When people need to find a lawyer, they typically start their search by asking people they know and trust. This isn't new. However, how they ask people they know and trust is changing a lot.
Remember writing letters? Remember party lines? Remember email?
For better and worse, legal services consumer behavior has changed. More and more, winning attention from prospective clients is about micro-moments. From Think With Google:
Micro-moments occur when people reflexively turn to a deviceโincreasingly a smartphoneโto act on a need to learn something, do something, discover something, watch something, or buy something. They are intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences shaped. In these moments, consumers' expectations are higher than ever. The powerful computers we carry in our pockets have trained us to expect brands to immediately deliver exactly what we are looking for when we are looking. We want things right, and we want things right away.
Before your clients want to hire you, they probably want to know something about their situation. Many of them will turn to a device to learn.
For you, the question becomes, "What will they find?"
Will it be:
Or will it be those of your competitors?
At some point in their process, your potential clients will switch mindsets from I-want-to-know to I-want-to-hire. Again, many of them will be likely to turn to a device.
First, they'll be likely to turn to people they know and trust. Maybe they'll look to their contacts list. Maybe they'll send an email. Or maybe they'll use Facebook.
Who will they find? To whom will those people refer? You? Maybe. Have you been:
Or do you pretty much stay locked-up in your office blocking-out the rest of the world?
Second, after turning to people they know and trust, your potential clients will look you up online.
What will they find? Will they find:
Lawyers tend to think that most of their best clients come from word-of-mouth referrals.
Guess what, they're right.
Unfortunately, many of those same lawyers conclude that, "their best clients don't use the internet to find them."
That's where they're wrong.
Your best clients might not be typing chicago divorce lawyer into Google (but you ought not assume that).
But they will use their devices as part of their process to learn, contact and hire their lawyer.
Lawyers that understand and win these micro-moments thrive.
Those that ignore how the behavior of legal services consumers has changed, won't.
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, […]
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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. […]
