Lawyers check everything. The bundle, the limitation date, the signature block on the final page. Yet when a firm hands its online visibility to an outside partner, it often settles for a glossy monthly deck and a reassuring line: things are moving in the right direction. Six months later the managing partner starts asking questions. The invoices have been paid, but is the firm actually receiving more instructions from people who did not already know it? Nobody can quite say.
This guide sets out a straightforward way for a law firm to check whether its partner is doing what it promised. No technical knowledge is needed. You simply look at the right evidence at the right intervals.
What a partner can honestly promise
Before checking, be clear about what is reasonable to demand. A serious partner commits to what it controls: what it puts live on your behalf, by when, and transparent measurement of the outcome. It cannot promise what Google or an AI assistant decides, a number of new clients, or a date by which your firm will be the first name mentioned.
If your contract contains nothing but bold outcome promises and no delivery commitments, there is nothing to audit, and that is a warning sign in itself. Our guide on promises that sound too good to be true explains why they should worry you.
Check one: a dated report every week
A well-run firm keeps a record of work done on every matter. Your partner should do the same. The weekly report should tell you, with dates, what has gone live since the last report and how your presence is developing.
Read it with three questions in mind.
- Is it dated and regular? A report that arrives when the agency remembers, or covers the quarter in broad strokes, gives you nothing to check.
- Does it describe verifiable facts? You should be able to click through and see that what is reported actually exists.
- Does it reflect your practice areas? A firm focused on employment disputes, commercial property or immigration should see that focus in the report, not generic activity that could belong to any business.
For a fuller picture of what good reporting looks like, read what a visibility report should show.
Check two: figures in your own tools
This is the most important control and the one most often skipped. The numbers behind your visibility should sit in your own Google tools, starting with a Search Console property registered to the firm. Your partner has access; the firm owns it.
Why does it matter? Because a figure copied into a slide or pasted as a screenshot cannot be verified. A figure you look up yourself, whenever you like, cannot be dressed up. And if you ever change partner, the history stays with you.
Once a month, spend ten minutes with whoever in the practice is most comfortable with software. Check whether the number of people seeing the firm in Google results is rising, and whether visits to your site are following the same direction. Compare with the previous month and with your starting point. You do not need to interpret every detail; the trend is what counts.
Check three: the enquiries you actually receive
Visibility is only worth something if it turns into consultations. This is where the firm has to play its part, because your partner cannot see your diary or your intake system.
Build one simple habit. At every first contact, ask how the person found the firm, and record the answer alongside the new matter. Separate referrals from other lawyers or existing clients, people who found you through a Google search, those who say an AI assistant pointed them your way, and those who cannot remember.
After three months, that column is worth more than any report. If business owners, people facing a dispute or families dealing with an estate start contacting you without a referral, something is working. If nothing changes despite rising visibility, the bottleneck may be elsewhere: response times, how calls are handled at reception, or how clearly your practice areas are explained.
Warning signs
A few situations call for a direct conversation without delay.
- The partner will not give you access to your own tools, or set them up in its own name.
- Reports are irregular, undated, or switch metrics from one month to the next.
- You are told about invisible groundwork for months, with nothing you can verify.
- The partner cannot name your practice areas or the courts and cities you work in.
- There is no measured review planned in the first few months.
All of this can be tested before you sign, with the right questions. Our guide to the questions a law firm should ask before signing gives you the list.
How Traffic Engine is built to be checked
Traffic Engine, Kolonell's visibility service, is designed to be auditable. You receive a dated report every week. Results are tracked in your own Search Console. There is a measured review at three months. And the guarantee covers what Kolonell controls: what your plan includes goes live on schedule, or the following month is free. Kolonell applied the approach to its own website first, and those curves are published on the offer page, refreshed daily.
It begins with a Visibility Audit at $750, deducted from the setup if you start within 30 days, followed by a monthly plan from $1,200 on a 12-month commitment. Prices in other currencies are on the page. See the offer and its commitments.
What to do this month
If you already work with a partner, ask today for access to your Search Console and for the exact reporting schedule. Add the question about how clients found you to your intake process. In three months, you will know whether the investment is working for the firm.