Mike King (@VeryWellVersed) wrote about research from @nozzleio showing what looks like Google feeding rank tracking tools bad results. The pages look normal, but most of the usual sites are swapped out. Legal searches got hit hard. On the worst day in late September, about half of the legal results Nozzle collected looked like this. So if your agency's ranking report suddenly shows a crash, check Search Console first. That's Google's own free report of how often your site showed up and got clicked. If those numbers held steady, question the tracker before you question the work.

A firm asked us last week how a competitor ended up with so many more Google reviews than everyone else in town. Google looks at who leaves each review, how active their account is and where they are. Bought reviews can get removed, sometimes all at once during an update. The firm decided to keep asking its own clients one at a time. Slower, and the reviews stay up. Would your reviews survive a cleanup?

Before switching agencies, check who owns your website, ad accounts, content, videos, and social profiles. Your firm needs access to its own marketing assets. #LawFirmMarketing #AgencyManagement

If your ads landing page gets more calls than your practice area page, find out why before you pay for more of either.

I designed a concept for a serious injury law firm website with an "I'm having a difficult day" button. Press it and the site gets simpler. It also shows a three step plan without asking for an email address, and has a separate path for caregivers. Someone who was just badly hurt shouldn't need a good day to use your website. How much does yours ask of them? youtube.com/watch?v=vXX3677u…

A firm asked us about adding a Spanish version of their site because they have a paralegal who speaks Spanish. Good start. Before the pages go up, check who answers a Spanish speaking caller at 6pm, on a Saturday, or when that paralegal is out. Does your phone coverage match the language your website speaks?

In our SEO vs GEO webinar, Matt Green (@MChuckGreen) shared the test he's used his whole career before trying any tactic: if SEO and AI search didn't exist, would this work still be worth doing? GEO is the newer name for getting your firm mentioned in AI answers. Shortcuts like link spam and AI written filler tend to work for a while. Then Google catches up and the traffic goes with them. Run your agency's next idea through Matt's question.

Talked with a firm last week that runs two websites. The attorney who reviews the content can't keep up with either one, so drafts pile up. Before you add pages, count how many hours a month someone at your firm can really spend reviewing them. If the answer is two, plan for two hours of content.

Matt Green (@MChuckGreen) talked with Ryan Young, founder of Peak Motion Design, on episode 16 of A Non-Billable Hour about video for law firms. Their view is that good law firm video shouldn't look like every other attorney's. It should make people feel something and make it clear why your firm is different. They also got into measuring whether brand video pays off, and using AI in production without losing what makes it feel real. When did a caller last mention your firm's video? youtube.com/watch?v=ybm_FTOP…

Our team is going through every client reporting account this week to make sure no report goes out automatically without someone reading it first. If nobody on our side read it, why would you? Ask your agency who reads your monthly report before it reaches you.

A firm told us last week that some people wait a few days between their first call and the full intake conversation. That's a few days for someone who's hurt to keep searching and call the next firm on the list. How long does a new caller wait at your firm before they talk to someone who can actually help?

If you can't tie marketing to signed cases, don't make budget decisions on gut feel. Track spend, cost per signed case, and brand growth over time. #MarketingAttribution #LawFirmMarketing

If your website went down this morning, how long would it take anyone at your firm to notice?

Plenty of people who read your longer articles would rather email you than call. Check whether they can do that without scrolling back to the top or hunting for a contact page.

Matt Green (@MChuckGreen) and Steve King talked on A Non-Billable Hour about how long "SEO is dead" has been a headline. More than a decade. They also remembered Google's big 2012 updates, when a wave of agencies told firms they'd never recover unless they paid for a cleanup. Now the pitch is that your firm is invisible to AI. When a sales call opens with fear, ask them to show you the actual searches where you're missing. youtube.com/watch?v=8k6YiMBX…

On a kickoff call last week, a firm told our writers how their clients usually feel when they first reach out. Often scared, and sometimes embarrassed. So they want every page to read like a calm person explaining the options. Read your main practice area page as if you were that person. Would you want to call?

Your agency sends a screenshot showing your firm first on Google Maps. Someone a few blocks away might see you seventh. @JoyanneHawkins shared research from Yext that found 97% of local results now change based on who is searching and where they're standing. Ask for rankings across your whole service area. Then check whether calls from those areas actually moved.

Looked at AI answers in a personal injury market last week. The firm the AI tools mentioned most had a lower link score than the firm we were talking to. Link score is the number SEO tools give your website based on how many other sites link to it. It shows up in a lot of agency reports. In that market it clearly wasn't deciding who got named. If your report leads with that score, ask what it has to do with being recommended.

On the first episode of A Non-Billable Hour, Rob Claybon from our team shared a rule I wish more firms knew: make one major change to your Google Business Profile, then wait about 48 hours before making the next. His example was changing your firm name and phone number at the same time. He said Google will almost certainly suspend the profile. Host Steve King pointed out that appeals are mostly handled by automated systems now, so there may be nobody to explain it to. Planning a rebrand or a new phone system? Space the edits out. youtube.com/watch?v=feVyJT8Z…

We're changing our lead reports to cover a 30 day stretch. One quiet week can look like a problem when it's just a quiet week. What stretch of time do you look at before deciding your marketing is or isn't working?