Case study · Ellery Estate Law Name changed for privacy reasons
From page nine to the top 3 for estate planning searches in seven months
Ellery Estate Law prepares wills and trusts and handles probate. Families search for each of those by name and by place, but the firm had one page for all of its services and no pages for the communities it serves. We built both and published articles on the questions families ask. Its average Google position across priority searches went from 89 to 3 in seven months.
Some names are changed to protect client privacy.
89 to 3
Average Google position across priority searches
Page 9 to 1
Where families now find the firm
+86
Positions gained
7
Months from start to the top 3
The challenge
People planning an estate, or settling one, search for the specific thing they need: a will, a trust, a power of attorney, help with probate. Most add a town or county to the search.
Ellery's website had one page for all of its services and nothing for the communities it serves, so Google had no page to match those searches. Its average position across them was 89, on page nine.
Many of these searches happen at a hard time, after a diagnosis or a death in the family. Families want a firm that explains the process in plain words and is close enough to visit, and the website showed neither.
What we did
Service pages
Separate pages for wills, trusts, powers of attorney and probate, each answering the questions families ask first.
Location pages
A page for each county the firm serves, with office details and the local information families look for when they settle an estate.
Technical groundwork
Page titles and descriptions written for each service and county, slow pages fixed, and every new page linked from the menu and from related pages.
Articles
Monthly articles written with the attorneys on the questions that come up at the kitchen table: who should be executor, when a trust makes sense, what probate involves.
Guides for executors
A series of step-by-step guides for people named as executors: what to do in the first month, how probate works in the state and when to call a lawyer.
Reviews and listings
A review request after each finished plan, a reply to every review, and listings on legal directories, all within the bar's advertising rules.
Before and after
| Area | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Service pages | One page for every service | Separate pages for wills, trusts, powers of attorney and probate |
| Location pages | None | A page for each county the firm serves |
| Articles | None | Monthly articles and a guide series for executors |
| Reviews | A few, none answered | A request after each finished plan and a reply to every review |
| Average Google position | 89, on page nine | 3, on page one |
Results
Average Google position
Position 1 is the top result. Average across priority searches. Source: Google Search Console.
Position moved from 89 to 3.
89Start, page 9
3After seven months, page 1
Average position by month
Position 1 is the top result. Average across priority searches. Source: Google Search Console.
Monthly figures
| Month | Average position |
|---|---|
| Start | 89 |
| Month 1 | 86 |
| Month 2 | 73 |
| Month 3 | 52 |
| Month 4 | 30 |
| Month 5 | 14 |
| Month 6 | 6 |
| Month 7 | 3 |
Priority searches, month seven
| Search | Impressions | Avg. position | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| probate lawyer near me | 1,720 | 2.4 | Page 1 |
| estate planning attorney | 1,380 | 2.9 | Page 1 |
| will lawyer | 540 | 3.1 | Page 1 |
| power of attorney lawyer | 380 | 3.3 | Page 1 |
| living trust attorney | 610 | 3.6 | Page 1 |
Ellery moved from page nine to the top 3 for its priority searches in seven months. Most of the climb came in months two to five, as Google indexed the county and service pages and the articles and reviews built up. Probate searches, which families make at the hardest time, now show the firm in the top 3.
Deliverables
- Separate pages for wills, trusts, powers of attorney and probate
- A page for each county the firm serves
- Monthly articles written with the attorneys
- A guide series for executors
- Review requests and replies
- Legal directory listings
- Monthly reporting from Search Console
Sources. Average Google position and search impressions across the client's priority searches, from the client's Google Search Console. The client's name and identifying details are changed at its request.
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