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

Tyler Philie | March 24, 2025

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.