denver, getting a bunch of site visitors from Texas or Australia isn't going to do you a whole lot of good. As a result, it's important to understand where your site visitors are coming from. The Visitors Map Overlay can help. To access the Visitors Map Overlay, you will select "Visitors" on the left hand menu and then "Map Overlay".
The resulting report will show you a map with a traffic breakdown for each country. You can drill down further and get a breakdown of each state and city.
You need to understand what the most viewed pages are on your site. You can use this information to work on improving the content and conversion for the pages that are most trafficked. To view this report you will select "Content" from the left hand menu and then "Top Content".
This will display the top 10 most visited pages on your site.
As mobile usage becomes more prevalent, you are likely to see increases in site visitors from Ipads, smart phones, etc. The information can be useful when deciding on investments for your mobile strategy. Google analytics makes it very easy to track the mobile visitors to your site. Login to your Google Analytics account and on the left navigation select Visitors | Mobile | Mobile Devices.
This will give you a nice snapshot of your mobile traffic.
Here's a recent Google SERP for "๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐น๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ." Ads? โLSAs? โLocal Pack? โLinks? โ ๐ท AI Overview? โ 6 firms listed. Only one tiny ๐. Click the ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ button? ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐: Here's a more detailed look at some of these firms: THE PEARCE LAW FIRM, P.C.Edith Pearce, […]
On April 22, 2025, Google sent an email updating Local Services Ads Additional Terms for Providers: Subject: Action required: important updates to Local Service Ads Additional Terms Many people are arguing that lawyers cannot participate in Local Services Ads, as this would constitute a per se violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct related to […]
Conrad and I recently joined Zack at Lawyerist to record a conversation about AI and marketing. You might think that we spend the whole time on how lawyers can use AI to publish content. You'd be wrong. While AI can certainly support publishing, there are many more interesting ways to use it in legal marketing. […]
As more legal services consumers turn to ChatGPT for local law firm recommendations, a fascinating intersection between AI, search, and maps unfolds. While Google remains the undisputed leader in local business data, ChatGPT is increasingly becoming an entry point for searchers seeking legal representation. But hereโs the kicker: instead of keeping users within its ecosystem, […]
When law firms contact us, they usually want to talk: โข PPC Ads โข SEO Rankings โข Lead Generation Very few want to talk: โข Brand โข Trust & Recognition โข Emotional Connection Admittedly, much of this concerns that AttorneySync is known for lead generation across those common digital channels. But even when we start […]
According to an October 2024 study by SE Ranking: "The legal niche triggers the highest percentage of AIOs (77.67%). The average number of links matched between the AI Overview resources and the top 20 search results was 6.49 for legal topics. AI Overviews for legal topics most frequently link to NYCourts.gov (114 links), YouTube.com (48 […]
I'm grateful for my friend, Charley Mann of Law firm Alchemy. If you're a lawyer, subscribe to his Free Email List. In a recent email, Charley calls out bad guru advice on hiring: "Trying to execute a major SEO improvement? You need to find people who will help you, instead of trying to DIY it […]
If youโve spent any time on LinkedIn, youโve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an โup and to the rightโ trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And itโs not just the agencies celebratingโ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฟ๐บ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ […]
Meh, links! All things being equal, links still tend to move the dial more than any other factor in legal SERPs. Maybe links are having a diminishing impact internet-wide. But in my experience, quality links, especially relevant links (both topically and geographically), tend to improve law firm visibility in search more than most everything else. […]
