Some SEO Metrics for Attorneys

Gyi Tsakalakis
May 2, 2014

You should already know that: Rankings don’t necessarily translate to traffic, which doesn’t necessarily translate to inquiries, which don’t necessarily translate into new clients.

Nonetheless, understanding how these metrics can work in concert is your best chance of answering the question: Is this working?

Rankings

Let me make this easy for you: Don't focus on rankings.

Search rankings are in a constant state of flux. Search result pages are becoming increasingly personal and local. Spot-checking rankings for the keywords you think your potential clients are using to find you is largely a waste of time.

Instead, monitor general position trends.

If your pages are increasing in position across your target keyword universe over time, you are moving in the right direction.

If your pages' positions are trending downward, it's time to do some forensic analysis to figure out what's going on.

If you're holding your breath to "make it rain" because you rank prominently for your "10 top keywords," it's likely you're going to pass out.

After all, you can't pay your landlord with rankings.

Traffic

2014-05-02_1052_traffic

Traffic paints a slightly better picture of what's going. But not all traffic is meaningful.

Attorneys send me Google Analytics top-line traffic reports to review all the time. They say:

Look at all this traffic I'm getting. Why isn't the phone ringing?

Sometimes, they have some conversion issue (i.e. slow page loads, difficult to find contact info, etc).

Usually, it has nothing to do with conversion. It's that the "traffic" they're getting is meaningless. Here are some examples of meaningless traffic:

  • Bots
  • Competitors
  • Marketers
  • Other Solicitors
  • Un-targeted Search Traffic

If we're talking traffic in the context of search engine optimization and business development, one form of meaningful traffic is:

Organic search traffic that converts into paying clients.

Inquiries

"Just get the phone to ring."

Sounds great, right?

All you need to do is to get the phone to ring and the clients will come rolling in.

Of course if you rank for queries that drives traffic that converts into phone calls from people who:

  • Don't need your services.
  • Can't afford your services.
  • Wear tinfoil hats.

Then it's still not "going to work."

Are you even tracking inquiries?

Hint: Asking people how they found you doesn't count.

Are you tracking inquiries by source?

Are you tracking inquiries by source to open files?

Clients

If the SEO "stuff" you're doing isn't translating into more or better clients, it's just "stuff."

But in order to even know what's going on, you have to have systems in place to track everything from visitor to fee.

Very few attorneys I know have such systems in place.

And those that do, often don't work them very well.

But if you don't, you'll always be measuring your marketing with your gut.

So, ask yourself (or your vendor) how you can track:

2014-05-02_1104_roi

Gyi Tsakalakis
Co-Founder of AttorneySync
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Let's Discuss Your Growth

Helping law firms grow profitably with digital marketing and can prove it.

Barry Conybeare

We are so impressed with AttorneySync and their digital marketing services. We started with an audit of our digital presence and hired them thereafter. Fixes to the website and other platforms quickly followed and we have seen a substantial increase in online traffic, new client calls, and new client contracts. Strongly recommend AttorneySync!

Let's Talk

How can we help?

More From Our Blog

May 3, 2025
Non-Brand 📉 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 📈

Here's a recent Google SERP for "𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘄𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗮." Ads? ❌LSAs? ❌Local Pack? ❌Links? ❌ 🔷 AI Overview? ✅ 6 firms listed. Only one tiny 🔗. Click the 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 button? 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁: Here's a more detailed look at some of these firms: THE PEARCE LAW FIRM, P.C.Edith Pearce, […]

Read More
April 25, 2025
Do Confidentiality Rules of Professional Conduct Prohibit Use of Google's Local Services Ads?

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 […]

Read More
March 13, 2025
Lawyerist + Lunch Hour Legal Marketing Collaboration

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. […]

Read More
March 11, 2025
ChatGPT Legal Services Consumer Journeys and Marketing Attribution

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 here’s the kicker: instead of keeping users within its ecosystem, […]

Read More
March 10, 2025
Law Firm Brand Amplifies All Marketing

When law firms contact us, they usually want to talk: • PPC Ads • SEO Rankings • Lead Generation Very few want to talk: • Brand • Trust & Recognition • Emotional Connection Admittedly, much of this concerns that AttorneySync is known for lead generation across those common digital channels. But even when we start […]

Read More
March 6, 2025
Artificial Intelligence Overviews (AIO) in Legal SEO

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 […]

Read More
February 27, 2025
You Can’t Hire for Law Firm SEO If You Don’t Understand It

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 […]

Read More
February 26, 2025
Law Firm SEO Success Isn't What You Think It Is

If you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn, you’ve likely seen posts from law firm SEO experts showing off charts with an “up and to the right” trajectory. These screenshots, often pulled from tools like Semrush or Ahrefs, are meant to signal SEO success. And it’s not just the agencies celebrating—𝗹𝗮𝘄 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 […]

Read More
February 15, 2025
What "Meh, Links" Means

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. […]

Read More

Let's Discuss

Questions or comments? Let's discuss on social!
Testimonials on this site are from examples of real client results. The results you see are not typical. They do not guarantee similar results. Individual results may vary based on a variety of factors. Your results may vary.
envelope
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram