Can New York Personal Injury Attorneys Still Get Leads Online?
8.7.2023
Personal Injury Attorneys who display on the front page of Google usually obtain significantly more leads than those who do not. That’s because most people who need an attorney search Google.
Of course, some people get a referral from a friend or an acquaintance, but most people are searching online, and most people are searching with Google. Some Google users click on Google Ads or Google Local Services Ads, but the vast majority go directly to the local search results or organic search results.
In this article, we’ll cover how Personal Injury Attorneys get leads online from these 4 methods, and touch on some of the pros and cons.
Organic Results.
In general, firms willing to invest in (quality) SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can reap the rewards. However, to get those rewards you must make it to page 1. Attorneys must determine if this is a realistic goal or not. How difficult it is to rank organically depends on a few things, such as what your competitors are doing and how many of them are doing it.
For example:
- In New York, the sweet spot is most often cities such as Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. These are cities with 100,000 – 300,000 people. Unlike California, there are not Personal Injury Attorneys on every street corner. Due to the population density and low market saturation, SEO can be cost effective in these regions. Good rankings, combined with good reviews, a good reputation and a history of settlements will result in more cases.
- In cities upstate with a population of under 100,000 people such as Binghamton and Utica, attorneys face the same opposition as attorneys in areas such as Rochester for a fraction of the leads. That said, SEO is still often a cost effective form of marketing.
- NYC Personal Injury Attorneys face significant opposition with aged sites and massive budgets, even if they focus on an area such as Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens or The Bronx. Personal Injury firms in this area must go through extreme lengths to rank well in organic results to obtain even basic motor vehicle accident leads. SEO is not an option for smaller firms in this area, however, some attorneys can find a niche and laser focus on it.
The Local Pack.
If you do a search for “personal injury attorney”, at the top of Google’s search results (under the ads) you’ll see 3 results with a map beside them. This is called the Local Pack. Some people refer to this section as Local Search Results, the 3 pack, or Google Maps Results.
Displaying in the Local Pack almost always results in quality leads. There are many factors which decide who shows up here. In general, if you rank organically, have good, recent reviews, and your users are in your vicinity, you have a decent chance of displaying in the local pack.
Local Pack results change based on a user’s location. The Albany Local Pack is going to look much different for users located at Albany International Airport than it will for users over by the Hudson River. If getting leads online is important to you and you are considering relocating or opening a new location, be sure your law firm is positioned in a populated area and as far away from other Personal Injury Attorneys as possible.
In many cases, displaying in the local pack can drive more leads than organic & LSA combined, especially if you have more reviews than your competition.
Local Services Ads (LSA) and Google Ads (PPC):
If you haven’t heard of LSA: it’s essentially a pay per call platform, meaning you only pay for calls to your law firm which last over 30 seconds. It’s much different than Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, Google’s Pay Per Click (PPC) platform, where you pay for a click regardless of a call occurring or not.
LSA is almost always a very cost effective marketing platform. That is, when it works. Unfortunately, as of 2023, LSA is plagued with a terrible algorithm which does not treat advertisers equally. The problem is, regardless of what you try or how much you want to spend, your ads may not display. On the other hand, some attorneys get lucky, and their ads always display. If you’re in the market for leads, it is always worth setting up LSA.
Google Ads has become complex and rarely is it cost effective. Attorneys who still use it are often making money elsewhere and are ok losing marketing dollars on Google Ads in hopes of hitting a grand slam, for branding, and/or just to irritate competitors. A reputable PPC expert who specializes in legal “should” tell you if PPC is a real option in your market.
How SEO Works, in a Nutshell:
The three things NY Personal Injury Attorneys need to rank include:
- Links. Hands down, the most important thing NY Personal Injury Attorneys need are backlinks. Some law firms have natural press from settling major cases for celebrities. Some are very active in their communities and obtain powerful, geographically relevant links. For everyone else, they need a skilled link-builder who is able to obtain them topically relevant links.
- Content. High quality, human written (sorry ChatGPT) content, written by humans, for humans, has a strong impact on rankings, the Google Local Pack, and of course, conversions.
- On site SEO. As of 2023, most attorneys have a fast, secure, mobile friendly site with plenty (if not too many) call to actions. In general, that’s all you need.
Optimize My Firm provides SEO and Content Marketing services to Personal Injury Attorneys all over the USA. If your needs match our abilities, we should have a chat. Visit https://optimizemyfirm.com/personal-injury/ to discover if SEO is right for your law firm and to learn more about our boutique services.
