Nationwide Law Firm SEO Case Study Part 1: City/State in URL’s

This is part one of a two-part Law Firm SEO case study that we’ve put together, analyzing over 1,000 legal Google search results. We’ve extracted the top 10 search results on Google for the following five practice areas:

• Auto accident attorney
• DUI attorney
• Divorce attorney
• Personal injury attorney
• Criminal defense attorney

Across the 30 most populated cities in the United States:

For New York City, we decided to break out into the following 5 Burroughs:

• Bronx
• Queens
• Long Island
• Manhattan
• Brooklyn

This resulted in a total of 34 cities, across 5 different practice areas, for a total of:

• 170 Google search queries, and
• 1,355 total Google results (around the top 8 results for each search query. Currently Google shows 9 organic results and 1 ad, for some search queries we extracted 8 results and for some we extracted 9, but we will move forward assuming that we analyzed the top 8 results for the sake of uniformity.)

In part 1 of the study, we will be analyzing the URL’s of the websites in the search results, and how often geo-identifiers such as city and state are included in both the root domain, as well as the full ranking URL. We can also analyze the data by specific practice areas.

Part 2 of the study, which we hope to have released shortly (as you can imagine, I just love spending 4 days compiling URL and page title data), will analyze the page titles of ranking law firm URL’s, specifically:

• Is the city in the page title?
• Is the state included in the page title?
• Is the law firm name included in the page title?

All broken down by how well the website ranks, and broken out by specific practice areas.

Background

It’s long been debated in the SEO world whether including the state and/or city that you hope to target in the law firm domain will result in any additional SEO benefits. While we understand that each of the 1,357 websites that we analyzed may have different amounts of link authority, content, on-page SEO aspects and technical SEO performance, the goal of this case study is to use the sheer number of search results to provide some sort of data regarding how legal websites appear in Google search results based on how their domains and URL’s target individual areas.

This data should be used for analyzation purposes only, not as direction to craft your own law firm SEO strategy.

In the legal SEO niche, which I’ve been privileged to be involved in over the last 15 years, there have always been questions and debates regarding microsites, practice area and city-specific blogs, and overall targeting.

“Should I start a microsite or blog only targeting a niche practice area in a specific city?”

“How can I target a major city and metropolitan area if my office is on the outskirts?”

This study does not aim to answer those questions or provide strategic direction. All law firms and locations vary in terms of how competitive the area is, additional cities you hope to target, and a host of other questions. We are always happy to analyze your existing law firm website and ongoing strategy to offer some recommendations, and please feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have.

That being said, let’s dive into the data.

How often do legal directories appear in search engine results?

Of the 1,355 search results that we analyzed, 520 of the results (or approximately 38%) were non-law firm sites. These results included legal directories, “best of” sites, regional sites, and other non law-firm resources. It’s no secret to law firm owners and others in the legal SEO industry that competing with legal directory sites is always an uphill battle, as most of these sites are nationwide resources with significant amounts of authority (inbound links). That being said, it’s nice to be aware of which sites obtain top placement, on average.

Broken down by practice areas:

• Auto accidents: 67 of 278, or 24%, of results were non-law firm websites.
• DUI: 110 of 253, or 44%, of results were non-law firm websites.
• Divorce: 112 of 269, or 42%, of results were non-law firm websites.
• Personal Injury: 105 of 271, or 39%, of results were non-law firm websites.
• Criminal Defense: 126 of 284, or 44%, of results were non-law firm websites.

The most commonly-ranked non-law firm websites across all practice areas include:

• Expertise.com: 134 results, and an average rank of 3.96.
• Findlaw.com: 122 results, and an average rank of 4.96.
• Superlawyers: 94 results, and an average rank of 4.97.
• Justia: 61 results, and an average rank of 2.25.
• Yelp: 59 results, and an average rank of 4.22.
• ThreeBestRated.com: 12 results, and an average rank of 6.41.
• Avvo: 7 results, and an average rank of 6.14.

Most commonly-ranked non-law firm websites in auto accidents results:

1. Findlaw.com: 27 results, and an average rank of 4.48 (higher ranking than average  across all practice areas).
2. Expertise.com: 23 results, and an average rank of 3.91 (higher ranking than average  across all practice areas).
3. Yelp: 9 results, and an average rank of 4.22 (same ranking as average across all practice areas).
4. Superlawyers.com: 6 results, and an average rank of 6 (lower ranking than average  across all practice areas).

Most commonly-ranked non-law firm websites in DUI results:

1. Expertise.com: 23 results, and an average rank of 2.17 (higher ranking than average across all practice areas).
2. Superlawyers.com: 17 results, and an average rank of 4.65 (higher ranking than average across all practice areas).
3. Findlaw.com: 17 results, and an average rank of 6.24 (lower ranking than average across all practice areas).
4. Yelp: 15 results, and an average rank of 5.13 (lower ranking than average across all practice areas).

Most commonly-ranked non-law firm websites in divorce results:

1. Expertise.com: 30 results, and an average rank of 4.77 (lower ranking than average across all practice areas).
2. Superlawyers.com: 23 results, and an average rank of 5.26 (lower ranking than average across all practice areas).
3. Yelp.com: 18 results, and an average rank of 4.61 (lower ranking than average across all practice areas).
4. Findlaw.com: 16 results, and an average rank of 6.00 (lower rankings than average across all practice areas).
5. Justia.com: 14 results, and an average rank of 1.93 (which is significantly higher than the average across all practice areas).

Most commonly-ranked non-law firm websites in personal injury results:

1. Expertise.com: 26 results, and an average rank of 4.15 (lower ranking than average across all practice areas).
2. Findlaw.com: 23 results, and an average rank of 4.96 (same ranking as average across all practice areas).
3. Superlawyers.com: 18 results, and an average rank of 5.78 (lower ranking as average across all practice areas).
4. Yelp.com: 10 results, and an average rank of 6 (lower ranking as average across all practice areas).

Most commonly-ranked non-law firm websites in criminal results:

1. Superlawyers.com: 32 results, and an average rank of 4.35 (higher ranking than average across all practice areas).
2. Expertise.com: 32 results, and an average rank of 4.34 (lower ranking than average across all practice areas).
3. Findlaw.com: 29 results, and an average rank of 4.41 (higher ranking than average across all practice areas).
4. Justia.com: 9 results, and an average rank of 1.5 (significantly higher ranking than average across all practice areas).

How often do internal law firm website URL’s appear vs law firm home pages in search results?

Of the 855 legal search results that we analyzed, 302 of the results, or 36%, were law firm home pages. The remaining pages were internal pages such as practice area pages, location pages, and on a few occasions law firm bio pages.

We break this down by practice area in a few instances below.

Law firm website URL’s: how often are city/state in ranking domains?

Diving into the URL data, and the next factor that we analyze is how often city and state are in the law firm website’s domain.

You’ve run a number of Google searches and noticed that a few law firm websites that appear in top Google results include the city and/or state that you’re targeting in their domain URL. Should you go spend $10,000 on “nyinjurylaw.com”? We’ll look at the data and you can make the decision for yourself.

Disclaimer: Just kidding, don’t make any financial decisions based on any of this information.

Car accident search results

No city/state included in primary domain: 187 results, average rank of 4.54. On 17 occasions, the #1 position for car accident search terms included no city or state in the primary website domain.

City included in primary domain: 18 results, average rank of 5.61. No car accident search engine results with city included in the  primary domain were ranked #1.

Both city and state included in primary domain: 2 results, average rank of 7. No #1 results included both city and state in the primary domain.

State included in primary domain: 10 results, average rank of 3.7. There were 2 car accident results in #1 positions which included state in the primary domain.

Theory based on results: Including the state in the primary domain may give you a boost, however it’s hard to look at the number of instances where no city or state is included and not reach the conclusion that Google is taking into consideration your overall brand more than whether your state is in your domain name. Car accidents are extremely competitive online, so in 2022 and beyond it’s going to be hard to rank just based on a city or state being included in your domain.

DUI search results

No city/state included in primary domain: 86 results, average rank of 4.64. On 6 occasions, the #1 position for DUI search terms included no city or state in the primary website domain. Worth noting, all 6 of these results were internal pages (vs home page).

City included in primary domain: 26 results, average rank of 4.62. No DUI search engine results with city included in the  primary domain were ranked #1. On 16 occasions, DUI search results were home pages with an average rank of 4.94, vs only 7 occasions where internal pages were ranked, with an average rank of 5.88.

Both city and state included in primary domain: 3 results, average rank of 6. No #1 results included both city and state in primary domain.

No DUI search results included both city and state in primary domain.

State included in primary domain: 34 results, average rank of 3.7. There were 2 car accident results in #1 positions which included state in primary URL. There were four #1 rankings for DUI law firm websites with state included in primary domain, 2 home pages and 2 practice area pages.

Theory based on results: it may be possible that a law firm domain with a state included could be given some sort of consideration in Google’s eyes, for DUI law firm websites.

Divorce search results

No city/state included in primary domain: 105 results, average rank of 4.02. On 15 occasions, the #1 position for divorce search terms included no city or state in the primary website domain. However, of these 15 search results, 9 of them were from nationally-recognized law firms (8 from one firm, 1 from another), and on all 9 occasions their office pages (internal pages) ranked #1 based on the amount of authority their website has. The other 7 were home pages.

City included in primary domain: 33 results, average rank of 4.84. The data regarding cities being included in primary domain for family law is interesting, because on 4 occasions the #1 results include city in primary domain (more than other practice areas), and on all 4 occasions the results were home pages. The markets are Bronx, Nashville, Brooklyn and Columbus, so not super competitive when compared to larger cities. Divorce is also not as competitive as personal injury, so it’s possible that if you’re targeting a specific mid-major city that you could get a boost from having a city in your primary domain for divorce, maybe even wills and estates, certain practice areas where 4,298 other firms aren’t competing for market share in your area.

No divorce search results included both city and state in primary domain.

State included in primary domain: 18 results, average rank of 4.78. Only one #1 result for divorce where the state is included. Domains with state included didn’t perform as well as DUI in terms of volume or rank, or with auto accidents in terms of average rank.

Theory based on results: Targeting a mid-major city by including a city in your domain name for family law may give you some sot of an advantage, based on it being a less competitive city and practice area.

Personal injury search results

No city/state included in primary domain: 146 results, average rank of 4.58. On 14 occasions, the #1 position for personal injury search terms included no city or state in the primary website domain.

City included in primary domain: 11 results, average rank of 4.54.

State included in primary domain: 9 results, average rank of 4.

No personal injury search results included both city and state in primary domain.

Theory based on results: The websites that ranked with state included had a considerable amount of authority. It would be hard to encourage a personal injury law firm that they’ll be guaranteed any type of SEO success by focusing on including city/state in their primary domain. Personal injury is just too competitive.

Criminal defense search results

No city/state included in primary domain: 103 results, average rank of 4.53. On 16 occasions, the #1 position for criminal defense search terms included no city or state in the primary website domain.

City included in primary domain: 32 results, average rank of 4.125. On 3 occasions, the #1 position for criminal defense included domains with the city in their primary domain, and in fairly competitive markets: Las Vegas, Chicago, and Nashville.

State included in primary domain: 24 results, average rank of 3.875. Five #1 rankings included domains with the state included.

Theory based on results: similar to DUI results, criminal law websites may be given some sort of consideration if the state is included in the primary domain.

Law firm website URL’s: how often are city/state in the full ranking URL?

To conclude part 1 of our 2 part study on legal SEO search results, we will dive into the full ranking URL’s (vs. only the primary domain, which we analyzed in the last section). These URL’s do include the city/state being included in the primary domain.

Will including city and/or state in the internal page URL actually give you a ranking boost on Google?

According to the data we analyzed:

• 320 URL’s included no city or state. Average rank for no city/state in URL: 4.43.
• 130 URL’s included the state. These results include URL’s with both the city and state included. Average rank for only state included: 4.35.
• 449 URL’s included the city. These results include URL’s with both the city and state included. Average rank for city included in full ranking URL: 4.56.
• 84 URL’s included both city and state. Average rank for city and state included in full ranking URL: 3.89.

When we break this down by individual practice area, the date below DOES NOT factor “both” results into city and state-specific data.

Car accident search results

Both city and state included in full ranking URL: 16 results, average rank of 3.94.

City included in full ranking URL: 122 results, average rank of 4.91.

State included in full ranking URL: 5 results, average rank of 5.20.

No city/state included in full ranking URL: 68 results, average rank of 4.29.

Theory based on results: The 4 pages which ranked #1 for both city and state are actually location pages of law firms with significant amounts of authority. For websites which rank #1 for car accident search terms with only the city included, there were 10 instances where the actual internal practice area pages that are targeting an individual city are actually ranking, vs. location pages. For pages which rank for the state, all ranking URL’s already had the state in the primary URL. That being said, this data would suggest that including only the city in the full ranking URL would give you a better chance to obtain higher rankings for car accidents, despite the higher average rank of both city and state being included. If your car accident firm only services one state, having practice area pages setup to target each city would make sense without the state being included in the full ranking URL.

DUI search results

Both city and state included in full ranking URL: 14 results, average rank of 4.86.

City included in full ranking URL: 57 results, average rank of 4.84.

State included in full ranking URL: 28 results, average rank of 4.07.

No city/state included in full ranking URL: 44 results, average rank of 4.66.

Theory based on results: Similar to the results we saw in the primary domain analysis above for DUI, this data suggests that there’s a possibility that Google gives preference to DUI websites which include state in their full ranking URL’s. That being said, 23 of the 28 state results had the state included in their primary domain, and all 23 of these results were actually home pages, so I believe the conclusion here would be that it might make sense to invest in a state-specific domain if you’re starting a new DUI practice.

No #1 ranking URL’s for DUI included both city and state, while 4 results that included the city ranked #1, all internal pages.

Divorce search results

Both city and state included in full ranking URL: 27 results, average rank of 3.56.

City included in full ranking URL: 57 results, average rank of 4.46.

State included in full ranking URL: 10 results, average rank of 4.20.

No city/state included in full ranking URL: 63 results, average rank of 4.35.

Theory based on results: There is one firm website which ranked 16 times out of 27 for “both city and state included”, and all results were location pages. So that being said, we are giving the nod to “state included in full ranking URL” however, similar to DUI, all 10 of the websites which rank already had state included in their primary domain. We do have a theory that, for certain practice areas (DUI, criminal, family law), having the state included in the primary domain will be taken into consideration by Google.

The only other thing that stands out to us in the divorce results is that the majority of internal pages which rank are actually office and location pages, vs internal practice area pages dedicated to specific cities. It’s possible that Google takes into account the brand aspect for family law, meaning they may give preference to law firms with multiple locations. There are no ranking URL’s with the state included outside of instances where the primary domain was included the state, so including state abbreviations in your URL’s for family law may not make much sense.

Personal injury search results

Both city and state included in full ranking URL: 9 results, average rank of 4.55.

City included in full ranking URL: 64 results, average rank of 4.52.

State included in full ranking URL: 7 results, average rank of 4.57.

No city/state included in full ranking URL: 86 results, average rank of 4.57.

Theory based on results: I think the theory here, and overall in the first part of our study, is that there’s a good chance that Google looks at different factors based on individual practice areas. For DUI, criminal, and family law, we see a lot more domains and full ranking URL’s of websites targeting states. This data backs up what we’ve seen over the last 15 years in general. For YMYL sites such as legal, Google wants to make sure your law firm website is a trustworthy source, and citing state-specific laws and regulations related to divorce, dui penal codes, etc…I’ve seen websites benefit from this.

For personal injury, we see a lot more websites which are targeting individual cities rank well. This is likely because SEO firms and in-house SEO consultants are actually building authority to these internal city pages every month, however there is data here to support the theory that building out city-specific practice area pages for personal injury and car accidents would make sense.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our study, we plan to release part 2 where we analyze all law firm page titles, including whether or not city/state is included, and whether or not law firm name is appended to the end of law firm page titles, in coming weeks.