Uptick in “Lawyer” Queries in Google Search Console (GSC): What’s Going On?

Starting the first week of March, we noticed a massive uptick on most of our sites for any query that included the search term “lawyer.” Sites that were relatively flat in clicks saw a sudden increase in action to the site, all for these lawyer-centric terms.

The vast majority of these clicks are coming from the U.S. Yet this big fluctuation in “lawyer” clicks doesn’t seem to coincide with an increase in impressions.

Some Patterns We’ve Noticed in Our Clients’ Data

Here are four big takeaways we’ve got from parsing our data partway through the month of March.

1. Increases Are for Geo Keywords and Practice Names

While digging into the keywords, it appears that most of the increase is going to geo-specific terms (e.g., car accident lawyer seattle, best medical malpractice lawyer seattle wa) as well as branded terms (e.g., Philie Law Firm).

2. The Boost Favors Personal Injury Clients, Especially Auto Accidents

Interestingly, the main sites we see affected by this lawyer-spike are lawyers practicing personal injury law—car accidents, specifically. 72% of the sites impacted saw an increase in these motor vehicle accident terms (e.g., car accident lawyer near me, truck accident lawyer seattle wa, etc.).

3. More “Lawyer” Clicks Coincides with Better “Lawyer” SERP Rankings

A majority of sites that have benefited from this lawyer-click uptick have also experienced better rankings for these lawyer-specific terms. 74% of our clients who experienced this fluctuation saw an increase in rankings for their “lawyer” keywords.

4. Many of the “Lawyer” Keywords Are for People at the Bottom of the Funnel

A majority of these “lawyer” keywords are at the bottom of the marketing funnel (BOFU). So an increase in these rankings could mean more cases, and that means more money in your pocket.

Many Questions Still Remain About the March “Lawyer” Keyword Uptick

As of March 18th, 2025, the numbers have yet to return to their pre-March levels.

It is currently unclear if these results stem from Google’s March 2025 core algorithm update. This started rolling out on March 13th, nearly two weeks after the SERP volatility began.

Then again, something else could be at play here. Maybe Google finally decided Reddit and other forums aren’t the best results for local searches.

Again, what’s interesting is that the trend in impressions doesn’t directly correlate with the trend in clicks. We will need to collect more data as time goes on to see when/if these numbers level out.

We’ll keep you posted on the blog as more numbers come in and more trends become apparent.



Top 10 Reasons Why AI and Voice Search Are The Future of Local SEO

The integration of SEO, artificial intelligence (AI), and voice search is not just a trend, it is the permanent future of SEO. This will reshape entire digital marketing strategies and change our perception of the balance between human imagination and the power of artificial intelligence.

As an SEO professional since 2009, I’ve witnessed firsthand how quickly voice search and AI have influenced the way search engines rank content and how user intent is perceived. In this post, I’ve used my experience and informed perspective to identify the top 10 reasons why AI and voice search are the future of local SEO. 

1. AI-Powered Search Engines

AI-powered search engines like Google’s Gemini (formerly BARD), ChatGPT Search, and Perplexity AI are changing the way search engines interpret content and user experience. This includes predictive analytics (analyses of past data to predict future market trends) and personalization.

For example, Gemini can use your device’s location to provide more relevant geographic research for local search results. This can help local small businesses get more traffic and produce relevant content.

Gemini and other AI search engines are also designed to understand natural speech patterns and accurate responses during voice searches. This is very useful for utilizing long tail organic keyword strategies in your SEO plan that rely on conversational, question-based keywords that correspond with voice search queries and AI Overview. 

2. Google’s AI Overview

Released in the U.S. in 2024, Google’s AI Overview is now appearing at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) as a replacement for Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE). To support this new Google AI Overview feature, there are cutting-edge tools that are designed specifically for AI Overview keyword research and semantically related long tail keyword research for voice search optimization.

Semrush’s AI Overview tool, also released in 2024, uses AI technology to create concise summaries for search queries directly at the top of the page in search results. In Google’s AI Overview, you will rank as one of the data sources for the generated AI Overview rather than the SERP feature. This Semrush tool allows you to see your website’s visibility within AI Overviews and how to rank better for them.

Google’s AI overviews are not perfect, but they are a strong indicator of the direction search is headed. If AI can start to accurately create streamlined answers to complex queries, Google’s current search engine results may become outdated. Ultimately, SEO is no longer just about ranking high in search engines but also creating a helpful user experience. 

3. The Importance of Voice Search

The increasing use of voice search has created a demand for content tailored directly to long tail and conversationally complex queries. Rapid technological advancements are making voice search a more practical method of searching online. Instead of using a keyboard, you can make a search query using verbal commands through smart speakers, smartphones, computers, cars, and other devices like Siri and Alexa.

For instance, a user might type “injury attorney near me,” but with voice search, they may ask, “Where’s the best injury attorney open now near me?”

Why should a local business optimize for local voice search? It’s not just a trend, voice search is the new Yellow Pages! It’s becoming the standard way people interact with devices. According to current data from BrightLocal, around 74% of voice search users look for local businesses on a weekly basis. IBM has stated voice search will dominate over 50% of all internet queries by the end of 2025, and as a result will require a strategic shift in SEO content optimization.

How can small businesses take advantage of this reality? Make sure your Google Business Profile is fully set up and optimized and use long tail keywords and conversational phrases in your SEO strategy along with FAQ pages. This also includes leveraging platforms like Bing Places and Apple Business Connect. Ultimately, optimizing for local voice search increases user experience and can significantly boost your visibility. 

4. Balancing Human Experience (Quality) with AI Volume (Quantity)

Google announced the addition of “experience” in its search quality guidelines after the ChatGPT launch. This is a part of E-E-A-T and now exists as a ranking factor in organic search. E-E-A-T stands for “Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.”

Experience is significantly relevant to the rise of AI content as AI cannot create a true experience in the content it generates. Only humans can create unique content. This is the main difference between how Google identifies human vs. AI-written content. Human content is considered superior by search engines while AI content is ranked as a lesser user experience. 

Human writers can create content that connects better with an audience while AI can produce large volumes of content quickly. However, you can customize AI content to sound more human, connect with others, and demonstrate a deeper understanding of user intent to rank better. There are benefits to finding the sweet spot between quality and quantity.

5. The Rise of Fake AI Reviews Online

According to recent data, fake online reviews are still on the rise and evolving quickly. Around 30% of online reviews are considered fake, with Google having the largest amount of fake reviews followed by Yelp. Why is this important to local search? Fake reviews can negatively impact local search platforms and affect a company’s business.

2025 has become an important year in the crackdown of fake reviews. While advancements in AI are making fraudulent reviews easier to produce, online review platforms like Google and Amazon are implementing AI algorithms to identify potential fake reviews. As of January 2025, Google has stated that it’s committed to identifying and removing fake reviews on its own platforms. This follows pressure from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as well as a 2024 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials.

Google has stated they will now do the following as global policy:

  • Google will delete all reviews written by people who repeatedly write fake or misleading reviews, either positive or negative, and those repeat fake review accounts will also be banned. 
  • Businesses that try to artificially boost their star ratings will face consequences as well. Warning alerts may be slapped on their Google profiles and new reviews may not be allowed. 
  • Google has added a new feature that allows consumers to easily report shady reviews. This includes identifying reviews that were incentivised with a reward. While Google does lean on AI to identify some fake reviews, it also relies on tools like this for human feedback.

We still have a long way to go before this process is perfect. Google’s new hardline approach has already resulted in some “friendly fire” such as a large missing reviews bug. In early 2025, businesses all over the globe experienced a significant drop in reviews for Google local listings. This was first reported by Search Engine Land and later confirmed by Google. Google has noted that some of these large “batch removals” may have also been from “policy violations like spam or inappropriate content” as Google further cracks down on their online reviews.

6. AI-Powered Content Translation

AI-powered translation tools like Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, and ChatGPT have made it a whole lot easier to reach more diverse global audiences with content creation. These new AI-driven tools are designed to easily check and correct spelling, grammar, and style across multiple languages.

AI-powered translation greatly reduces the time needed to translate content, and businesses can quickly adapt to various local markets that may have previously been inaccessible due to culture or language barriers. These AI tools can also be used to automatically generate accurate and contextually appropriate translations for video content on platforms such as YouTube (the second largest search engine).

7. The Rise of AI and YouTube

The rise of AI and YouTube has accelerated. In YouTube CEO Neal Mohan’s annual letter, he dubbed AI as one of the company’s four “big bets” for 2025. Why is this important?

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet next to Google and has already made some investments in AI tools for creators such as video ideas, thumbnails, and language translation. Another AI feature will identify users’ ages to customize recommendations and appropriate content. This is a new feature rolling out for creators in YouTube’s Partner Program.

YouTube also said it’s investing in tools to control and detect how AI is used on YouTube. This includes an expansion of its pilot program with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) that will help creators identify videos that feature their AI-generated likeness and voice without their permission. In addition, this new AI-detection tool identifies copyrighted material in videos and can detect simulated faces or audio that were made with AI tools. 

8. AI Integration in Website Reporting and Technical Audits

I previously touched on SEMrush’s AI reporting integration, but that was just one of the AI integrations in important local SEO tools.

Screaming Frog’s open AI integration update from 2024 is used to analyze website structure and identify technical issues. Thanks to this update, you’re now able to connect directly to Google Gemini and OpenAI with crawl data. This new AI integration helps with creating custom prompts when crawling a website for technical audits.

Google Analytics has also had a significant upgrade in regards to its AI features in its updated version of (GA4). The upgrade includes predictive metrics that can pinpoint future user behavior in local search. This can increase your understanding of how users from specific geographic locations interact with your website. You can then optimize your local SEO strategy accordingly. This is leveraged through the AI-powered audience segmentation feature. You can also benchmark AI insights against historical data using the reports comparison feature.

The AI-powered features in GA4 are vast, but I’ve only identified some of the practical ways you can leverage AI in your reporting. Similarly, there are many more AI reporting platforms I’m leaving off the list here, but even just scratching the surface, you can see how AI is part of the future of search. 

9. AI and Mobile Voice Searches

Search engines like Google now favor websites that work well on mobile, and this is also true for voice search. It emphasizes the increasing importance of mobile-first website optimization. When focusing on mobile-first optimization, you can make your content more visible through voice queries in local search results.

Here are three ways to improve mobile-first voice search on your website:

  • Design with Mobile in Mind: Make sure your website is easy to use on mobile. Use a responsive design and keep your content simple.
  • Improve Your Mobile Site Speed: A fast page load time is extremely important for voice search. Make sure images are not weighing down your site with huge file sizes. Also, decrease excess code to speed up your website. You can easily run a page speed audit using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool to find these issues. 
  • Create Mobile Specific Content That Targets Voice Search Users: This would include FAQ content and generally any content that works well with conversational keyword queries such as long tail keywords.

10. AI, Voice Search, and Structured Data/Schema Markup

Structured data and schema markup are extremely important in making your content more visible in voice search. Think of schema markup as a business card that gives search engines detailed information about your website. This is done through a set of HTML tags to indicate structured data. The most commonly implemented version is using the JSON-LD format within a <script> tag in the <head> of your HTML page.

Why is schema markup important for local search? This optimization increases the chances of featured snippets, which are often prioritized in voice search results. Voice assistants can provide more accurate and informative responses based on your website’s structured data.

As previously discussed, AI-assisted tools for keyword research can help identify what those popular long tail keyword queries might be based upon your geography for local search. 

Honorable Mention: AI and Link Building!

Those are my top 10 reasons why AI and voice search are the future of local SEO. I can only fit so much content into a top 10 list, which leads me to conclude with this honorable mention. 

In an increasing AI and voice search dominated world, make sure you’re working to extend your business listing strategy on the most important networks. For example, make sure you are on top domain authority business directories like Apple Maps, Yellow Pages, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, and hundreds of other directories to increase your website’s visibility.

When AI Overview crawls the web for local results, it cross references data from many business directories to decide the best match. The more accurate and plentiful your business listings are, the more likely you are to rank for AI Overview queries, voice searches, and traditional search.

WP.org vs WP Engine

Many of you have undoubtedly heard something about the brewing fight between WordPress.org and WP Engine, so we wanted to take a moment to put everyone at ease and let you know how this will or will not impact your Mockingbird hosted websites.

Mockingbird has been hosting our websites on WP Engine since 2017 and find their mix of service, speed, and security to be a good fit for our clients’ needs, despite Mockingbird paying a bit of a premium vs. other options. 

What’s The Fight About?

The fight between WordPress.org and WP Engine includes multiple issues but centers around a trademark disagreement. From WordPress.org’s position, they don’t like that customers can be confused by the name WP Engine and assume that WP Engine is the official paid version of WordPress (while WordPress.org receives no financial compensation from WP Engine). WP Engine, on the other hand, points out that “WP” is not technically a WordPress trademark and is used by any number of companies producing WordPress-related software products who also pay no trademark licensing fees to WordPress.org. A far more thorough breakdown can be found on TechCrunch but the net-net is that WordPress.org has now “banned” WP Engine from accessing WordPress.org’s resources.

What This Means for You Today

In the short term, no action is required. WordPress sites running on WP Engine are no less secure today than they were two weeks ago and we expect no degradation of the excellent site loading times that we’ve come to expect from WP Engine’s streamlined purpose-built WordPress servers. From our standpoint, access to WordPress.org offers efficient access to the most current stable versions of plugins but is not actually required, as the plugins are available individually on the developers’ websites or via other plugin repository sites. Over the weekend, WP Engine integrated another plugin repository to streamline the process.

What’s the Long-term Plan?

In the longer term, If WP Engine and WordPress.org can’t work out their differences, we will evaluate migrating our sites to another server company to mitigate any exposure to the long-term risk that this dispute could actually put WP Engine out of business, requiring us to do multiple migrations in a rushed manner. If a decision to migrate is made in the future, Mockingbird will do everything in our power to make it a straightforward and easy transition. 

If you have any specific questions, feel free to reach out to your Mockingbird Client Success manager.

What to do when your Agency is Purchased by Scorpion

GNGF Bought by Scorpion

Well – the rumors from 2 weeks ago turned true… last week, Scorpion purchased digital legal marketing agency, GNGF (or Get Noticed, Get Found for those of you in the game for a while.)  There’s been online forum chatter amongst their clients as to what this means. I’ve talked with 4 different GNGF law firms and thought I’d share a summary of those thoughts here.

First, the Upside….

Scorpion has an absolutely massive data set to work with.  Their AI technology, especially as it pertains to Google PPC is really world class. Combining the sheer volume of data and their AI expertise means Scorpion’s ability to optimize their overall PPC bidding system is unparalleled in the legal world. GNGF CEO, Mark Homer sited this in a recent podcast interview about his sale as a strong upside for GNGF’s clients. It’s also their rationale for Scorpion having a completely closed system – in which end clients don’t have access to their own Google Ads, Keywords, and the backend of their proprietary platform.  That’s a tradeoff you have to be comfortable with in order to benefit from Scorpion’s AI prowess, massive data set and extremely efficient campaigns.

Additionally, Scorpion pioneered amazing website design and while the website design world has caught up, most of the Scorpion sites remain visually appealing (and presumably mathematically optimized for high conversion rates.)

UPDATED CONTENT:  After this published, I did receive an email from a Practice Management expert with the following… (which attests to how a large spender can benefit from Scorpion’s closed box system):

I sent your Scorpion article to two lawyers recently.  One is a small family law firm who is in the process of trying to leave Scorpion.  He said the article confirmed his feelings and suspicions about Scorpion. The other lawyer, a small firm federal plaintiff employment lawyer, whose firm has “volume issues” said this:

I have been a client of Scorpion since 2016 or so and they have done well for me since day 1.  They have literally made me millions of dollars.

But….

Scorpion Handcuffs

I really dislike the technical, analytical and contractual handcuffs employed by Scorpion:

Technical Handcuffs

Scorpion’s proprietary system means a)you can’t work on your own site b)you can’t transfer your own site to another vendor c)if Scorpion’s code base doesn’t support what you need, you are shit out of luck.  To this date, I haven’t seen a multi-lingual site developed by Scorpion using hreflang tags, for example.  If I were a GNGF client, whose site is currently built on the widely utilized WordPress platform, I’d have huge qualms about donning the technical handcuffs of a proprietary platform. (Note: I have NO insight into Scorpion’s intent to migrate GNGF clients onto their platform, but I don’t know how they could deploy the benefits of their closed system without doing so.).

Analytical Handcuffs

Want to see data from your own PPC campaigns?  Sorry – it’s a closed door; you can’t get in.

Scorpion shall be under no obligation to disclose Paid Search Keywords to Clients

Relying on the reporting fox to guard your campaign henhouse is a very very bad idea.  If I were a GNGF client – I’d be downloading all of my current keyword data and establishing business benchmarks that I control for Google Ads Campaigns. You literally don’t know what you are buying. One of the big problems with not being able to access the data in your own PPC campaigns is that you can’t disambiguate Branded vs. Non-Branded campaigns. And this is so foundationaly important because the economics are so fundamentally different.  Put differently, if you can’t see into your own campaigns, an agency can deliver you low cost and high converting branded traffic (“Smith and Jones Law Firm“) under the premise that it is high cost, incremental business from expensive competitive keywords (“Motorcycle Accident Attorney Nashville“).

Further, separating branded vs non branded ad campaigns is getting increasingly important, as Google goes out of its way to conflate the two.

Contractual Handcuffs

I’ve never liked retaining a client on the sole basis of a contract and to be fair, I have seen shorter term Scorpion contracts than some big box providers (looking at you FindLaw).  Ignoring the fact that the agreement has a one-way For Cause termination clause:

Scorpion may immediately terminate the Services if Scorpion has reason to believe that (i) Client is attempting to disparage or defame Scorpion; expose Scorpion to legal liability; or otherwise act in a manner reasonably likely to harm Scorpion’s business interest;

What i really object to in the contract is Scorpion’s ability to modify where and when the clients’ ads are actually targeted.  While they enumerate specific zip codes in their contract, they also include the provision to modify these.  And because the law firm doesn’t have access to the Campaigns, there’s NO way to know where (or when) your ads are actually being served – which is a huge problem for a locally based business.

This can become a strategic nightmare: what if you don’t answer the phone at night?  want to support a new office location? want divorce clients from a wealthy part of town? don’t want a specific type of accident? take a week’s vacation?

Account Person:Client Ratio

One of the upsides to running campaigns through all of this AI automation is that you don’t have to employ many people to do so. A Scorpion Account Executive told us she juggled 60+ accounts at a time – turning the AEs essentially into order takers and report readers. IMO there’s no deeper relationship, no consultation, no getting to know your business, no thinking outside the box, no strategery.  To be fair, I believe at Scorpion’s very large accounts do get a VIP treatment with an Account Executive running fewer accounts; but do you really want to be one of sixty while the market’s 100 Pound Gorilla gets individualized attention?

SEO vs. PPC

I strongly believe that digital agencies should be playing the whole chess board.  Go back 10 years and Scorpion was a solid player in the SEO game, but I wouldn’t count them in the top 10 today.  That’s simply because SEO success is much less scaleable than automated, AI driven PPC campaigns.  Now this is a fully subjective statement on my part and I’m sure someone can show me some counterpoints, but overall Scorpion has shifted heavily to paid management.

Speaking of SEO and GNGF I will say; we have fundamental disagreement on the strategic value of backlinks, as at Mockingbird we see them as foundational for a successful campaign and disagree with the notion that links aren’t that important (as described by GNGF here: Local without Linkbuilding).  Given the difficulty and high cost of acquiring successful local links, I don’t believe a move to Scorpion is going to change the SEO game for GNGF clients. I could very well be wrong from an SEO perspective.

Market Exclusivity

You also have to believe their brilliant (and I don’t say that with sarcasm or derision) AI driven system is optimized for the primary benefit of their clients.  I simply don’t believe that to be true for the fundamental reason that they have multiple competitors within a given market.  There’s simply no way to be a great date when you take 7 people to the same prom. Given the zero sum game nature of PPC – someone is winning and someone is losing.

Business Model and Expense

Finally, there’s a matter of money.  In the examples I’ve seen, Scorpion provides a subscription to website, infrastructure, and team and then charges a percentage of spend on top of that. It’s a great MBA plan, but I’m not sure it works for their end client. In the contract I’ve grabbed screenshots from – this was for a $25K spend with broken down thusly:

  1. $5,000 one time setup fee (which we will ignore for further analysis b/c the rest of this is monthly….)
  2.  $5,200 to license the team and website.  Now I’m not sure how you combine the website and the team (and I don’t think you can, b/c there’s already a 20% ad management fee the presumably goes to pay for… the team.  This is a very very expensive website; over a 3 year period costing over $187K.  I’d frankly rather buy a Ferrari 550 Maranello every three years instead.
  3. $1,575 to license the marketing suite
  4. $525 for call tracking and reporting (which is bluntly LESS than we charge; but I believe ours goes much much deeper with integrations into IMS software.)
  5. $100 for reputation monitoring
  6. $100 for hosting and maintenance
  7. $3,500 for roughly (their words not mine) 20% for ad management fee on the remaining money.

So that $25K monthly spend drops to an ad spend of just $14,000 with an effective ad management cost of 44%; which is bluntly exorbitant.  So if you find yourself moving over…. calculate this number, the true ad spend management fee.

Moving Forward

I’m not encouraging you to break your contract with GNGF… but I think now is a very good time to ensure that you aren’t making some decisions with long term consequences that you may come to regret.

Fuck Google

So let me start with… this isn’t my post. It was sent to me in response to some of the recent posts I’ve made about how Google has evolved both their PPC and more recently, their LSA tactics to deliberately squeeze more money out of advertisers without adding any more value and obfuscated those moves by limiting visibility into reporting.  It’s a rage post that someone banged out and then (wisely?) decided not to post fearing retribution.  I know the guy who wrote it, very well. We’ve spent countless hours over the years talking digital marketing and he and I both share a common path from Google Advocate to Apologist to… well, wherever we are now.  He’s working in legal for the better part of a decade and currently is in-house at a multi-state PI firm overseeing a large, sophisticated online and offline marketing campaign.

And if you aren’t currently furious at Google… have a read because you aren’t really paying attention…

As a marketer, advertiser, and longtime Google apologist, it pains me to say this but fuck Google. 

Over the past year, it’s become clear that Google doesn’t care about individual businesses advertising on their platform, and it’s increasingly looking like they barely care about providing decent results for people researching businesses in their city.

When Google quietly jettisoned “Don’t be Evil” back in 2018 that seemed like a bad sign. “Don’t be evil” feels like the kind of mantra that, once stated, can’t be removed without raising some eyebrows. It’s like having a sign next to your pet saying, “this dog doesn’t bite.” Once people notice the sign is gone it’s not unreasonable to wonder what prompted the removal. But whatever, Google still encouraged employees to, “do the right thing,” and barreled forward on their path to total internet domination. 

With Google’s 80% market share necessitating a strong presence for any business looking to reach potential clients online, the relationship between local businesses and Google has always been somewhat contentious. It’s not surprising that many business owners have been frustrated with everything from shakeups in rankings, shady (but effective) tactics in local search, and a fallacious (but eerily persistent) impression that spending more in PPC increases prominence in organic search results. 

I’ve frequently discounted most of these concerns with the following defenses of Google:

  1. Google is doing the best they can. – Policing and monitoring the internet is a herculean and losing task. Even if you’re making a legitimate effort it’s an unwinnable game of whack-a-mole. However, it’s in Google’s best interest to decipher what users are searching for and deliver a strong selection set for each query.
  2. Google relies on searchers finding the best result possible. – My premise has been that by ensuring high-quality results for users, Google can maintain their market position as long as possible. If results stop being useful, seeking out competing alternatives becomes more likely. As a result, it benefits Google to develop and continuously refine some criteria of what constitutes a good business and place those companies more prominently in front of potential customers.
  3. Google can’t be expected to care about any individual business and devotes focus to entire industries. – Evaluating each individual business is impossible, but having industry specific criteria is slightly more manageable. Google can’t reasonably assess every business in a category, but they can define what’s important to potential customers. If your business isn’t showing up for a specific intent-based search, my Google sided explanation would be that it’s because you’re not what Google thinks that searcher is looking for. It’s not nefarious, it’s just Google looking at a much bigger picture than just your business.

Enter Local Service Ads and a whole new corrupt ecosystem. 

 Unlike the PPC days where ads were ads and a reasonable percentage of searchers understood the distinction, Local Service Ads have increasingly (and I’d argue deliberately) muddied the waters. 

Having already optimized PPC ads to mitigate ad blindness, Google has been finding new and creative ways to effectively monetize searches with high intent. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, especially when it provides businesses with a way to compete for the attention of a potential customer in the market for their services. 

Local Service Ads were launched in 2015, but didn’t really take off until 2018-2019 as industry categories continued to expand. These ads, unlike traditional PPC, imparted a soft-endorsement from Google by listing the advertised business as “Google Screened” and bestowing them with a snazzy checkmark. 

The original intent seemed to be sound. The idea of “Google Screened” was presented as a way to ensure searchers looking to hire a local business, specifically in industries where a contractor would be visiting their home (think plumbers, locksmiths, electricians, etc.), could know with certainty that anyone from that business performing house calls had undergone a background check and was “Google Screened.”

Over time, categories expanded and the product morphed into a pay-per-call version of Google Ads, where high intent searches frequently delivered Local Service Ads at the top of the results and approximately 1 in 3 searchers engaged with LSAs instead of the local map pack or traditional organic results. With LSAs becoming one of the most effective ways for local businesses to get in front of potential customers, competition quickly increased. 

Fast forward to 2024 and businesses are more reliant than ever on utilizing some form of Google advertising to reach potential clients. Shockingly, as more businesses rely on their platform, Google’s customer support has dropped to an “all-time low.”

Google has officially turned into Comcast from a decade ago. Congratulations!

 

All of this would be annoying for local advertisers if it wasn’t for Google’s most recent, and most insidious, update to their Local Service Ads platform: the addition of “Branded Local Service Ads.” 

A few months ago, Google added a “Direct Business Search” feature within each LSA account. This setting defaulted to “on”, and was pitched as a way to, “Let Local Services Ads highlight your business in results when someone searches for your brand or business directly.” 

As someone that has defended the value of bidding on your own brand in the PPC space, this felt like an obnoxious extension of that same idea. But the devil is in the details, and the total lack of transparency surrounding what is and is not a branded search has been frustrating at best and deliberately misleading at worst. 

Given Google’s dominance in the search space, the only way to steer clear of the auction-based, client-to-the-highest-bidder model has been to aggressively brand your business using other forms of advertising. If people are searching for your business by name, Google has historically showed your result prominently. As it should. 

Now, with the implementation of LSAs for branded searches, Google is attempting to squeeze more revenue from local businesses while providing no benefit to the consumer. It’s hard to defend a duplicate listing placed directly above a business’ organic listing as having any real value to the searcher. 

Making things worse, there is zero transparency provided when someone does call from your “direct search” LSA ad. Despite a “job type” tag built into the dashboard, Google does nothing to denote what calls are from branded searches vs. category specific searches. This makes it impossible to separate acquisition costs like you would with a traditional PPC campaign and artificially lowers your acquisition cost in the aggregate. After all, most companies are better at converting people who already know they want to work with them than the ones who are shopping for the best fit. 

Additionally, because there’s no insight into the cost for any given call, you have absolutely no idea what Google is charging you to place your own ad atop your own business that you’ve already spent money branding to the general public. Obviously, you can turn the ads off and refuse to participate in Google’s shameless cash grab. But, there’s no guarantee Google won’t show ads from competing businesses within your own branded searches. Barry Schwartz posted about Google showing competitor ads within individual GBP listings back in March. Weeks earlier, Joy Hawkins of Sterling Sky had posted about the same issue occurring for the branded search “A1 Garage Door Service.” A Google Ads Liaison Officer responded to the post, saying, “This is a bug (and it was thought to be a non-brand query) – a fix is underway.” Yes, accidents happen. But preventable accidents occurring solely because of a greedy and unnecessary product rollout are significantly less forgivable than a well-intentioned mistake. Even if this bug has indeed been fixed for certain branded terms, it’s going to remain fuzzy for brand specific searches in industries where the business name often contains the service category.

In a vacuum, the rollout of this ad type would be annoying. Coupled with Google’s push toward trusting their algorithm, letting them adjust your bidding strategy to “maximize conversions”, removing any clarity around what you’re paying for individual lead types, and eliminating any meaningful level of customer service for businesses spending well into six-figures per month, it’s hard not to think this is at least evil adjacent. 

Sure, Google could “do the right thing” and sacrifice some potential revenue by not plowing ahead with a redundant ad type that confuses searchers while bilking businesses in a way that deliberately obfuscates the price being paid. However, it’s increasingly feeling like Google’s idea of doing the right thing means holding onto their massive profit margins regardless of how that money is acquired. 

With over 80% of the global search market, Google knows you need them a lot more than they need you. It’s not going to get better, and even though I’d already resigned myself a while ago that we were all racing to a break even for digital leads while Google laughingly lined their pockets; paying a premium for people who already want to call to do so via a duplicative “Google Screened” button was a surprisingly obnoxious twist. 

Each greedy new feature Google rolls out adds to the prisoner’s dilemma facing online advertisers. We all know it’s an unwinnable game, and there are way too many business owners for collaborative defiance. But, the fact that there’s no other game we can play should scare all of us.

So, quietly and with no byline, I’ll say again, fuck Google! Fuck them so much I’m turning off this one feature and begrudgingly continuing all other Google Ads. They’re going to feel this one when their next earnings report comes out! 

 

How to Choose an SEO Agency for Your Law Firm: A Comprehensive Guide to Making the Right Decision

In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for the success of any business, including law firms. With millions of searches being conducted on search engines like Google every day, ensuring your law firm’s website ranks well is essential for attracting potential clients. This is where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes into play. However, navigating the complex world of SEO can be daunting, especially for busy law firm owners and managers. That’s where hiring an SEO agency can make all the difference. But with so many options available, how do you choose the right one for your law firm? In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the key factors to consider when selecting an SEO agency to help your law firm thrive online.

Understanding the Importance of SEO for Law Firms

Before diving into the process of choosing an SEO agency, it’s important to understand why SEO is crucial for the success of your law firm’s online presence. SEO is the practice of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords and phrases. When done effectively, SEO can increase your website’s visibility, drive more organic traffic, and ultimately lead to more clients for your law firm.

For law firms, ranking well on search engines is particularly important due to the highly competitive nature of the legal industry. Potential clients often turn to search engines when seeking legal services, and if your firm’s website doesn’t appear on the first page of search results, you risk losing out on valuable business to your competitors.

Benefits of Hiring an SEO Agency

While some law firms may attempt to handle their SEO efforts in-house, partnering with a reputable SEO agency can offer numerous benefits:

  • Expertise: SEO agencies specialize in optimizing websites for search engines and staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices. By hiring an agency, you gain access to their expertise and knowledge, ensuring your law firm’s website receives the best possible optimization.
  • Time Savings: Managing SEO requires ongoing effort and time commitment. By outsourcing this task to an SEO agency, you free up valuable time to focus on running your law firm and serving your clients.
  • Better Results: With their experience and resources, SEO agencies are better equipped to achieve tangible results and improve your website’s search engine rankings compared to attempting SEO on your own.
  • Comprehensive Services: Many SEO agencies offer a range of services beyond basic SEO, including content marketing, link building, and website design and development. By choosing a full-service agency, you can address all aspects of your online presence under one roof.

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing an SEO Agency

Now that we’ve established the importance of SEO and the benefits of hiring an agency, let’s explore the key factors to consider when selecting the right SEO partner for your law firm:

Experience and Track Record

When evaluating SEO agencies, experience matters. Look for agencies that have a proven track record of success in helping law firms improve their search engine rankings and attract more clients. Ask for case studies or client testimonials that demonstrate their past achievements. Additionally, inquire about the specific experience of the agency’s team members and their familiarity with the legal industry.

Services Offered

Not all SEO agencies are created equal, and the services they offer can vary widely. Before making a decision, clarify what services each agency provides and ensure they align with your law firm’s goals and needs. Some common SEO services to look for include:

  • On-page optimization: Optimizing website content, meta tags, and internal linking structure.
  • Off-page optimization: Building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites.
  • Content marketing: Creating and promoting engaging, informative content to attract and engage your target audience.
  • Local SEO: Optimizing your website for local search queries to attract clients in your geographic area.
  • Technical SEO: Addressing technical issues that may affect your website’s performance and search engine visibility.
  • Transparency and Communication

Effective communication is essential for a successful partnership with an SEO agency. Look for agencies that prioritize transparency and keep you informed about their strategies, progress, and results. Ask about their reporting processes and frequency, and make sure they provide regular updates on key metrics such as keyword rankings, organic traffic, and conversion rates. Additionally, ensure the agency is accessible and responsive to your questions and concerns.

Customization and Flexibility

Every law firm is unique, and a one-size-fits-all approach to SEO may not be effective. Choose an agency that takes the time to understand your law firm’s specific goals, target audience, and competitive landscape. Look for agencies that offer customized strategies tailored to your needs and are willing to adapt their approach as your firm’s goals evolve over time.

White-Hat Practices

Avoid agencies that promise quick fixes or guarantee overnight results, as these often involve black-hat SEO tactics that can harm your website’s reputation and lead to penalties from search engines. Instead, choose an agency that follows ethical, white-hat SEO practices that prioritize long-term growth and sustainability. Ask about their approach to link building, content creation, and other SEO techniques to ensure they align with best practices and search engine guidelines.

Pricing and ROI

While cost is certainly a factor to consider, it shouldn’t be the sole determining factor when choosing an SEO agency. Instead of simply opting for the cheapest option, focus on the agency’s ability to deliver a positive return on investment (ROI) for your law firm. Consider factors such as the agency’s pricing structure, payment terms, and the value they provide in terms of improved search rankings, website traffic, and client acquisition.

Reviews and Reputation

Before making a decision, research each SEO agency’s reputation and look for reviews and testimonials from past clients. Pay attention to both positive and negative feedback, and consider reaching out to current or former clients directly to ask about their experiences. Additionally, check third-party review websites and industry forums to get a sense of the agency’s reputation within the SEO community.

Choosing the right SEO agency for your law firm is a critical decision that can have a significant impact on your online visibility and business success. By considering factors such as experience, services offered, transparency, customization, ethical practices, pricing, and reputation, you can make an informed decision that aligns with your firm’s goals and values. Remember that SEO is a long-term investment, and selecting the right agency is the first step toward achieving sustainable growth and attracting more clients to your law firm.

By following the guidelines outlined in this article, you can confidently navigate the process of choosing an SEO agency and position your law firm for success in the competitive online landscape.

How We Tripled Leads for a PI Firm in 12 Months

Let me not bury the lead: We cut 77% of the content on a law firm’s website and improved lead conversion rate by almost 3x.

I still hear law firm SEO agencies talking about content content content as the key to the SEO game.  And the reason we hear this, isn’t because it works at driving business… it’s because content is a very tangible deliverable agencies produce. And clients like tangible products, even when they don’t do anything.  What law firms like more, is increased business.

SEO Details

The law firm website’s pagecount ballooned to over 2K pages over a period of about 2 years. Now, this was a solid site, well built technical platform and a robust, localized backlink profile.  But while this content was legally and even locally relevant, it was of extremely low quality and the backlinks to those pages were clearly of extremely low value (read: SPAM). Further an in-depth audit showed little if any traffic to these pages. So following the data – Google thought the content was useless. Using that data, we removed about 1,600 pages of content from the site, leaving just over 450 remaining and cutting their absolute backlink count by about 25%.

The Result

The results provide a counterpoint to simplistic SEO expectations about content. Despite killing more than 3 out of every 4 pages, overall traffic to the site stayed within a +/- 10% of the benchmark starting quarter.  But the real insightful takeaway here is in their overall organic conversion rate – which tripled over a period of twelve months, from 2.4% to just under 7%.

The change in their conversion rate wasn’t driven by changes in UI (like adding form fills for example) and therefore the only explanation is a fundamental shift in the quality of traffic (i.e. the site is now attracting traffic that is dramatically more likely to contact the firm. Note this adjustment took almost 9 months to fully take effect and settle into a predictable pattern.

For more reading and examples on this, check out: When SEO Wins Create Fewer Clients.

Tony Colleluori Taught me to Love Lawyers

The first time I ever met Tony, he interrupted and upbraided me in front of about 400 lawyers at a New York Bar Association event.

I just learned from Jeena Belil’s Facebook post that Tony died and I write this hoping that one day his sons might come across this post. I don’t write blog posts that often anymore, but some stories just belong written down.  I’m going to share two Tony stories – they day we met and the last day I ever saw him.

So back to that NY Bar Association event back in 2008… I was the only marketing dude for a little known (at the time) start up called Avvo.  Our CEO, Mark Britton and I were on a charm offensive, introducing the concept of Internet-As-Marketing-Channel to lawyers through appearances at Bar Associations around the country. I had a talk about this new thing called SEO and in one of the slides I talked about the importance of Name Search.  The example I sited was a lawyer named Ashley Dupree Russell whose Avvo profile exploded after the New York Times identified Ashley Dupre – the woman involved in the Eliot Spitzer scandal. My talk went something like this:

“…so, now you have traffic to this lawyer’s profile exploding, because her name is getting misidentified by Google as the hooker”

It was at this point that Tony stood up and castigated me in front of the audience:

“Stop!  Stop right now!  Don’t you ever call a woman a hooker.  That lady is someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, someone’s sister.  Don’t you ever dare disrespect a woman like that.”

I sheepishly stumbled through the rest of the talk; afterwards Tony approached me and Mark.  We ended up going out for lunch, along with Jeena and Andrea Cannavina, to a deli nearby and talked for hours about the web and lawyers. I remember asking him if there was anything we could do for him and he gave me a very sad answer: “You can’t do anything for me.  The only thing I really want is something no one can do.  Unless you have a cure for scleroderma.” It’s a horrible disease which his wife, Mary Rose was suffering from (and eventually succumbed to.) At the end of a long lunch, Tony offered to drive Mark and me to La Guardia in some oversized black American car. That day, in one instant, Tony taught me more about lawyers and the meaning of (many, but not all) lawyers and ultimately lead me to crafting the first of our Mockingbird’s 10 Commandments.

1. We Love Lawyers – Attorneys who represent individuals are the primary counterbalance to corporate malfeasance, the greedy insurance industry and the widespread abuse of police and political power. We are honored to play a small role in this system.

My second story is much more personal and fun.  Mockingbird’s VP of Ops, Robert Williams and I were headed to New York. Rob had never been east of the Mississippi and I wanted to give him the ultimate New York experience so I told Tony I’d be in town and I wanted to go out for an Italian meal.  We met Tony (and Andrea again) at some ridiculously Italian restaurant – our waiter was a heavily accented dude named Michaelangelo. Tony showed up late and took another 20 minutes to get to the back of the restaurant where we were seated b/c he had to stop and talk with half of the people in there. We quaffed overpriced wine and devoured plate after plate of impossibly good Italian food. After dinner, as we were leaving, the proprietor insisted on getting picture of us – we were joined by some lady who I believe was the owner’s wife and I have hopes that there’s a pic of Rob, Conrad, Andrea, Tony and this lady sitting on the wall in some amazing Italian restaurant. Many diners recognize Tony, but have no idea who the two Seattleites are. Tony regaled Rob and me with stories over lawyering and those times he took off his JD in pursuit of Justice. We talked about parenting and his boys who he adored and of course his wife, who I never got to meet. It’s around 11:30 and Tony insisted on taking Rob and me for a tour of Manhattan – b/c back in the day, he used to drive a cab and cabbies used to get paid to take tourists around on an unofficial tour.  So we piled into his oversized black Lincoln or Caddy and Tony narrated a tour of the city for Rob. We’re uptown when it hits Tony that the only way to finish the night is to have a pastrami sandwich and this downtown, famous 24 hour Jewish deli.  Now, I’ve just finished about half my weight in linguine vongole as we hurtle through Manhattan on a suspension that clearly needs to be replaced and I’m trying to imagine downing a pastrami sandwich, but Tony insists. We finally arrive and thank Yahweh it was some Jewish holiday and they were closed.

The picture accompanying this post is from that day in 2008 and thanks to Jeena for sharing it. Tony was New York the way you wanted New York to be… Italian, gruff, connected, bombastic yet entirely welcoming.  NYC is a little less NYC than it was last week.

When SEO Wins Create Fewer Clients

We recently reviewed two law firm’s reports showcasing Traffic and Leads that showcased two diametrically opposed Traffic/Lead patterns – one of which showcases a counter to the predictable (and excusable) assumption that more traffic = more business.

Law Firm A

This is a long standing client – showing long standing SEO growth and a corresponding growth in leads over time.  This is a volume, personal injury shop in an aggressive growth mode; our SEO strategy has successfully supported their office expansion over the past 3 years, both in Organic and Local SEO. This is very much what you would typically expect to see.. growing traffic, growing leads, growing firm.  Note the conversion rate (Leads:Traffic) stays roughly constantly at slightly above 1%.

But it doesn’t always work out that way….

Law Firm B

This firm is the exact opposite… organic traffic growth is actually leading to a decline overall in inbound Leads.  This firm is much less typical – they operate within a very very specific niche and their traffic:lead ratio is off-the-charts low (and trending lower). Put simply – due to their niche, their SEO strategy operates very very high up in the funnel – from a business perspective it takes tons of traffic to generate a small number of highly valuable leads.  This site has historically converted traffic into leads at a rate of 0.25% – much lower than Law Firm A’s more typical 1%.

So what’s going on here? This is a firm that wins at the highest level of the sales funnel – primarily informational site for research based searches that sometimes, eventually, perhaps, maybe a convert a small portion turn into actual customers. And we’ve been successfully optimizing the site for these high funnel research queries for years now. And then things changed…

The reversal in the total number of leads… that happened in conjunction with a Google Core Algo Update of March ’23.  While we’ve continued to improve the site’s overall traffic, absolute volume of leads has declined meaning their already low conversion rate has dropped by an additional 22% down to 0.20%.  We’ve now got three consecutive months of increased traffic corresponding to decreased Leads. If we were measuring our success on traffic, we’d be golden, but traffic doesn’t pay the bills. Time to readjust the site’s overall strategy – specifically it’s content strategy to realign with conversions.