When it comes to signing leads and winning cases for your firm, you’ve probably brought in law firm digital marketing wizards to help you grab that coveted top spot on Google. But what actually matters? Experts might sprinkle jargon around, but do you know which metrics are the real MVPs for your law firm?
Let’s examine the key metrics and website performance indicators that are crucial to grow your firm and assess the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts.
The Importance Of Website Metrics
Tracking website metrics for law firms is like having a GPS for your digital marketing journey. These metrics provide insights into how potential clients interact with your website, the performance of your law firm SEO strategy, and the health of your overall online visibility. By understanding these metrics, you can make informed decisions to enhance how your website performs for your business, and ultimately, your firm’s success.
Cracking The Code Of User Intent
Diving into metrics also helps you understand user intent, which is crucial for optimizing your digital marketing strategy. User intent reveals what the searcher aims to achieve when they type in a query. By tailoring your content to meet different types of user intent, you can improve your click-through rates and engagement. Think of it as detailed guides for the information seekers with clear call-to-actions for those ready to take. This holistic understanding of metrics and user intent can significantly boost your website’s effectiveness and your firm’s growth.
What is the difference between clicks, impressions, and queries?
First up on the list of important metrics, let’s talk clicks, impressions, and queries. It’s like a digital marketing love triangle, and each one plays a unique role in your relationship with potential clients.
- Clicks are just that – how many times a visitor has clicked on a link within your website, whether it’s a button, a navigation link, or an internal call-to-action. Each click signifies an interaction and interest in exploring more of your content. Think of each click like a potential client knocking on your digital door!
- Impressions are the number of times a page or element within your website is viewed. Impressions are counted whenever a page is loaded, regardless of whether the user interacts with it. More impressions means more eyes on your content, whether they click on it or not.
- Queries are the keywords or phrases that someone types into Google, prompting a page from your website to be displayed in the search engine results page (SERP). Understanding the digital marketing metrics that lead visitors to your site is like reading the minds of potential clients.
What is share of voice?
Share of voice (SOV) is the metric used to measure the visibility of your brand across different channels compared to the competition. It’s calculated by dividing your brand’s total advertising impressions by the total impressions of all brands in the same industry.
Why is monitoring share of voice important? Because you want to know how you stand against your competitors when it comes to visibility on the SERP. Monitoring your share of voice also helps you understand how you stack up against your competitors in terms of brand awareness. A higher share of voice often leads to being a crowd favorite. Understanding your SOV enables you to spot opportunities to crank up your marketing to attract more potential clients.
(Speaking of brand awareness – we were curious which law firms perform the best in branded search and calculated the list of America’s most Googled personal injury law firms. Are you on the list?)
To boost your share of voice in SEO, monitor metrics such as keyword rankings, organic traffic, and engagement rates to gauge content effectiveness.
You can also boost your SOV by implementing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns – also known as paid search. Tracking metrics like click-through rates (CTR), cost per click (CPC), and conversion rates will help you assess ad performance and ROI. Some ways that you can do this would be through guest blogging on reputable sites and issuing press releases, which can drive both organic and paid traffic.
Additionally, you should leverage client testimonials and case studies to build social proof and attract more clients. By continually analyzing these metrics across both SEO and PPC channels, you can refine your strategies, effectively increase your SOV, and outperform your competitors.
Keywords, Keywords, Keywords
Another important website performance metric are keywords: keywords are the foundation of any successful strategy. They are the terms and phrases that people type into search engines to find the information they need. Understanding how to effectively use and manage keywords can make a significant difference in how well your website ranks on SERPs.
Keyword Drops (And What It Means)
When evaluating keyword performance, it’s essential to look at multiple angles and metrics to understand the full picture. A keyword drop, for example, indicates that a website’s ranking for a specific keyword or search query has decreased. This decline can be likened to your star player getting benched and can occur for various reasons, including:
- Technical issues with your website. Redundant coding, broken links, site downtime, slow loading speed, or mobile unfriendliness can affect your rankings.
- Geographical factors. Keyword rankings can vary by region, impacting your site’s performance in different areas.
- Google’s ranking algorithm. Changes or tests within Google’s algorithm can shift which sites appear in search results.
- Competition. Increased competition or shifts in keyword popularity can cause your rankings to drop.
- Content. Outdated content or keyword stuffing (overuse of a keyword) can negatively impact your rankings.
- SEO. Incomplete or off-key on-page SEO practices can lead to a drop in keyword rankings.
(To gain deeper insights into these factors, we conducted a study identifying the key elements that affect how a page ranks for competitive keywords. This research helped spot trends and commonalities among high-ranking pages.)
To avoid keyword drops, adopt proactive SEO strategies like the ones we do for Hennessey Digital clients. (Or better, rely on us to do it for you!) Regularly audit your website for technical issues, ensure it’s mobile-friendly and fast-loading, and keep an eye on Google’s algorithm changes. Additionally, analyze your competitors’ strategies and create evergreen content that remains relevant over time to maintain strong keyword rankings. Understanding various aspects of Google’s ranking factors, such as Google Ads Quality Score, can also provide valuable insights into optimizing your site’s performance.
Keyword Reports
Keyword reports show how well line items perform based on the contextual keywords they target. It groups impressions, clicks, and conversions by each keyword.
A question we often field is, “Why are we not seeing a keyword report of the top keywords we are trying to target?”
From time to time this happens; if the keyword doesn’t have enough query activity, Google may omit the search term(s) from the keyword report.
Use keyword reports to make data-driven decisions. Analyze which keywords drive the most traffic and conversions and look for patterns. Are certain types of content performing better for specific keywords? Use this intel to refine your content strategy. Also, consider long-tail keywords—they might have lower search volumes but higher conversion rates because they’re super specific.
Keyword Rankings
When it comes to keywords it can be challenging to rank. This could be due to a number of different reasons, but mainly has to do with the amount of competition in your industry trying to rank for the same keywords. Think of it like climbing a mountain with other law firms scrambling up the same path.
Another common question we get is, “How come when I type the keyword I don’t see the same ranking as what you are showing?”
If you want to see higher rankings for keywords that matter to your business, you should:
- Conduct User Research: Understand your audience, their search behaviors, and the keywords they use. Analyze top-ranking websites for your target keywords and see what makes their content tick.
- Optimize Your Content: Make sure your content is optimized for keywords, includes high-quality images, follows SEO best practices, and has a clear structure. Aim for high E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) content and gather high-quality backlinks.
- Regularly Track Data: Monitor your keyword performance and adjust your strategies accordingly. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your progress.
Grow Your Firm Through Digital Dominance
Digital is an ever-evolving jungle. Understanding and tracking your website metrics isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s your secret weapon.
From clicks and impressions to share of voice and keyword performance, these metrics are the breadcrumbs leading you to digital success.
But remember, this isn’t a one-time journey. Staying ahead requires continuous learning, tweaking, and optimizing. To stand out against your competition online, dive deep into user intent, keep your content fresh and engaging, and always be ready to adapt to new SEO trends and algorithm changes, such as Google’s page rank updates.
Think of your website metrics as an epic quest: armed with the right knowledge and tools (and the right digital marketing agency) you’re not just surviving—you’re thriving. You’re not just another law firm; you’re becoming a digital powerhouse that’s ready to attract more clients, win more cases, and dominate Google.