Attorney “directory listings” are rarely worth buying and almost never drive traffic, calls, or result in leads. That said, over the years, I have been an amazing Justia salesman, recommending clients purchase the sponsored listing in their city when certain conditions are met. In fact, Justia is usually the only listing I recommend.
Those conditions are:
- Justia’s rankings
- Platinum listing availability
Justia.com/lawers/ lost rankings in 2024.
Justia.com/lawyers/ comes and goes. It may rank on page 1 in one city, and not in another. Over the years, their “cityname personal injury lawyer” page is usually on page 1 or two of Google.
In early 2024, Justia was usually right at the top of page 1. However, in 2024, the /lawyers/ section of their appears to have experienced two noticeable dips. According to Sistrix’s visibility index, traffic took a big dip during the Google March 2024 Core Update, then again during the Google August 2024 Core Update.
What’s a Platinum listing?
If you take a look at the Justia “Houston Personal Injury Lawyers” page (https://www.justia.com/lawyers/personal-injury/texas/houston/) you will see Jimmy Doan pinned to the top, and underneath his headshot is a “premium” badge in black. This is the Platinum listing. Only one attorney can have the Platinum listing.
The Platinum position is then followed by other attorneys which have a gold box labeled “premium” under their headshot. These attorneys have paid for the gold listing.
While I do not have data on this, I would bet that the vast majority of prospective clients call the top attorney with the Platinum listing, because they’re at the top of the page. Of course, some people may select a different attorney based on their appearance, gender, ethnicity, age, number of reviews, experience level, where they went to college, or simply because they’re not using a sponsored listing , or for any other number of reasons.
Do Justia listings drive leads?
We provide SEO for personal injury attorneys who are hogging up the Platinum position and I have the call tracking data here. If you email me, I could share it privately. I will say here though that I usually advise they keep the Platinum listing if it is in their budget. Even if Justia is not ranking today, they could be tomorrow. At any given time, Justia, Yelp, SuperLawyers or any other “listing” style site will be on the front page. There are additional benefits to having a Justia listing as well, if your budget allows it.
This all said, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a directory site that’s going to make or break your law firm.
