How to Analyze Your Law Firm’s Google My Business Competitors
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Stop guessing why a competitor is ranking #1 on Google Maps. Use this 33-point checklist to reverse engineer what they’re doing — and do it better.
Why This Matters
When it comes to local SEO for lawyers, most firms either:
– Focus only on reviews
– Ignore GMB optimization
– Or just throw more money at ads hoping to outrank competitors
But here’s the thing — your competitors are already giving you the playbook. You just need to look.
We’ve been using this GMB Competitor Analysis Checklist to help small law firms punch way above their weight.
Here’s How We Analyze a Competitor (and Find the Gaps)
We break it down into 4 strategic categories:
1. Google My Business Essentials
- Business Name: Are they stuffing keywords?
- Main & Additional Categories: Are you matching the right ones?
- Description: Is it keyword-optimized?
- Services/Products: Are they added and detailed?
- Photos & Videos: How fresh and relevant are they?
{Pro tip: Firms with active posts, FAQs, and media uploads tend to rank higher. Google sees activity as relevance.}
2. Reviews & Activity
- Number of Reviews
- Frequency of Reviews (Last Review Date)
- Third-party review sites mentioned
- Last Post Date on GMB
- Posting frequency
- FAQs added and last updated
Active engagement beats static profiles every time. You’re not just competing on quantity — you’re competing on freshness.
3. Website & SEO
- Does the landing page have keywords in the H1?
- Number of H tags used properly?
- Is the page fast on mobile and desktop?
- Is Local Schema Markup implemented?
- Does the content match user intent?
Example: If their landing page loads in 2 seconds and yours takes 6, you’re already losing.
4. Authority & Traffic Signals
- Are they running Google Ads?
- Do they get branded traffic?
- How many referring domains do they have?
- What’s their domain authority?
- Any backlinks from legal directories or niche sites?
What You Can Do Right Now
- Pick your top 3 Google Maps competitors
- Plug them into this checklist
- Compare against your own GBP and landing page
- Make the obvious upgrades (especially categories, review cadence, page speed, and content)
We Used This Checklist for a Business Lawyer & got massive success 👇 👇
