A mid-sized personal injury law firm in Chicago was struggling to compete against larger firms with established SEO presences. After 9 months of strategic .edu backlink acquisition, they achieved a 520% increase in organic traffic and broke into the top 10 for their primary keyword.
Client Overview
The client is a 12-attorney personal injury firm based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 2008, they specialize in auto accidents, medical malpractice, and workplace injuries. Prior to working with us, they relied heavily on paid advertising and referrals for client acquisition.
| Metric | Before Campaign | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Firm Size | 12 attorneys | Mid-sized for Chicago market |
| Annual Revenue | $4.2M | Below industry average per attorney |
| Domain Age | 14 years | Established but underperforming |
| Domain Authority | 28 | Low for competitive legal space |
| Organic Traffic | 1,850/month | Minimal compared to competitors |
| Primary Keyword Rank | #45 | "Chicago personal injury lawyer" |
Challenges
The Chicago personal injury market is one of the most competitive legal SEO landscapes in the country. The client faced several significant challenges:
Competition
- Top 10 competitors had DA 50-75
- Top competitors had 500-2,000 referring domains
- Several competitors running aggressive link building campaigns
- Large firms with dedicated SEO teams and budgets
Historical Issues
- Previous SEO agency used low-quality directory links
- Some over-optimized anchor text from past campaigns
- Limited content investment historically
- No .edu or .gov backlinks in profile
Competitive Analysis
Strategy & Approach
Our strategy focused on building authority through high-quality .edu placements from law schools and universities with legal programs. The approach had three pillars:
1. Target Selection
We identified 45 universities with:
- Accredited law schools or pre-law programs
- Student legal aid clinics with resource pages
- Personal injury or tort law research centers
- Career services pages for law students
2. Content Strategy
We created linkable assets that universities would genuinely want to reference:
- Comprehensive guide to Illinois personal injury law (8,500 words)
- Statistical analysis of Chicago accident data (with visualizations)
- Career resource for aspiring personal injury attorneys
- Pro bono information portal for law students
3. Outreach Methodology
- Personalized outreach to faculty and resource page managers
- Emphasis on educational value, not commercial benefit
- Follow-up cadence of 7-14-21 days
- Success rate of approximately 18%
Implementation
The campaign ran for 9 months with the following link acquisition schedule:
| Month | Links Acquired | Source Types | Avg. DR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | 2 | Law school resources | 72 |
| Month 2 | 1 | University career center | 68 |
| Month 3 | 2 | Legal clinic page, faculty blog | 75 |
| Month 4 | 1 | Pre-law program resources | 65 |
| Month 5 | 2 | Research center, student org | 70 |
| Month 6 | 1 | Law library resources | 78 |
| Month 7 | 2 | Alumni resources, career services | 71 |
| Month 8 | 1 | Legal aid clinic | 66 |
| Month 9 | 2 | Faculty research, student resources | 73 |
Total links acquired: 14 editorial .edu placements with an average DR of 71.
Results
Before Campaign (Month 0)
After Campaign (Month 9)
Revenue Impact
Organic Traffic Growth Over 9 Months
Timeline Breakdown
Months 1-3: Foundation
- 5 .edu links acquired and indexed
- DA increased from 28 to 33
- Primary keyword moved from #45 to #32
- Traffic increased 51% to 2,800/month
Months 4-6: Acceleration
- 4 additional .edu links (9 total)
- DA reached 40
- Primary keyword broke into top 20 (#18)
- Traffic reached 4,900/month (+165%)
- Secondary keywords began ranking
Months 7-9: Breakthrough
- 5 final .edu links (14 total)
- DA reached 47
- Primary keyword hit #8 (top 10!)
- Traffic reached 11,470/month (+520%)
- 28 keywords now in top 10
Key Learnings
Key Takeaways
- Law school links are particularly powerful. Links from accredited law school resource pages carried exceptional weight.
- Content quality determines outreach success. Our 8,500-word IL injury law guide secured 5 links on its own.
- Competitive gaps can be exploited. Identifying that competitors lacked .edu links provided clear opportunity.
- Patience is required but rewarded. Months 1-3 showed modest gains; months 7-9 delivered breakthrough results.
- ROI in legal is exceptional. High case values mean even modest traffic gains produce significant revenue.