Your guide to understanding personal injury marketing, SEO, and legal advertising terminology.
The portion of a webpage visible without scrolling. Critical for conversion as it's where first impressions are made and primary CTAs should be placed.
State bar regulations governing how attorneys can market their services. Includes restrictions on outcome guarantees, testimonials, and case results.
The process of converting a lead into a signed client. Includes initial contact, qualification, consultation, and retainer agreement.
Payment structure where attorneys receive a percentage of the settlement or verdict rather than hourly fees. Standard in personal injury cases.
Percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action (form submission, phone call, chat initiation). Average PI firm converts 2-5% of visitors.
Systematic process of improving website elements to increase the percentage of visitors who become leads or clients.
Amount paid each time someone clicks on your paid advertisement. Personal injury keywords often cost $50-$300+ per click in competitive markets.
Google's quality standards: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Critical for ranking in legal and medical content.
Free business listing on Google that appears in local search results and Google Maps. Essential for local SEO and generating phone calls.
Pay-per-lead advertising program for attorneys featuring Google Screened badge. Appears above traditional Google Ads in search results.
Standalone web page created specifically for a marketing campaign. Designed for a single conversion goal without navigation distractions.
Potential client who has expressed interest by submitting contact information, calling, or chatting. Not all leads become signed cases.
Free resource offered in exchange for contact information. Examples: accident checklist, settlement calculator, free case evaluation.
Legal claim on settlement proceeds. Medical providers often treat PI patients 'on lien,' receiving payment from the eventual case settlement.
Optimization focused on appearing in location-specific searches like 'car accident lawyer near me' or 'Los Angeles personal injury attorney.'
Legal action involving numerous plaintiffs against one or few defendants. Examples: pharmaceutical litigation, defective medical devices, toxic exposure.
Brief summary (150-160 characters) appearing in search results below the page title. Influences click-through rate but not rankings directly.
Unpaid search engine results. Contrast with paid ads. Long-term SEO builds organic visibility that doesn't require ongoing ad spend.
Advertising model where you pay only when someone clicks your ad. Google Ads is the primary PPC platform for law firms.
Specific type of legal case (car accidents, medical malpractice, slip and fall). Marketing often targets specific practice areas rather than general PI.
Google Ads metric (1-10) measuring ad relevance, landing page quality, and expected click-through rate. Higher scores reduce cost per click.
Contract between attorney and client formalizing representation. The goal of case intake is converting leads to signed retainers.
Revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. PI firms should target 5:1 to 10:1 ROAS minimum on case value.
Structured data code helping search engines understand page content. Enables rich results like FAQ snippets, review stars, and business info.
Process of improving website visibility in organic search results. Includes technical optimization, content creation, and link building.
Page displaying search results. Position on SERPs dramatically affects traffic - #1 result gets ~30% of clicks, #10 gets ~2%.
Website elements building credibility: client reviews, credentials, case results, awards, professional memberships, years in practice.
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