Category: Videos

On the results pages (the SERPs) of most lawyer-related Google queries, there are four sections:

• Local Service Ads (aka Google Screened)
• Maps
• Organic
• Adwords (aka Pay-Per-Click)

Here is a breakdown of each so you can decide which one is best for you and how to allocate your marketing dollars.

Local Service Ads

Local Service Ads is Google’s pay-per-lead program.

This is basically a working beta.

Get in but don’t expect much.

If you get a few leads from this, great.

But you cannot rely on it as a viable traffic source.

It’s just not there yet.

The main downside with LSAs is you can’t get leads even if you’re willing to pay for them.

Maps

These are the three local maps listings that appear toward the top of many SERPs.

These three listings take over 30% of the clicks for any search phrase.

So it’s super important for your firm to show up here.

The top three ranking factors here are:

1. Relevance to search query
2. Address proximity to search query
3. Reviews (number of and aggregate rating)

The main downside with Maps is the results are limited to law firms that are physically located near the search query.

Organic 

These are the algorithmic listings Google thinks are most relevant to the search query.

These are the traditional listings most people think of when they say SEO.

It’s important to be listed here because many people don’t trust ads.

We’ve been conditioned to skip past the ads, right to these results.

This is called Banner Blindness.

The two overarching ranking factors here are:

1. Relevance (the content on your page and the structure of your site)
2. Authority (other sites linking to yours)

The main downside with Organic SEO is it takes time to rank at the top of this section.

Google Adwords (PPC)

These are the listings labeled as ads.

To rank at the top of these, there is a bidding and optimization strategy, similar to that of Organic SEO.

The benefit of PPC is you can get traffic and leads almost immediately, usually within a day of taking your ads live.

The main downside with Google PPC is the cost per click for law-related search queries can be astronomical.

P.S. If you’re not sure how to allocated your Search Engine Marketing budget, give us a call.

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