Stop wasting $1600/month on local SEO if you're a specialized law firm

Found a post on my forum that's going to ruffle some feathers, but someone needs to say it: traditional local SEO is bleeding specialized law firms dry, and here's a $38,400 lesson why. Quick background: Immigration attorney was spending $1600/month for 2 years on the usual local SEO package (you know the one - GBP optimization, citations, the works). Meanwhile, their PI lawyer buddy was crushing it with the exact same playbook. Same strategy, wildly different results. Why? Here's the kicker: Their actual client data showed people weren't searching "immigration lawyer + [city]" at all. They were: - Punching in "H1B appeal deadline" in Mandarin - Searching "marriage visa process 2025" in Spanish - Looking for actual immigration answers, not lawyer listings The solution was stupid simple: 70% multilingual content solving specific visa problems 20% basic local presence (because yes, you still need it) 10% technical stuff If you're still selling cookie-cutter local SEO to specialized law firms, you're part of the problem. These practices need industry-specific strategies, not another citation package. But hey, change my mind - show me recent data where traditional local SEO is actually working for specialized law firms. Not the generalists, not the PI firms, but the specialists.