What Are the Google Analytics Basics for Law Firms?

Google Analytics shows you which pages bring in enquiries and which pages lose visitors before they get in touch.

For a legal professional, that information turns a website from an online brochure into something you can measure and improve. This article covers the reports worth reading, the setup that matters, and one privacy point that is specific to legal practices.

What Does Google Analytics Tell a Law Firm?

Google Analytics records how people find your site, which pages they view and what actions they take. It cannot tell you who a visitor is, and it should not be used to try.

For a firm, this answers practical questions. Did last month's visitors come from Google search, a directory listing or a referral? Did they read your practice area pages or leave from the home page? Which pages sit in front of people who later made an enquiry?

These answers guide decisions about website management, such as which pages to rewrite and where to put your effort first.

Four Reports That Show Where Your Enquiries Come From

The most useful reports for a law firm cover traffic sources, landing pages, device type and key events. Together they show where visitors start, what they see first and whether they take action.

• Traffic acquisition: shows whether visitors arrive from organic search, direct visits, social media or referrals.
• Landing pages: shows the first page each visitor sees. For some firms, this may be a practice area page rather than the home page.
• Device type: shows the split between mobile and desktop. If most visitors are on phones, your phone number and forms must work well on a small screen.
• Key events: shows how often visitors complete the actions you care about, such as submitting an enquiry form or tapping to call.

Start with landing pages and key events together. A page with plenty of visitors and few enquiries is the best place to start improving.

How to Set Up Enquiry Goals as Key Events

To measure enquiries, set up key events in Google Analytics for form submissions, phone taps and email clicks. Without them, you see visits but not results.

Google Analytics 4 records these actions as events, and you mark the important ones as key events. A form submission is the obvious one. Phone number taps on mobile and clicks on your email address are also worth marking. These events usually are not recorded by default, so your website developer typically needs to set them up, or you can set them up in Tag Manager, and then mark them as key events.

The trade-off is that setup takes care. A form that shows a thank-you message without loading a new page needs to be configured properly, or your enquiry numbers will read as zero. Test each key event yourself after setup, and check it again after any site change.

If you are planning a website upgrade, make this setup part of the brief so measurement is in place from launch day.

Using Analytics to Fix a Page That Gets Visitors but No Enquiries

A page with strong traffic and weak enquiries can often point to a usability or messaging problem that Analytics can help you locate, though low-intent traffic is another possible cause. In our view, the fix is rarely more traffic.

Consider a small firm whose wills and estates page attracts around 400 visits a month from organic search. Only 4 of those visits end in an enquiry, which is a 1 per cent rate. These figures are illustrative.

The device report shows most visitors are on mobile. Looking at the page itself, the phone number is plain text rather than a tappable link, the enquiry form has 12 fields, and the only button sits at the bottom of a long page.

The firm makes three changes as part of a simple call to action strategy:

• Make the phone number tappable.
• Cut the form to name, email, phone and a short message.
• Place a clear enquiry button near the top of the page.

The following month, the page receives a similar 420 visits but produces 10 enquiries, or about 2.4 per cent. In this illustrative example, the firm attributes the extra enquiries to the changes. Analytics alone cannot prove the cause, as factors such as seasonality or a different mix of visitors could also play a part.

This is the principle behind lead generation for law firms: getting more value from the visitors you already have before paying for more of them. Results vary by practice area and page, so treat any single month as a guide rather than a promise.

Can Google Analytics Improve Your Google Ranking?

Google Analytics does not improve your Google ranking by itself. It shows which pages attract search visitors and how those visitors behave, so you can decide where to improve.

The tool that shows which search queries bring people to your site is Google Search Console, and the two work best when linked. Use Search Console to see the queries and Analytics to see what visitors do afterwards. If a page attracts search visitors who leave quickly, the content may not match what they were looking for.

That is useful input for SEO for law firms and for any work on Google ranking improvement. Be realistic about the limits, though. A firm with modest traffic will see small numbers, and a few visits can swing a percentage a long way. Look at trends across several months before changing a page.

Keeping Client Information Out of Your Analytics

A law firm should make sure no client names, matter details or other personal information reach Google Analytics. Google's terms do not allow personally identifiable information to be sent to its analytics products.

The common risks are simple. A form that places a person's name or email address into the page address after submission can send that detail to Analytics. Custom events set up carelessly can do the same.

Use a thank-you message or page with a generic address, and keep form field contents out of event data. Your privacy policy should also describe your use of analytics in plain language. Ask your own advisers about your privacy and confidentiality obligations, as these depend on your practice and your clients.

Turning Reports Into a Regular Habit

A short monthly review is enough for most firms. Check where enquiries came from, which landing pages produced them and which pages have traffic but no results. Then pick one page to improve and measure it again the next month.

This steady approach suits SEO-optimised websites and lead generation websites alike, because each change is small enough to test. Good website content is usually the first thing to refine, followed by layout and calls to action.

Call one of our team or book an appointment at a time that works for you. We will review your current analytics setup and show you where your site is gaining or losing enquiries. You can also request a free website demo to see what a site built for legal professionals looks like.

Frequently Asked Questions