If you have a rolling plan for growing your practice through digital marketing, you likely have some regimen for ongoing content. For decades, blogging has been the cornerstone of an effective content plan. Though the criterion for strong content has steadily changed over the years, the consistency necessary for an effective content plan has remained the same.

Having a comprehensive plan for not only blogs but also pages, articles, and any other form of content on your website is the status quo if you want to carve out your online presence in the face of growing competition from other law firms. That being said, most law firms don’t always know the correct quantity of blogs that should be created each month to achieve the highest success rate.

The Importance of Looking at the Competition When Creating Content Plans

Some lawyers assert that a couple of blogs a month will do the trick, which may be too low. Others will proclaim that they add a blog every other day, which may even be too high. After all, how can quality and unique content be created that frequently? Though it may be relative to your practice area and level of competition, there is always wisdom to be found in comparing your current efforts to those competitors who are finding online success and who rank highly for their primary keywords.

Looking at prosperous firms with a widespread online presence is a great way to peg your efforts to theirs and see not only what scope of content you should be executing but also the caliber of the content itself. This includes content length, use of videos/images/infographics, quality of writing, hooks, call-to-actions, and more.

Understanding the Difference Kinds of Content on Google’s First, Second, and Fifth Pages

We looked at some vanity keywords around the country and gauged the amount of content the average law firm has for those positioned on the first page of search engine results pages. We then compared this data to those landing on the second page and fifth page. Our goal with this study was to confirm whether the average law firm on the first page of SERPs for a primary keyword—such as “Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer” or “Seattle Divorce Lawyer”—has more content on their blogs and pages compared to those landing on the second or fifth page.

We found that, on average, the websites on the first page have a similar amount of content as those on the second page. This is because these law firms are often very proactive with their content strategies and are separated by more SEO-related best practices such as authority from backlinks or on-page optimization. The numbers begin to separate, however, when looking at the content on Google’s fifth page.

We looked at ten different cities and several different practice areas, taking three websites from each page and averaging their page and blog totals when it comes to word count. Here are our findings:

Blogs Pages
1st Page 264 135
2nd Page 183 184
5th page 66 38

Because there are highly competitive cities—such as Houston—and highly competitive practice areas—such as personal injury—the range varies dramatically. For example, websites on the first page for “Fort Lauderdale Bankruptcy Lawyer” average only 42 total blogs, while “Phoenix Personal Injury Lawyer” has 445. It’s crucial, in this case, to observe the span in your own area when looking at these results.

Contact the Specialists at Market My Market

At Market My Market, our goal is to ensure that your content outranks and outperforms your competitors’ sites so you can be a forerunner in your niche. We provide content packages to help your site transform into an industry leader by remaining at the top of SERPs. To learn how we can advance your content, send your website to the top of search engine results, and accomplish conversions, get in touch with the experienced content and SEO professionals at Market My Market for a free consultation today.