Should old law firm articles be deleted?
Many can be retired or moved. Articles by lawyers who have left can go, and current lawyers' articles can be attached to their biography pages, with the old URLs 301 redirected.
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Why the insights section on your law firm website probably isn’t worth what you’re spending on it
Usually not, in its current form. In one large firm the insights section had 2,631 indexed pages and accounted for 1.3% of page views over five months, 0.6% on the US site, with podcast pages at 215 views and videos at 48. Clients use law firm websites for services, sectors, lawyer biographies and contact details, well ahead of articles. Move most articles onto the author's biography, keep a small curated section, or invest properly in distribution for an audience that genuinely exists.
What do the numbers show about law firm insights sections?
A lot of pages and very little use. The pattern in the law firm insights sections I have audited is the same: around two thousand pages, about one per cent of traffic, podcasts in single-digit views and videos in the dozens. In one large firm the section had 2,631 indexed pages and, over five months, accounted for 1.3% of total page views, 0.6% on the US version of the site; podcast pages had 215 views and videos 48 in those five months. The content is produced because thought leadership has long been called good for the brand, the CMS makes adding pages easy, and page count is easier to report than page quality.
What do clients actually use a law firm website for?
Across the persona exercises I have run with law firms, three of them, the same priorities surface in roughly the same order: the services the firm offers, the sectors it works in, the biographies of the lawyers they will work with, and contact details. Articles, thought leadership downloads, podcasts and videos come well below, and in some research articles barely register. Most law firm thought leadership is being produced for a different audience from the one reading the site.
Who is the insights section really for?
In most firms, partners. It exists because partners want their names on articles for credibility, directory submissions, personal brand and internal standing, the marketing team writes what partners ask for, and nothing takes old articles down. None of that is wrong: partners need credentials and directories reward published work. But those articles belong on partners' LinkedIn profiles, where they get distribution, and attached to their biography pages, rather than as separate indexed pages written as currency in an internal economy.
What can a firm do instead?
Three options. Move most existing articles onto the author's biography page and 301 redirect the old URLs, so the site has fewer indexed pages, richer biographies and partners keep their byline. Keep a small curated section of perhaps twenty strong, current pieces, run like a magazine rather than an archive, so the answer to "where is my article?" is "on your biography page, where the readers are". Or, if the firm has a real audience for content such as regulatory updates for in-house counsel, invest properly in email lists, landing pages, segmentation and distribution; half-hearted thought leadership with no distribution is the worst of both.
How should a firm judge whether its insights section pays?
By cost against return. Editorial, design and partner time, agency hours, hosting, indexing, CMS load and reporting add up, and most law firms are spending mid five figures a year on a section driving 1% of their traffic. If it were a campaign, you would stop it, and it is worth asking why it continues.
Related evidence: How a mid size regional UK law firm grew online enquiries by 190% without rebuilding their website. Earlier in this journey: The four things people actually do on a law firm website.
Questions people ask
Where do partners' articles get the most engagement?
On their LinkedIn profiles, where they get distribution, rather than as standalone pages on the firm's website.
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