Legal Services with Physical Location -- Utilize Service Areas Field?

[leigh.trask]

Hey Team!

Quick question. For a Legal Services business with a physical location, is it best practice to add service areas in nearby cities even though they have other physical locations in other parts of the county/city metro?

I’ve heard it go both way, and I want to make sure I’m providing up to date info.

Let me know when you can!

 

[CaribouFondue]

I don't know that industry, but some of the highest ranking profiles in my industry all set the service location to their city. This is for physical businesses with service only at their physical location.
I also expect it has basically zero impact, because in my test case where I changed it for our locations from no service location set, to the city, i saw basically zero impact on rankings.

 

[skill]

In order to make the right decision, you need to ask yourself a question:

Will the lawyer be able to accompany the client to their address or will it be an immediate legal consultation over the phone?

For this type of business, trust in the lawyers representing your company is crucial.

 

[JS Girard]

Generally speaking, I'd apply the same "be sensible" rule for service area added to a hybrid listing. You don't get overlapping area issues with those, but be mindful if you ever need to hide the address!

 

[bdlowery]

As far as I'm aware services areas on the GBP do not influence ranking at all. It's just a visual thing for your GBP.

 

[johnlavapie_SEO]

Based on this article from Sterling Sky - it is not a ranking factor. But just a visual: Does the Service Area in Your Google Business Profile Impact Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

If you do decide to add service areas - GBP Help advises to not extend farther than 2 hours of driving time:How to use a service area on Google for service-area & hybrid businesses - Google Business Profile Help

 

[JS Girard]

If you do decide to add service areas - GBP Help advises to not extend farther than 2 hours of driving time:How to use a service area on Google for service-area & hybrid businesses - Google Business Profile Help

At some point, if teh area is too large, Google just doesn't trace the limits and dumps a pin at the centroid.

 

[mattstephenskc]

As far as I'm aware services areas on the GBP do not influence ranking at all. It's just a visual thing for your GBP.

If it doesn't influence ranking within the service area, what's the point/benefit of using the service area function? Seeing an outline of the service area once (if) a searcher finds the listing seems of limited value. Some value, but far less than SERPs, because SERPs are king in legal services.

 

[mattstephenskc]

Based on this article from Sterling Sky - it is not a ranking factor. But just a visual: Does the Service Area in Your Google Business Profile Impact Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

If you do decide to add service areas - GBP Help advises to not extend farther than 2 hours of driving time:How to use a service area on Google for service-area & hybrid businesses - Google Business Profile Help

That GBP Help article basically just says that service area and hybrid businesses have to run ads to be competitive in SERPs throughout their defined service areas.

 

[bdlowery]

If it doesn't influence ranking within the service area, what's the point/benefit of using the service area function? Seeing an outline of the service area once (if) a searcher finds the listing seems of limited value. Some value, but far less than SERPs, because SERPs are king in legal services.

Does the Service Area in Your Google Business Profile Impact Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

Sterling Sky's Colan Nielsen tests whether setting a service area in your Google My Business listing affects your organic or maps ranking. Read on to find the scoop!

www.sterlingsky.ca

 

[mattstephenskc]

I have a variation on the OP question: for firms that have multiple offices in a metro region (14 miles apart) that straddles a state line (one downtown in the main city, one in the largest suburb on the other side of the state line), overlapping service areas is a definite thing IRL. A decent chunk of our audience would be closer to the office in the neighboring state. Our on-page content references the city in which the office is located. If distance from office address is key to local pack SERP performance, how would we optimize for the large segment of our audience that’s in the adjacent state or adjacent cities?