Lawyers That Show Up on Maps Outside of Their Main Category

Recently, we’ve been doing more digging into the coveted maps positions in Google organic results to find out more about how and why people are placed in these positions.  We are certain that it has to do with criteria such as:

• Authority of the landing page of the maps listing
• Proximity to city centroid
• Amount of positive reviews for the listing
• Authority of the map listing itself
• Completeness of the listing, and some other criteria

But what about the listings that come up for multiple practice areas, without the exact same listing category?  How would a personal injury lawyer come up for criminal defense as well, and vice versa?

An idea came to me when I was speaking with a Yelp representative who had mentioned that he had a criminal defense client coming up often on searches for divorce-related keywords.  The reason? Though he was primarily a criminal defense attorney, he did handle some divorce cases; in doing so, he received a thorough review on his Yelp profile praising the lawyer’s professionalism in a divorce-related matter. Evidently, that review alone was enough to trigger results for divorce keywords.

Does this work the same way for Google?  If you’re receiving reviews with other common legal-related keywords, can you come up for those keywords too on maps?  What about secondary categories – do those work well? Do the keywords in the landing page cover enough ground to come up for other results?  Lastly, were links built to the maps and landing page to push the likelihood of other keywords turning up as well? We’ll explore all of this.

The “X’s” indicate whenever the spot was taken by a firm without the exact category.   There were several “X’s” for Family Law and Divorce since they aren’t exactly interchangeable, but Divorce technically falls under Family Law.  The emphasis would be on the others, such as Criminal Defense and Bankruptcy, and Personal Injury.

For example, The Johnston Law Firm, LLC in Portland, OR is designated as “Law Firm” instead of Personal Injury.  But they do have:

• Half of their reviews concerning personal injury
• Extremely heavy emphasis on personal injury on their homepage

Fleming Law, PC in Savannah, GA is designated as “Attorney” but has:

• More than a third of reviews concerning traffic violations related to technically criminal charges
• Complete dedication to criminal defense on the homepage

Christie D. Arkovich, P.A. is second for “Tampa Bankruptcy Attorney” but is designated as “Attorney” with:

• Nearly every review including “debt,” “loan,” and “bankruptcy”
• Complete coverage of bankruptcy on the website

How Much Do Reviews Really Impact Rankings?

Frank M. Edison, P.A is designated as “Attorney” but ranks #4 for one of the most competitive keywords in Florida – Orlando Car Accident Attorney

Though this law firm has a great central location, they don’t have many other factors that would contribute to a good maps position for that keyword.  One could argue that their position in the maps is heavily influenced by two primary factors, location and review content.

What are the takeaways?

If you are a firm that has multiple practice areas (such as Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Divorce in one location) I’d advise including all that information on the homepage even if you have a focus on one.  The more you can diversify your reviews to span all your practice areas in more detail, the better.

Our goal at Market My Market is to use the research and data we’ve acquired to positively affect your business. If you’re looking for a legal marketing agency that understands the ins and outs of the industry, look no further. Contact us today for a free consultation to learn about how we can help you reach your business goals.