Will Google offer better search of lawyer directories than lawyer directory websites themselves?
If you watch Google closely, one of the recent changes you've see is that when Google displays organizations and directories on the search results pages, it's allowing a search of the subject website without having to click to the website.
Look at the below example for the Super Lawyers lawyer directory.
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Internet users would not need to go to the Super Lawyers website to search for a lawyer. If I'm looking for an environmental lawyer in New York who went to Harvard, I just enter 'environmental lawyer New York Harvard' in the 'search superlawyers.com' box at Google.
Here's the first three results displayed - right in the Google interface without going to Super Lawyers - and in a fraction of a second. When I click on the result I go directly to the lawyer's page in the directory, skipping the website home page and any interim search pages.
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Expect the Martindale-Hubbell, Avvo, and FindLaw lawyer directories to be next in line for the Google treatment.
What's the implication? For Internet users, there may be advantages. No limited text fields or 'drop-downs' for search such as by practice area and location, the type of things Martindale-Hubbell requires.
Google's search will allow us to do a search for exactly what we want - like I just did for the Harvard environmental lawyer in New York. I could have added an association or two that I wanted the lawyer to belong to limiting my results further. I'm not sure searches at lawyer directory sites themselves would allow me to do that level of search.
For lawyers, it may be great. People can search for someone matching my background and find me immediately. That's impossible if I'm displayed in a Martindale-like directory as one of 165 lawyers in an area of practice in a locale.
For lawyer directories? I think they'll be uneasy allowing Internet users to search their data without going to the directory's website. No adds displayed. No fancy user interfaces with pictures and the like. No branding of the directory. Lots of confusion with lawyers asking directory salespeople questions.
Where do you see this headed? See advantages for people looking for lawyers? See advantages for lawyers?
For you readers employed at legal directories - Martindale-Hubbell, FindLaw, Avvo, & Super Lawyers - what do you think of the development?
Google's site search has been around for a while (& is included in the Google toolbar), but this addition makes it much easier to use. It also bypasses the search functionality created by the destination sites you mention.
Savvy firms are going to start watching how they come up on those internal site searches, and craft accordingly. :)
This seems to be a good feature, in that it may help deliver the user directly to the page that is most relevant to fill their needs. However, the downside is that it takes away some of the user experience of being on the homepage of a site. As such, users might miss out on a special feature. In general this seems to keep the "experience" closer to Google and treats the sites more as data sources than destinations. Not terribly sure how I feel about it overall.
Maybe you could try criminal defense lawyers next time you need an example?
Will do Scott, looks like I am falling into trap of treating criminal defense lawyers as second class citizens - until I need one, God forbid.
But on a search of criminal defense lawyers at Super Lawyers on Google - seemed that Super Lawyers was not letting you into the club - at least from the results displayed.
I hadn't seen this, Kevin. Thanks for pointing it out. What is interesting is that the search box takes you to another google search results page, but it is all deep links into the superlawyers site. Why wouldn't they just send you to the search results page within superlawyers? Presumably this gives google a second shot at serving advertising and monetizing traffic that should have been going directly to superlawyers.
Mark
CEO, Avvo
www.avvo.com