I’ve been talking with many law firms lately, and there’s a pattern I can’t ignore. Firms can spend $50,000+ annually on SEO and only see $20,000 in return (some are often much worse). If you’re in this situation, you know exactly what I mean. It’s frustrating, and it’s time we had an honest conversation about why this is happening.
Key Takeaways
- Traditional SEO is delivering diminishing returns for law firms, with some spending $50,000+ annually for minimal ROI
- Many law firms are trapped in a cycle of offering too many services, making systemization difficult.
- High-value clients rarely find legal services through Google searches
- Video-based marketing on platforms like Meta is emerging as a more targeted alternative
- Law firms need to focus on specific client personas rather than casting a wide net
The AI Revolution in Legal Information
The Shift in Search Behavior
Something interesting is happening in how people look for legal information, and it’s reshaping everything we thought we knew about legal marketing.
Think about how you search for information yourself these days. Google used to be where everyone went, whether they were asking, “What is a trust?” or “How much does a divorce lawyer cost?” But that’s changing. People are turning to ChatGPT for quick explanations of legal concepts or heading to Reddit to read about others’ actual experiences.
Google’s New Role
The only thing Google still dominates is helping people find a trusted local lawyer when they’re ready to hire. And that’s really important to understand – because it completely changes how we should think about our marketing spend.
The Content Marketing Challenge
If you’re investing heavily in creating legal guides and blog posts, you might want to reconsider where that budget could be better spent. Yes, many legal websites still get good traffic from Google, but we need to ask ourselves: how long will this last, and more importantly, is this traffic turning into clients?
The challenges firms are facing include:
- Rising costs with diminishing returns
- Increased competition in legal keywords
- Higher costs per click in paid search
- Longer time to see results from organic efforts
- Quality lead issues
- Broad targeting leads to unqualified inquiries
- High-value clients rarely use Google for legal services
- Difficulty in targeting specific client personas
The Systemization Challenge
The Critical Business Decision
Here’s the elephant in the room that most law firms aren’t addressing: you need to decide what kind of firm you want to build before spending a single dollar on marketing.
I recently spoke with a managing partner who nailed it: “The problem with professional services is I do a different job to another lawyer in my firm, and that person does a different job… but if you standardize a process, then everyone delivers the same consistency across the board.”
Choosing Your Path
This isn’t just another business insight – it’s the fundamental choice every law firm needs to make. Do you want to build a large, complex litigation firm that needs your constant attention, or do you want to create a systematized practice that can run without you?
Because I’ll tell you right now – you can’t have both.
The key differences are:
Complex Litigation or Multi multi-faceted firm
- Requires constant partner involvement
- Each case needs unique expertise
- Higher revenue per case
- More challenging to systematize
- Harder to scale without you
Systematized Practice
- Can run without constant owner involvement
- Focused on specific types of cases
- More predictable revenue
- Standardized processes
- Easier to scale with systems
The SEO Mismatch
Here’s where this ties directly into your SEO strategy: When you invest heavily in SEO, particularly targeting broad legal terms, you’re essentially signing up for a wide variety of cases. Think about it – if you’re ranking for everything from “business contract lawyer” to “commercial litigation,” you’re going to attract all sorts of clients with vastly different needs. This variety makes systemization nearly impossible.
The Rise of Social Search
Beyond Google: The New Search Reality
Something fascinating is happening in how people search for information. Google isn’t the only search engine anymore – social platforms are becoming powerful search engines themselves. Think about your own behaviour: when you want to learn something new, are you reading articles or are you watching videos?
The answer might be a light bulb moment.
The TikTok Opportunity
I’ve been speaking with lawyers who are seeing remarkable results from TikTok – we’re talking about more than 30% of their revenue coming directly from the platform. And here’s what’s really interesting: the lead quality is exceptionally strong.
Why is this working so well? A few key reasons:
- Authentic Connection
- Video creates immediate trust and relatability
- Viewers can quickly assess if you’re someone they want to work with
- Personality comes through much stronger than written content
- High Organic Reach
- TikTok still offers significant organic visibility
- Early adopter advantage in the legal space
- Successful lawyers don’t need to be entertainers for Tiktok to be successful.
- Changing Search Habits
- Users increasingly searching directly on TikTok
- Preference for quick, digestible video explanations
- More engaging than traditional written content
The Multi-Platform Search Reality
It’s not just TikTok. Each platform is becoming its own search engine:
- LinkedIn
- Professionals searching for business legal advice
- Direct access to high-value business clients
- Platform-native content getting priority in feeds
- YouTube
- Second largest search engine after Google
- Long-form educational content
- High retention for detailed legal explanations
- TikTok
- Rapid growth in search queries
- Younger demographics moving away from Google
- Preference for authentic, quick answers
It may only be time before Search Optimization is viewed as a multi-platform rather than a specific association with Google.
Modern Marketing Solutions
Beyond Traditional SEO
If you’re aiming for a systematized practice, you need marketing channels that let you target very specific clients with very specific needs. This is why we’re seeing innovative firms move away from broad SEO strategies towards more precise targeting methods.
Interestingly, some firms are now using AI-powered targeting systems that can identify and speak directly to their ideal client persona. Instead of hoping the right people find you through Google, these systems actively find and engage potential clients who match your exact criteria – whether that’s high-net-worth individuals for estate planning or funded startups looking for ongoing counsel.
Building a Targeted Approach
Modern law firms are finding success with:
- Video-Based Marketing
- Creates personal connection with potential clients
- Allows for more nuanced message delivery
- Better engagement rates than text-based content
- Practice-Specific Marketing
- Focus on specific legal areas rather than general services
- Targeted content for specific client personas
- Clear value proposition for each service area
The Power of Local SEO and Google Business Profiles
The Local Search Opportunity
While traditional SEO might be losing its effectiveness, local search is stronger than ever. When someone needs a lawyer, they’re still likely to search “[practice area] lawyer near me” or “best lawyer in [city].” This is where Google Business Profile (formerly GMB) becomes your most powerful asset.
Why Local SEO Still Works
Unlike traditional SEO, which can take months or years to see results, a well-optimized Google Business Profile can start driving leads almost immediately. And here’s the best part – it’s often much more cost effective than trying to rank your website nationally.
Key advantages include:
- Faster visibility in your local area
- Higher intent searches – reviews build massive trust.
- Less competition than national SEO and high competition keywords
- Faster results than traditional content marketing
- Better conversion rates from local searches
Multi-Location Strategy
For firms operating across multiple states or locations, here’s something most SEO agencies won’t tell you: starting with a strong Google Business Profile strategy across all your locations is often more effective than investing in content and link building from scratch.
Consider this approach:
- Set up and optimize profiles for each location
- Focus on gathering reviews systematically
- Create location-specific content
- Track and improve performance by location
Making Local SEO Work
The key elements for success include:
Review Management
- Implement a systematic review collection process
- Respond to all reviews professionally
- Use review insights to improve service delivery
- Showcase positive reviews across marketing channels
Profile Optimization
- Complete all profile sections thoroughly
- Add regular posts and updates
- Use high-quality images and videos
- Keep business hours and information current
- Integrate automatic review requests with your practice management system.
Location Strategy
- Prioritize physical locations over virtual offices
- Build genuine local presence in each market
- Create location-specific content and offers
- Engage with local community events and organizations
- Ensure integrated automatic review systems can handle multi locations to add reviews to specific locations.
Making The Transition
Focus on What Works
The firms that get this right are the ones that align their marketing channels with their business model. For example, suppose you’re building a systematized practice focusing on startup incorporation and funding rounds. In that case, you might be surprised to learn that some of your best prospects aren’t actively searching on Google at all – they’re engaging with targeted content that speaks directly to their specific challenges and stages of growth.
This shift from “hoping to be found” to “actively engaging the right prospects” is relatively new in legal marketing, but it’s showing promising results for firms committed to systemization. It allows them to build a consistent client base that fits their standardized processes rather than adapting their processes to fit whatever clients find them through search.
Conclusion
The legal marketing landscape continues to evolve. While traditional SEO remains part of the mix, firms increasingly find that a more targeted, persona-specific approach yields better results. Success lies in identifying which services can be standardized, understanding your ideal client personas, and developing marketing strategies that speak directly to these audiences.
The most successful firms combine targeted marketing with strong local presence and active review management. By moving away from the “cast a wide net” approach and towards more focused strategies, law firms can better position themselves for sustainable growth while building systems that allow scalability without sacrificing quality.
