Law firms hit the search engine jackpot. Organic traffic broke records and changed a few firms’ thinking about digital marketing. But, in the end, law firms built it and clients came — in droves.

Organic traffic grew 36% for the Am Law 200. The growth is uneven — with 23% of law firms’ websites suffering a decline in organic traffic.

Here’s how the numbers break down and some of the standout firms:

• Baker McKenzie

• Gibson Dunn

• Greenberg Traurig

• Jones Day

• King & Spalding

• Latham & Watkins

• Quinn Emanuel

• Alston & Bird

• BakerHostetler

• Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath

• Foley & Lardner

• Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson

• Mintz

• Perkins Coie

• Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

• Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton

• Troutman Pepper

• Vinson & Elkins

• Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

• Carlton Fields

• Dickinson Wright

• Dinsmore & Shohl

• Munger, Tolles & Olson

• Quarles & Brady

• Wiley Rein

The growth started as the pandemic crept into our world in March 2020. We measured organic traffic through last week. Top legal decision makers (and a few practicing attorneys) incorporated pandemic-induced searches for:

• New insight
• Industry-specific insights
• Strategies for WFH
• Plans for RTW
• Vaccine plans and policies
• Where litigation is headed
• What’s happening with M&A
• Risks
• Regulatory interpretations
• What to expect
• Local regulations

RFPs reached a fevered pitch during the pandemic. Clients report they met more new partners and associates than they have in years. These clients visited their law firms’ websites to checkout bios and profiles.

Law firms now face the challenge of engaging these clients — getting them involved and starting the digital conversation. Your visitors are conversing with you through their actions. Engagement includes any kind of interaction, comments, likes, celebrations, sharing, downloads, and a host of other analog responses.

But this is the beginning, not the end. Boosting organic web traffic is foundational to digital and integrated marketing — no traffic, no clients. Digital engagement drives conversions — which means new business.

Stay tuned as we are evaluating digital engagement on a law firm-by-law firm basis. Send me an email if you want to know when it’s ready for a sneak peek.

Engage well. Engage often.

MBR

The Mad Clientist

(Source: Semrush and law firms)