Bell Legal Group was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Georgetown, South Carolina. This firm touts itself as “The Science Law Firm” because of its dedication to evidence-based cases.
The law firm’s practice areas encompass a wide range of areas, including product liability, personal injury, medical malpractice, and mass torts, notably the Camp Lejeune water contamination and AFFF litigation.
1. The Business Challenge
Bell Legal asked our agency to improve the firm’s brand awareness and increase lead quality ahead of the upcoming mass torts involving Camp Lejeune and AFFF. We were confident that organic, non-branded SEO could effectively address these requests.
Before our engagement, the site had fewer than a dozen keywords reaching the top 10, and many of those were not directly related to the firm’s core services. Our mission was to double the site’s non-branded keywords ranking in the top 10, boosting the firm’s visibility and reeling in qualified leads.
The problem Bell Legal faced was that the target litigation hadn’t yet hit mainstream media, so the audience wasn’t yet searching for legal solutions. Rather than see this as a roadblock, we considered it an opportunity to prepare and establish content to lead the charge, beating other firms to the punch.
2. Insight & Strategy
Keyword volume, or a lack of it, presented a challenge. The practice area the firm wanted to target didn’t—and likely wouldn’t—exist until the litigation was active. Essentially, we targeted an audience that wasn’t yet searching for our client’s solutions. Each mass tort litigation impacted thousands, so we knew there was a large potential audience—we just had to find a way to forge the connection.
3. Creative Solution
We used the lack of search volume to explore new keyword tactics. Instead of targeting existing queries, we needed to anticipate search and develop high-quality content related to potential questions. This departure from traditional search engine optimization, which typically relies on search volume, required forecasting search queries and then creating a library of polished, interesting, and informative content to do the heavy lifting.
The first piece for Camp Lejeune was an ATSDR Cancer Incidence study post. We let the strength of the topic drive the audience. We discovered that we didn’t need to wait for keyword volume to forge ahead when we anticipated what searchers would ask and provided relevant content to satisfy their queries.
The ATSDR Cancer Incidence post boiled down complex scientific evidence into easy-to-digest content, helping to connect the dots for those experiencing illnesses after living or working at Camp Lejeune. Publishing a recap of this study early established Bell Legal as a resource for Camp Lejeune survivors and also reinforced the firm’s dedication to science-based evidence.
The next pieces in this campaign focused on forging human connections, illustrating pain points, and providing answers through relatable evergreen content. We predicted keywords and composed a series of pieces that featured Camp Lejeune survivors’ stories. Law firms hadn’t yet used this candid an approach for this litigation. Our social team then had content to share across the firm’s channels, helping to get these legal topics into the mainstream consciousness. As awareness grew, search volume followed—and our client was the leading resource.
4. Execution
We published 77 blog posts over 8 practice areas and created or optimized several landing pages. These website improvements help us surpass our ranking goals and establish the firm as an authority in several legal spaces.
5. Results & Impact
The law firm saw an increase in users, clicks, downloads, and impressions, outlined below:
- 257% increase in top 3 positions YoY | +59 YoY | 82 – exceeded our objective to double non-branded keywords ranked in top 10
- 393% increase in top 10 positions YoY | +210 YoY | 276 – exceeded our objective to double non-branded keywords ranked in top 10
- 21% increase in users YoY | +472 YoY | 2,755 – noteworthy boost in traffic to website
- 6,100% increase in PDF downloads YoY
- 242% increase in clicks YoY
- 568% increase in impressions YoY
- Appeared in more than 200 SERP Features
Sources: GA-4, Search Console, and SEMrush
This marketing campaign is shortlisted for the 2025 US Search Awards for Best Use of Content Marketing.
6. Why It Matters / Lessons Learned
While we’ve long believed in a people-first, keyword-second mentality, the success we found using anticipated queries versus search volume alone has proven that prioritizing users is the right direction. Consistently producing relevant evergreen content to supplement litigation updates and announcements drove steady traffic and clicks, resulting in Bell Legal becoming a go-to resource.
7. Supporting Materials
Non-Branded Top Ten Keywords:
Source: SEMrush
Source: Search Console
The Bell Legal blog features a robust library of topics, from legal explanations to narrative-style posts and litigation updates, to connect with readers and highlight various practice areas.
Posts for this client frequently earn spots in AI Overviews. The evergreen content below is a continuous source of traffic for the firm.
