Which legal directories should I focus my efforts on?
This study examines the intersection of two common problems law firms face for bringing in leads:
- How can I get more leads from search traffic?
- Which legal directories should I focus my efforts and ad spend on to get more leads?
Both of these are SEO-related problems. Legal directories are competitors in the local SEO space, since Google preferences them when potential clients search for a lawyer to hire. But because they are a point of first impression for ordinary people and aren’t brand names, they also represent a source of indirect search traffic.
That means optimizing your profiles on legal directories can boost your search leads; and it also presents another advertising opportunity, since paying for ads on Justia and the like can put you in front of prospective clients much like Google Ads can, and possibly at a cheaper cost per lead.
But which legal directories should you focus on? If you’re not in the SEO industry with a legal focus, this isn’t an easy question to answer. Legal directories rely on brand recognition among attorneys as well as their existing advertising relationships to pitch themselves. Some have been declining in recent years, putting pressure on account managers to deliver on ad revenue. They certainly won’t let it slip if they’ve been receiving fewer and fewer visitors.
Enter this study, which looks at the performance and rankings of legal directories.
Methodology
The first version of this study assembled a sampling of 377 keyword searches across 8 practice areas (bankruptcy law, business law, criminal defense, employment law, estate planning, family law, immigration law, and personal injury) in the city of Chicago to examine which legal directories appeared and how well they rank.
Rankings were collected May 1, 2024, after Google’s spring core algorithm update concluded.
If you are interested in learning how these directories are performing in a geography near you, contact me here.
Which are the top legal directories, by share of search results on page 1?
Hands down, the best legal directory to appear in the search results is Super Lawyers, a unique directory among its peers. Unlike the other directories, attorneys must be selected by Super Lawyers to appear in any given year. Also unlike the other directories, Super Lawyers gives its users a greater degree of profile customization that doesn’t result in near-duplicate content across websites.
The second and third best directories in Chicago were FindLaw and Justia, respectively.
Attorneys may be surprised to learn how far the Avvo-Martindale network has fallen (they’re owned by the same company), given the prevalence and usage of their review and awards badges added to legal websites.
Forbes Advisor and Expertise – which are not explicitly legal directories – have a significant presence in the search results as well.
What do the different practice areas look like?
Despite the above findings, the results differ depending on the practice area in question.
Super Lawyers, FindLaw, and Justia predominate in bankruptcy law searches. Expertise, BCG Search, and Yelp have a minor presence, while none of the others appear.
Super Lawyers, FindLaw, and Justia maintain their heightened rankings in business law searches. Business law is also one of two categories where Yelp appears frequently.
In addition to Justia, FindLaw, and Super Lawyers, Forbes and Expertise have strong rankings for criminal defense searches.
In the employment law category, FindLaw abruptly disappears, while Super Lawyers and Justia retain their presence. BCG Search also appears for a few searches.
FindLaw and Super Lawyers have elevated appearances in this category, while Justia surprisingly drops off in favor of Expertise, BCG Search, and Yelp.
Family law is another category that Justia is weak on. Super Lawyers and FindLaw enjoy a robust appearance, while Forbes and Best Lawyers have more modest showings.
Similar to the employment law category, FindLaw does not appear in the immigration law sphere. Justia and Super Lawyers have their normally strong rankings, while Expertise, Best Lawyers, and BCG Search make small appearances.
In the personal injury category, Forbes surprisingly has the strongest showing, followed by Super Lawyers and Justia.
Super Lawyers, FindLaw, and Justia predominate in bankruptcy law searches. Expertise, BCG Search, and Yelp have a minor presence, while none of the others appear.
Super Lawyers, FindLaw, and Justia maintain their heightened rankings in business law searches. Business law is also one of two categories where Yelp appears frequently.
In addition to Justia, FindLaw, and Super Lawyers, Forbes and Expertise have strong rankings for criminal defense searches.
In the employment law category, FindLaw abruptly disappears, while Super Lawyers and Justia retain their presence. BCG Search also appears for a few searches.
FindLaw and Super Lawyers have elevated appearances in this category, while Justia surprisingly drops off in favor of Expertise, BCG Search, and Yelp.
Family law is another category that Justia is weak on. Super Lawyers and FindLaw enjoy a robust appearance, while Forbes and Best Lawyers have more modest showings.
Similar to the employment law category, FindLaw does not appear in the immigration law sphere. Justia and Super Lawyers have their normally strong rankings, while Expertise, Best Lawyers, and BCG Search make small appearances.
In the personal injury category, Forbes surprisingly has the strongest showing, followed by Super Lawyers and Justia.
How well have individual directories been performing over time?
The data presented below comes from SEMRush and represents estimated clicks using clickthrough rate estimates at different ranking positions for known keywords tracked in its database.
The order of legal directories is altered from above in light of the estimated monthly traffic the top 3 directories receive every month.
Traffic
Even though Justia is ranked the third best legal directory for Chicago, nationally the site is the strongest performing by its share of estimated traffic. Its monthly search traffic peaked in March 2022 at 3.7 M visits and has since declined to around 2M monthly search visits.
Keyword Growth
In spite of this, it is a ranking powerhouse, being surfaced in the database for close to 4 million keywords. It appears on page 1 for around 8.5% – or 1/12 – of the known keywords as of May 2024.
Traffic
FindLaw’s directory subdomain peaked in February 2022 at ~1.9M search visits per month and has since fallen to half-a-million in May 2024.
Keyword Growth
Its keyword growth still remains strong, suggesting the subdomain has slipped in relevance to either other directories or individual law firms in the search results. As of today, around 15% of its rankings are on page 1.
Traffic
Super Lawyers peaked in mid-2020 at ~600k search visits per month and has since fallen to around ~380k search visits per month.
Keyword Growth
In spite of this, they have steadily increased the number of known keywords they are relevant for, with more than a quarter of the tracked keywords being on page 1 today.
Traffic
Avvo, once a giant in the legal search results, is a shadow of its former self. The site peaked at ~2M search visitors in August 2018, and while mounting two separate comebacks since then, has fallen to over half-a-million monthly search visitors.
Keyword Growth
Don’t let the sharp spike in keyword growth fool you: the share of page 1 ranking improvements has been modest, with ~7% of their keyword profile being on page 1 today.
Traffic
Like Avvo, Martindale has fallen on hard times; but unlike Avvo, it wasn’t that much of a competitor in the search results to begin with. The site peaked at an estimated 280k search visits per month and has since slid to ~60k per month.
Keyword Growth
Its keyword profile remains similar, suggesting it has become less and less relevant for searches as a recommended source of attorneys as compared to other directories or law firms. However, around 9.6% of its rankings are on page 1.
Traffic
Best Lawyers occupies a quiet niche with a small presence in the legal search results. The site has slowly but steadily grown over time, but is dwarfed by all of its competitors, with just over 50k estimated search visits per month.
Keyword Growth
Today, around ~13% of its keyword rankings are on page 1.
Traffic
BCG Search is a directory I was not aware of before engaging in this study, and it remains a blip on the radar.
Keyword Growth
Like Best Lawyers, they have steadily grown their share of keywords over time, but their importance is inconsequential.
Traffic
Even though Justia is ranked the third best legal directory for Chicago, nationally the site is the strongest performing by its share of estimated traffic. Its monthly search traffic peaked in March 2022 at 3.7 M visits and has since declined to around 2M monthly search visits.
Keyword Growth
In spite of this, it is a ranking powerhouse, being surfaced in the database for close to 4 million keywords. It appears on page 1 for around 8.5% – or 1/12 – of the known keywords as of May 2024.
Traffic
FindLaw’s directory subdomain peaked in February 2022 at ~1.9M search visits per month and has since fallen to half-a-million in May 2024.
Keyword Growth
Its keyword growth still remains strong, suggesting the subdomain has slipped in relevance to either other directories or individual law firms in the search results. As of today, around 15% of its rankings are on page 1.
Traffic
Super Lawyers peaked in mid-2020 at ~600k search visits per month and has since fallen to around ~380k search visits per month.
Keyword Growth
In spite of this, they have steadily increased the number of known keywords they are relevant for, with more than a quarter of the tracked keywords being on page 1 today.
Traffic
Avvo, once a giant in the legal search results, is a shadow of its former self. The site peaked at ~2M search visitors in August 2018, and while mounting two separate comebacks since then, has fallen to over half-a-million monthly search visitors.
Keyword Growth
Don’t let the sharp spike in keyword growth fool you: the share of page 1 ranking improvements has been modest, with ~7% of their keyword profile being on page 1 today.
Traffic
Like Avvo, Martindale has fallen on hard times; but unlike Avvo, it wasn’t that much of a competitor in the search results to begin with. The site peaked at an estimated 280k search visits per month and has since slid to ~60k per month.
Keyword Growth
Its keyword profile remains similar, suggesting it has become less and less relevant for searches as a recommended source of attorneys as compared to other directories or law firms. However, around 9.6% of its rankings are on page 1.
Traffic
Best Lawyers occupies a quiet niche with a small presence in the legal search results. The site has slowly but steadily grown over time, but is dwarfed by all of its competitors, with just over 50k estimated search visits per month.
Keyword Growth
Today, around ~13% of its keyword rankings are on page 1.
Traffic
BCG Search is a directory I was not aware of before engaging in this study, and it remains a blip on the radar.
Keyword Growth
Like Best Lawyers, they have steadily grown their share of keywords over time, but their importance is inconsequential.
Which legal directories should you focus your efforts on?
Justia, FindLaw, and Super Lawyers are the definitive three ecosystems to focus your legal directory marketing efforts on. Each still retains a strong search presence and each website drives hundreds of thousands of visitors to profile listings every month.
Unless your profiles still continue to receive clicks and contacts from prospects, Avvo and Martindale deserve far less attention.
Bankruptcy law
Super Lawyers, FindLaw, and Justia predominate in bankruptcy law searches. Expertise, BCG Search, and Yelp have a minor presence, while none of the others appear.
Business law
Super Lawyers, FindLaw, and Justia maintain their heightened rankings in business law searches. Business law is also one of two categories where Yelp appears frequently.
Criminal defense
In addition to Justia, FindLaw, and Super Lawyers, Forbes and Expertise have strong rankings for criminal defense searches.
Employment law
In the employment law category, FindLaw abruptly disappears, while Super Lawyers and Justia retain their presence. BCG Search also appears for a few searches.
Estate planning
FindLaw and Super Lawyers have elevated appearances in this category, while Justia surprisingly drops off in favor of Expertise, BCG Search, and Yelp.
Family law
Family law is another category that Justia is weak on. Super Lawyers and FindLaw enjoy a robust appearance, while Forbes and Best Lawyers have more modest showings.
Immigration law
Similar to the employment law category, FindLaw does not appear in the immigration law sphere. Justia and Super Lawyers have their normally strong rankings, while Expertise, Best Lawyers, and BCG Search make small appearances.
Personal injury
In the personal injury category, Forbes surprisingly has the strongest showing, followed by Super Lawyers and Justia.
How well have individual directories been performing over time?
The data presented below comes from SEMRush and represents estimated clicks using clickthrough rate estimates at different ranking positions for known keywords tracked in its database.
The order of legal directories is altered from above in light of the estimated monthly traffic the top 3 directories receive every month.
Justia
Even though Justia is ranked the third best legal directory for Chicago, nationally the site is the strongest performing by its share of estimated traffic. Its monthly search traffic peaked in March 2022 at 3.7 M visits and has since declined to around 2M monthly search visits.
In spite of this, it is a ranking powerhouse, being surfaced in the database for close to 4 million keywords. It appears on page 1 for around 8.5% – or 1/12 – of the known keywords as of May 2024.
FindLaw
FindLaw’s directory subdomain peaked in February 2022 at ~1.9M search visits per month and has since fallen to half-a-million in May 2024.
Its keyword growth still remains strong, suggesting the subdomain has slipped in relevance to either other directories or individual law firms in the search results. As of today, around 15% of its rankings are on page 1.
Super Lawyers
Super Lawyers peaked in mid-2020 at ~600k search visits per month and has since fallen to around ~380k search visits per month.
In spite of this, they have steadily increased the number of known keywords they are relevant for, with more than a quarter of the tracked keywords being on page 1 today.
Avvo
Avvo, once a giant in the legal search results, is a shadow of its former self. The site peaked at ~2M search visitors in August 2018, and while mounting two separate comebacks since then, has fallen to over half-a-million monthly search visitors.
Don’t let the sharp spike in keyword growth fool you: the share of page 1 ranking improvements has been modest, with ~7% of their keyword profile being on page 1 today.
Martindale
Like Avvo, Martindale has fallen on hard times; but unlike Avvo, it wasn’t that much of a competitor in the search results to begin with. The site peaked at an estimated 280k search visits per month and has since slid to ~60k per month.
Its keyword profile remains similar, suggesting it has become less and less relevant for searches as a recommended source of attorneys as compared to other directories or law firms. However, around 9.6% of its rankings are on page 1.
Best Lawyers
Best Lawyers occupies a quiet niche with a small presence in the legal search results. The site has slowly but steadily grown over time, but is dwarfed by all of its competitors, with just over 50k estimated search visits per month.
Today, around ~13% of its keyword rankings are on page 1.
BCG Search
BCG Search is a directory I was not aware of before engaging in this study, and it remains a blip on the radar.
Like Best Lawyers, they have steadily grown their share of keywords over time, but their importance is inconsequential.