Using Search Console Queries to Choose Which Charge Page to Fix

Most defense firms with a few years of content have more charge pages than they can improve at once. There is a DUI page, a domestic violence page, pages for theft, drug possession, probation violations and a handful of felonies. Each one could use a rewrite. The hard part is deciding where the next hour of work should go.

Search Console already holds most of the answer. Its Performance report shows the searches that put each page in front of people, how often that happened, where the page sat in the results and how many people clicked. Read with a little patience, those numbers point to the page that is closest to paying off. This article walks through a simple way to do that reading.

Set up a view you can repeat

Open the Performance report, choose the last three months and turn on all four metrics: clicks, impressions, average CTR and average position. Three months smooths out weekly swings without burying recent changes. Then switch to the Pages tab and export the list.

If Search Console is still new to you, start with a first-week walkthrough of Search Console for defense lawyers before going further. The rest of this piece assumes the property is verified and has a few months of data.

Keep the export in a spreadsheet with one tab per month you run this. Comparing the same view over time tells you more than any single snapshot.

Find pages that sit just off page one

Filter the page list to your charge pages only. For each one, click into it and look at the Queries tab. You are looking for a specific pattern: a page with steady impressions for searches that match the charge and a city, with an average position somewhere between about 8 and 20.

Those pages are already relevant in Google's eyes. They show up, people see them, and few people click because the page sits at the bottom of page one or on page two. A page in that band often needs less work to move than a page that barely appears at all.

Average position is a blended number, so treat it with care. A page that ranks third for one query and fortieth for another can average out to twenty. Check the individual queries before you decide a page is close.

Separate the queries that bring cases from the ones that don't

A charge page can collect impressions for searches that will never turn into a client. Someone searching the statute number for a school paper, a person looking up the maximum sentence out of curiosity, a reporter checking a term. Those impressions inflate the totals.

Sort each page's queries into rough groups:

• searches that name the charge and a place, such as a city or county
• searches that ask about a lawyer, attorney or defense for that charge
• questions about penalties, process or records
• searches that look unrelated to hiring anyone

The first two groups matter most for the business. The third matters too, since people facing a charge often start with questions. The fourth can mostly be ignored. A page whose impressions come mainly from the first two groups, and which sits just off page one, goes to the top of your list.

Read click-through rate in context

A low click-through rate does not always mean the title is weak. Position drives CTR more than anything else, so a page in position nine will have a lower rate than a page in position two almost by definition. Compare pages at similar positions before judging a title.

When two charge pages sit at similar positions and one gets clicked far less often, look at what searchers see. Search the main query yourself in a private window from your city if you can. Check the title and description Google shows, and note what else is on the results page. Map listings, AI answers and directory sites all take attention from the plain blue links. Sometimes the fix is a clearer title that names the charge and the city. Sometimes the page simply needs to rank higher before CTR will move.

Score the candidates and pick one

Once you have five or six candidates, give each a quick score. Nothing fancy is needed. A simple version looks like this:

1. Add a point if the page's main queries include a city or county you serve.
2. Add a point if its average position for those queries is between 8 and 20.
3. Add a point if the charge is one the firm wants more of.
4. Add a point if the page has not been meaningfully updated in a year or more.
5. Subtract a point if the queries are mostly informational and unrelated to hiring.

The page with the highest score is your next project. Rewrite it, add the missing questions you saw in the query list, improve internal links from related pages and note the date of the change.

Check the result after a few weeks

Rankings rarely move overnight. Give the page four to eight weeks, then compare the same three-month view, or a date comparison of the period before and after the change. Watch the queries you targeted rather than the page total.

If the page moved up and calls for that charge rose, repeat the process on the next candidate. If nothing changed, look again at what outranks you. The answer is often a page that covers the charge in more depth or a competitor with stronger local signals.

For more on reading search data as a defense lawyer, the library of guides to legal marketing analytics and search data covers reports, tracking and measurement in more detail.

Questions defense lawyers ask about Search Console data

How often should I run this review?

Once a month is enough for most firms. Running it weekly tends to produce false alarms because of normal swings in search volume.

Does Search Console show every search that found my site?

No. Google withholds some queries for privacy reasons, so the query totals will usually be lower than the page totals. Treat the query list as a strong sample rather than a complete record.

Should I chase a query just because it has high impressions?

Only if it reflects someone who might hire you. A high-impression query from students or researchers can look exciting and produce no cases.

SBD Marketing works only with criminal defense law firms, one firm per city. It helps defense practices with website design, SEO for the charges they defend, visibility in AI search tools and SEO audits.