Martindale-Hubbell ads claim its lawyers.com directory has the ‘Best Lawyers?’
Sure looks that way in Martindale-Hubbell’s Google ads for their consumer and small business lawyer’s directory, lawyers.com. Doing a search for the Best Lawyers directory, here’s what I found at the top of the Google’s first page.
Martindale-Hubbell is buying sponsored links from Google so that when someone searches Best Lawyers, their lawyers.com directory under the heading ‘Best Lawyers’ appears at the top of Google’s search results. Doesn’t happen on every search for Best Lawyers, but it’s in the Google ad rotation as of Monday night.
Martindale-Hubbell has been a legacy product. It’s been the standard bearer as far as lawyer directories. Martindale’s peer reviewed ratings is the ratings system we all grew up with as lawyers. Now they are promoting a directory which is open to any lawyer who purchases a listing in lawyers.com as having the best lawyers? In an effort to beat out the Best Lawyers directory when Best Lawyers is searched for at Google?
The Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers lists have historically been subtly dismissed without mention by Martindale in Martindale’s surveys claiming it to be the most trusted lawyer directory by far and away. Martindale may not have dissed these lists openly, but there’s no question the company has enjoyed the legal communities perception Martindale was above the fray of lists claiming to have the ‘best’ or ‘super’ lawyers.
But now we have Martindale buying ads at Google, the number one place where consumers look for lawyers, to get a sponsored link for ‘Best Lawyers’ on top of Google’s organic search results for the Best Lawyers directory. And any reasonable consumer seeing the ad would conclude Martindale is claiming to have the best lawyers in its lawyers.com directory.
Martindale would be better served by going back to its roots. It’s what brung you. Claim that you are the legacy directory of choice, the directory that’s above the fray of claiming to have the best lawyers. Claiming to have the ‘best lawyers’ is fraught with peril for Martindale.
Will lawyers have ethical concerns about being listed in a directory now claiming to have the best lawyers when there is no review of the lawyers included in lawyers.com? Will state governing bodies attempt to sanction or limit the use of lawyers.com because of its new claim like has happened in New Jersey with Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers.
No, Martindale hasn’t bought ads claiming it’s lawyers.com lawyers are ‘Super Lawyers.’ And don’t be surprised if Martindale drops its ads claiming lawyers.com has the ‘Best Lawyers.’