LOCAL BENCHMARK · SPARSE
Legal in Des Moines, IA.
Every business below was observed on Google Maps for "personal injury lawyer" targeted at Des Moines. Review counts, ratings, and ranks are from the IMPIOUS benchmark snapshot (internal benchmark, Apr 2026).
MEDIAN REVIEWS — TOP 3
38
P25 — MIN TO COMPETE
26
AVG RATING — TOP 3
4.65
DENSITY TIER
SPARSE
TOP-3 MEDIAN REFERRING DOMAINS
715.5
TOP-3 MEDIAN DFS RANK
239
AI MENTIONS — TOP 3 CITED
2 / 3
AI PLATFORMS
GPT
| # | BUSINESS | REVIEWS | RATING | REF. DOMAINS | AI CITED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers | 69 | 5.0★ | 2009 | — |
| 1 | Bandstra Law Firm | 26 | 4.5★ | 172 | — |
| 1 | Clark & Sears Law, PLLC | 37 | 4.9★ | 324 | — |
| 1 | BrownWinick Law Firm | 38 | 4.3★ | 868 | — |
| 2 | The Kryder Law Group, LLC Accident and Injury Lawyers | 45 | 5.0★ | 1389 | — |
| 2 | Cordell & Cordell | Family Law & Divorce | 54 | 3.6★ | 1658 | — |
| 2 | Lucas Taylor, Criminal Defense Lawyer | 25 | 4.7★ | 54 | — |
| 2 | Law Office of Van M Plumb | 26 | 4.7★ | — | cited |
| 3 | Morgan & Morgan | 352 | 4.7★ | 7882 | — |
| 3 | Danni J. Harris | 2 | 5.0★ | 563 | — |
| 3 | Law Office of Thomas Hurd, PLC | 57 | 4.8★ | — | cited |
| 3 | JDJ Law Firm PLLC | 27 | 4.6★ | 47 | — |
| 4 | Law Group of Iowa - Personal Injury Lawyers - 24/7 Call Answering | 92 | 4.6★ | — | — |
| 4 | Family Law Solutions of Iowa, LLC | 143 | 4.3★ | — | — |
| 4 | Vogel Law, PLLC | 111 | 4.7★ | — | — |
| 4 | Hartung Schroeder LLP | 10 | 4.9★ | — | — |
| 5 | Carpenter Law Firm | 232 | 5.0★ | — | — |
| 5 | Stange Law Firm, PC | 19 | 3.2★ | — | — |
| 5 | Branstad and Olson Law Office | 84 | 4.7★ | — | — |
| 5 | WLF PC | 0 | 0.0★ | — | — |
Market read
Des Moines legal ranks as SPARSE density, yet top-3 firms maintain median review counts of 38 with 4.65 average ratings (internal benchmark, Apr 2026). A notable gap emerges: despite strong review metrics, top-3 Google Business Profile completeness averages only 53/100, suggesting incomplete optimization even among leaders. Review velocity runs 2.25 monthly across the pack, while spam rates hit 33%, indicating competitive noise. Top-3 firms command median 715.5 referring domains with DFS ranks near 239, and AI systems cite 2 of the top-3 when queried for personal injury counsel. For a p25-tier firm at 26 reviews, closing the gap requires sustained review generation, profile completion, and domain authority accumulation—the fundamentals that separate established players from emerging competitors.
See "The Review Gap Is Smaller Than Everyone Thinks" for the cross-city pattern and "What the Top-3 Actually Have on Their Backlink Profile" for the backlink + AI-citation breakdown.