Rank tracking measures how your website ranks for a specific keyword. If your law firm is #1 for “car accident lawyer”, that could be a positive thing. It’s important to remember that rank tracking software is often misleading. If your firm was ranked #1 for “car accident attorney”, it could be a good thing. Now it’s 2020, and the game is completely different.
Google has become more adept at locating the location of people searching online. Google now considers the location of the searcher relative to a law office when deciding which results to show.
There are many rank tracking software options available. The problem is that most of them use one GPS location (usually the center of the city) to show where your website ranks in a particular keyword. Potential clients searching for personal injury attorneys may find a different ranking firm when they search Google from a hospital.
Many law firm marketers don’t know how visible they are in a particular market. This is due to misleading ranking reports. This can also be dangerous for strategy development as it is easy to target new areas with your marketing efforts. Instead, focus on strategies that allow your firm to rank as many places within your target city as possible.
Many law firms can double, triple or quadruple their leads by focusing their strategies on a single geographic area and not spreading before they reach their full potential.
Ranking Results will vary based on the physical location of the person searching
This keyword is competitive in a market that is highly competitive (San Francisco). If I were searching from a specific location, the colored icons on the map with the corresponding numbers would indicate the rank position.
Simply put, I would see different results if I did the same search in two locations that are two blocks apart.
You can see the different color categories in
- Green is the ranking 1-3
- Yellow is ranked 4-6
- Ranking 7-9 is Orange
- Red is a ranking at position 10+
Each map marker represents a particular place where a search was conducted. The results are scattered all over the place, as you can see.
You won’t get the complete picture if you only check rankings using your computer or software that tracks from one GPS location (which is common).
You are actually more likely to rank in the local pack for keywords if you search from your office, as Google may show the nearest business.
Although it may be rewarding, this won’t result in much business.
But, the exact location of the searcher may not be detected
Google uses your exact location to perform a Google search from a mobile device. Sometimes, however, Google defaults to a larger area like a city. Google defaults to the area you are currently searching from, much like when you search on your laptop or desktop computer.
Depending on your search criteria, each location may offer different results.
Tip: To see where Google believes you are physically located, open Chrome and perform a Google search. Scroll down to see the results for the specific location.