Many personal injury firms keep one list of personal injury keywords, sorted by search volume, and plan every page from it.
That list fits some pages and fails others. Service pages and blog posts answer different searches.
The fix is two lists, each filled from its own sources and matched to its own page type.
A personal injury firm should keep a commercial keyword list (case type, lawyer or attorney, city) for service and location pages, and a separate client question list for informational pages.
The question list comes from Search Console and intake calls, sources keyword tools often miss.
The Myth That One Keyword List Can Plan a Personal Injury Site
The belief that one keyword list can plan a personal injury site comes from sorting every term by volume. The firm then builds only what shows demand, and client questions get left out.
Google states the limit in its Keyword Planner help documentation: “Keywords with very low search volumes, or keywords that are considered sensitive aren’t discoverable or forecastable.”
A question like “can I still sue if I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt” may come up at intake every week and register nothing in the tool. A second list fixes that. A better tool does not.
How the Keyword List and the Question List Come From Different Sources
A personal injury firm’s keyword list and question list come from different sources.
The commercial list starts with the firm’s case mix and ad planning data. Google tells advertisers to “Describe how your customers think of your product or service category.” For a PI firm, that’s “car accident lawyer” plus a city.
The question list comes from Search Console, where “Queries are the search terms that led to your site,” and from intake call notes, in clients’ own words.
In its SEO Starter Guide, Google notes that “Users who know a lot about the topic might use different keywords in their search queries than someone who is new to the topic.” A lawyer says “premises liability.” A client types “slip and fall.”
Sort each term by which stage of the client’s search it serves. Commercial terms go to service and location pages, and questions go to blog and FAQ content.
Personal Injury Keywords That Create Bar Rule Problems
Personal injury keywords create bar rule problems when a search phrase becomes a claim on the page. Targeting a query isn’t making a claim.
- “Best” phrasing: a page calling the firm the best risks a misleading comparison under ABA Model Rule 7.1, which bars any “false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services.”
- Certification phrasing: under ABA Model Rule 7.2(c), implying certification in “a particular field of law” requires a certifying body approved by a state authority or accredited by the ABA, and “the name of the certifying organization is clearly identified in the communication.”
States adopt their own versions of these rules, so state rules control. This is not legal advice.
How to Build Both Personal Injury Keyword Lists in Four Steps
Both personal injury keyword lists take four steps to build.
Step 1: Build the Commercial List
Pair each case type the firm takes with “lawyer” and “attorney,” then add the cities it serves. These law firm keywords belong on service and location pages. Under Google’s spam policies, “Blocks of text that list cities and regions that a web page is trying to rank for” count as keyword stuffing. Local results also weigh local signals outside the website. The same list can also inform Google Ads.
Step 2: Build the Question List
Export Search Console queries and filter for how, what, can and should. Add the questions intake staff hear weekly, and mark which ones a personal injury FAQ page can answer.
Step 3: Assign Every Term to One Page
Give each commercial term group one service or location page, and each question group one informational page. Google warns in its helpful content guidance against “producing lots of content on many different topics in hopes that some of it might perform well in search results,” so skip thin posts for every phrasing.
Step 4: Review Both Lists Each Quarter
Check Search Console quarterly. A question with impressions but a poor average position needs a new page or section.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a personal injury firm target “lawyer” or “attorney” in its keywords?
A personal injury firm should put both “lawyer” and “attorney” on its commercial list. One page can serve both, because Google matches related terms.
How many keywords should one personal injury page target?
A personal injury service page should target one main term and its close variants. An informational page should target one question or a tight group of related questions.
Can a personal injury firm find client questions in Google Search Console?
A personal injury firm can find client questions in the Search Console Queries dimension, which shows the search terms that led to its site. Some queries are hidden for privacy, so add intake call notes.
Why does a keyword tool show no volume for a question clients ask every week?
A keyword tool can show no volume for a common client question because Keyword Planner does not surface very low volume keywords. Low tool volume isn’t low value.
Personal Injury Keywords Work When Each List Has Its Own Page Type
Personal injury keywords work best as two lists. The commercial list tells a firm which service and location pages to build. The question list tells it which informational pages to write, in the words clients actually use.
Kept apart, neither list decides the whole site.
Lexicon Legal Content builds personal injury pages and blog posts from both lists through its law firm content writing service. Call 877-486-8123 or contact us online to plan yours.
David Arato, JD is the founder of Lexicon Legal Content, an attorney-owned legal content marketing agency serving law firms since 2012. Lexicon has written personal injury practice pages and blog posts for firms across North America. David is a frequent contributor to Attorney at Law Magazine and Attorney at Work and a recurring guest on legal marketing podcasts.
