Law Firm SEO Competitor Analysis Guide

Law Firm Competitor Analysis Guide: Find and Exploit SEO Gaps

You’re ranking on page two for your best keywords. Your competitors are on page one. They didn’t get there by accident.

Competitor analysis isn’t about copying what they do. It’s about finding the gaps in their strategy and building something better.

This guide walks you through a complete seven-step competitor analysis framework designed specifically for law firms. By the end, you’ll know exactly what your competitors are doing, where they’re vulnerable, and how to build an SEO strategy that leaves them behind.

What is Law Firm SEO Competitor Analysis?

Competitor analysis in SEO is the process of systematically examining what your competitors rank for, how their websites are built, what content they publish, and what backlinks they earn. For law firms, this means understanding which competing attorneys or firms dominate search results in your practice areas and locations.

The goal is twofold: identify quick wins (keywords you can rank for faster than they did) and long-term plays (content investments that build authority over months).

Step 1: Identify Your Real Competitors

Not all competitors are created equal. You have two types:

Google SERP Competitors

These are the firms and websites that appear in the top 10 search results for your target keywords. If you search for ‘personal injury attorney [your city]’ and five law firms show up, those are your SERP competitors for that keyword.

SERP competitors are your immediate threat. They’re where your potential clients are looking.

Business Competitors

These are firms in your market you compete with in real life. They may or may not rank for your target keywords yet. Your local bar association directory might show ten criminal defense attorneys in your area, but maybe only three rank on Google.

Business competitors are worth monitoring because they might eventually invest in SEO.

Action: Search your top 10 target keywords and document the firms appearing in positions 1–10. Then list the firms you know compete with you locally. You now have your competitor set.

Step 2: Audit Your Competitor Websites

Your competitors’ websites reveal their SEO foundation. Run a technical audit to understand their infrastructure.

Page Count

How many pages does each competitor have indexed? Use Google Search Console or site: operator:

site:competitorlawfirm.com

More pages = potentially more ranking opportunities. A firm with 200 indexed pages has significantly more targeting flexibility than one with 50.

Content Depth

Visit their top-ranking pages. Are they thin, 300-word pages or comprehensive 2,000+ word guides? Law firms that win typically publish deeper content. Check: word count, internal links per page, media usage (images, videos), content freshness.

Site Speed

Use Google PageSpeed Insights on your competitors’ homepage and key landing pages. A slow site doesn’t necessarily mean lower rankings, but it’s a sign they may not be optimizing technical SEO.

Schema Usage

Check if they use schema markup. Law firms should use: LocalBusiness schema (for office locations), Attorney schema (for lawyer profiles), Service schema (for practice areas), FAQPage schema (for FAQs). Use the Google Rich Results Test or inspect their page source.

Insight: If competitors aren’t using schema, you gain a quick advantage by implementing it properly.

Step 3: Keyword Gap Analysis

Keyword gap analysis answers the question: What are they ranking for that you’re not?

Use Ahrefs free tier or SEMrush to run a keyword gap analysis. Export their top 100 keywords. Compare to your own. Look for:

Easy wins: Keywords they rank for (even position 15–20) that you don’t target at all
Competing keywords: Keywords you both target but they rank higher
Long-tail gaps: Specific practice area + location combinations they’ve covered that you haven’t

For example: if a competitor ranks for ‘DUI lawyer Denver’ and ‘DUI lawyer Colorado Springs’ but you only target ‘DUI lawyer Denver,’ you’ve found a gap.

Practical tip: Focus on gaps where search volume exists (even 50–100 monthly searches) and they’re not ranking in position 1–3 yet. These are your quick wins.

Step 4: Backlink Gap Analysis

Backlinks are a major ranking factor. Analyzing where your competitors get links reveals your opportunities.

For each competitor, identify:

Total referring domains: How many unique sites link to them?
Top referring domains: Which sites send the most authority?
Link sources by type: Local directories? Legal directories (Avvo, JUSTIA)? News sites? Other local businesses?
Anchor text: What keywords do they anchor their links with?

Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to export their backlink profile. Then ask: Can you get links from the same sources?

Example gap: Your competitor has 15 links from local business association pages. If you’re not linked from any, that’s a clear opportunity. Reach out to those associations.

Step 5: Content Gap Analysis

What topics do they cover that you don’t?

Review their blog, practice area pages, and resource sections. Look for:

Comprehensive guides they publish that you haven’t written
Practice areas they’ve created content for
Client FAQs they answer
Local content (guides to local courts, local laws, local statistics)

This doesn’t mean copying their content. It means identifying topic areas where demand exists (they’re covering it because it matters) and you’re not.

Content gap example: Competitor has a comprehensive guide to ‘DUI trial process in [state]’ with 15 subsections. You have nothing on that topic. Clients searching that question are landing on their site, not yours.

Step 6: Local SEO Comparison

For law firms, local SEO is critical. Compare your local presence to competitors’:

Google Business Profile

Search your firm name and each competitor name on Google Maps. Check:

Photo count and freshness
Review count and average rating
Post history (how often they publish updates)
Question response rate
Service areas listed (if applicable)

A competitor with 150 5-star reviews and a GBP full of photos is more visible locally than one with 20 reviews and no photos.

Citations and Directory Presence

Law firms appear in directories like Avvo, JUSTIA, LawInfo, and legal directories. Check where competitors are listed. Are they on Avvo with a complete profile? JUSTIA? Local business directories?

Each citation builds local authority.

Review Strategy

Compare review counts and response rates. If a competitor replies to every review within 24 hours and you never reply, that’s a local SEO gap.

Step 7: Build Your Attack Plan

Now you have data. Time to turn it into strategy.

Quick Wins (0–3 Months)

These are changes you implement immediately:

Target 5–10 keywords they rank for (positions 11–20) that you’re completely missing. Create or optimize one landing page per keyword.
Implement schema markup everywhere (LocalBusiness, Attorney, FAQPage).
Claim and optimize your Google Business Profile to match their completeness.
Get listed in the 5–10 directories they appear in but you don’t.
Optimize page speed if it’s slower than competitors’.

Long-Term Plays (3–12 Months)

These require content investment:

Write the comprehensive guides they have that you don’t (practice area guides, legal process guides).
Build a backlink strategy targeting the directories and sites linking to them.
Expand location pages to cover service areas they’ve covered but you haven’t.
Create pillar content that links to multiple related pages, building topical authority.

Tools for Competitor Analysis

Free Tools

Google Search: The site: operator reveals indexed pages. Keyword research via People Also Ask and search suggestions.
Google PageSpeed Insights: Site speed audits.
Ahrefs Free SEO Tools: Backlink checker, keyword research tool (limited).
Google Rich Results Test: Check schema implementation.

Paid Tools (Worth the Investment)

Ahrefs: The gold standard for backlink analysis and competitive keyword research. $99–$399/month.
SEMrush: Keyword gap analysis, content audit, local rank tracking. $119–$449/month.
Moz Pro: Rank tracking, local SERP tracking, backlink analysis. $99–$749/month.

For law firms starting out, Ahrefs or SEMrush is the best investment. Both have competitive analysis workflows built in.

Common Competitor Analysis Mistakes

Mistake 1: Analyzing Irrelevant Competitors

Don’t analyze national brands or firms in other markets. Focus on firms actually competing for your keywords in your service area.

Mistake 2: Copying Instead of Improving

Their strategy got them to page one. Your strategy should get you to position 1. Don’t recreate what they do; do it better.

Mistake 3: One-Time Analysis

Competitor analysis isn’t a one-and-done project. Run it quarterly. Competitors iterate. So should you.

Mistake 4: Ignoring Non-Ranking Competitors

Sometimes the best insights come from analyzing a competitor you’re not directly competing with yet. They may have tested content strategies worth noting.

Conclusion

Competitor analysis is the foundation of smart SEO strategy. By understanding what your competitors are ranking for, how their sites are built, and where they’re investing, you can make targeted, efficient decisions about your own SEO.

Run this seven-step analysis on your top three competitors. Document everything. Then use those insights to build an SEO roadmap that turns their advantages into your opportunities.

Your competitors are watching Google. You should be watching them.