Over the years, law firm prospects have sent us reports from just about all of our competitors. Unfortunately, even today, some law firm marketing agencies still mislead their clients via "reporting." One particularly egregious example comes in the form of ranking reports. Which prompted this LinkedIn post.
To my surprise, I received a lot of questions about the grid report from the post. If you're wondering, that particular report was generated by Local Falcon.
You can access this report here. It's scan report for the query "personal injury attorney" for a firm in Philadelphia, PA.
If you'd like us to run a scan for your target queries and location, we'd be happy to do so, just reach out.
But while this report "looks cool," it's important to recognize that it's not a direct measure of success.
First, all rank trackers are inherently limited in how they track rankings. This is not a knock on them, it's just the nature of rank tracking. They do the best with the available data. However, it's also worth noting that they're not all created equally. For example, not all of them use geo coordinates, which is an absolute-must. If you're looking for a reputable local rank tracking tool, here are some of my favorites:
Have a favorite? Let me know in the comments.
Second, notice in the Philly report how much variation there is based on location. That 15 x 15 grid with a 10.0mi radius. Even within a ten mile radius, there can be tremendous variation in terms of which firms rank. Which brings me back to my point about how agencies mislead.
I can't tell you how many ranking reports we review where the agency is celebrating number one rankings from the location of the firm's office. Hurray, you rank number one when people search for your target queries from your lobby. If you're suspicious of your agency's ranking reports, send them to us. We'd love to see them.
Third, even if you are ranking for target queries beyond your lobby, that doesn't necessarily mean your phone will be ringing off the hook. For example, you can rank in the top spot, but if you don't have a competitive number of positive reviews, you're probably missing out on calls. This is why it's so important to implement call tracking numbers and UTM parameters in your Google Business Profiles. This is the only way to connect consultations and clients to Google Business Profile performance. And even then, if you're paying an agency, you must segment brand (searches on your name) from non-brand (i.e. personal injury lawyer). Be sure you're getting what you're paying for.
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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. […]
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