SEO for law firms

Law firm SEO that brings in cases, not just rankings.

Law firm SEO is the work that gets your firm found when someone searches for a lawyer for their kind of problem, in their area, often in a hurry. Done properly, it means practice-area pages Google can trust with legal topics, location pages for offices you really have, a Google Business Profile set up the way Google’s rules require, and reviews earned and answered without breaking your professional rules. We do all of it for firms in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, and we report from your own data, so you see enquiries and consultations, not just positions.

What law firm SEO covers

Practice-area pagesThe searches that bring cases
Location pagesReal offices, no doorway pages
Google Business ProfileFirm and lawyer listings
ReviewsEarned and answered safely

Trust

Why does Google hold law firm websites to a higher standard?

Because legal topics are what Google calls “Your Money or Your Life” content: information that can affect someone’s finances, freedom or family. Its guidance on helpful content and its quality rater guidelines ask who wrote a page, whether they have real experience and expertise, and whether the page is accurate and trustworthy. A practice-area page that reads like generic marketing copy, or promises outcomes no careful lawyer would, works against you.

So we write legal content the way a careful lawyer would explain it to a client: who the page is for, how the process works, what it may cost, what the time limits and risks are, and when to get advice. Each page names the lawyer who reviewed it, with their admission or registration, and a date it was last reviewed. It is more work than buying generic articles, and it is the kind of page that keeps ranking after core updates.

What we do

What does law firm SEO actually involve?

Most of a firm’s new enquiries from search come from three places on Google: the map results, the ordinary results for practice-area searches, and increasingly the AI answers above both. Law firm SEO works on all three.

Practice-area pagesA useful page for each matter you want more of, reviewed by the lawyer who handles it.

Location pagesOne page per office you staff, written for that place, not a city name swapped into a template.Learn more →

Google Business ProfileCategories, hours, photos and the firm-versus-lawyer listing setup Google allows.

Technical healthSpeed, mobile, indexing and LegalService structured data so Google understands the firm.Learn more →

ReviewsA steady way to earn genuine reviews, and replies that never reveal client confidences.Learn more →

AI searchClear answers and consistent details so AI assistants can describe and recommend you.Learn more →

Location pages

How do you build city and practice-area pages without doorway pages?

By making every page earn its place. Google’s spam policies name doorway pages: many similar pages built to rank for each city or variation, all funnelling to the same place. Law firms are a classic case, with hundreds of near-identical “car accident lawyer in [town]” pages. They can be ignored, or drag down the whole site.

Our rule is simple. A location page exists for each office you staff, with its own address, team, directions, hours and local detail such as the courts or tribunals that office deals with. A practice-and-place page exists only where you have something specific to say, such as how a matter works in that state or province, which court it goes to, or local rules that change the process. Where you serve a wider area from one office, we say so on one strong page instead of inventing a page per town.

Google Business Profile

Should each lawyer have their own Google Business Profile?

Often, yes, but only in the way Google’s guidelines allow. Google treats lawyers as individual practitioners, so a lawyer who sees clients can have a profile of their own. A firm with several lawyers should have one profile for each office and, if you want them, separate profiles for individual lawyers. A solo lawyer who practices under a firm brand shares one profile, named in the format Google sets out: firm, then lawyer.

What gets law firm profiles suspended is well known: keywords in the business name, a profile for each practice area, extra profiles for one office, and virtual or shared-office addresses where nobody meets clients during the listed hours. We set the structure up correctly, choose the primary category with you, and fill in services, hours, languages, accessibility details and photos so the profile answers questions before people call.

Keywords

Which searches bring new clients to a law firm?

Not all searches are equal. A firm gets the best return from searches closest to hiring a lawyer, and from practice areas most competitors cover badly.

Search type	Example	What wins it
Near me / local	family lawyer near me, solicitors in [town]	A complete Google Business Profile, reviews and a strong office page
Urgent	criminal lawyer 24 hour, arrested what to do	Accurate hours, an urgent-help page and a call button that works
Practice area	personal injury lawyer [city], conveyancing solicitors [town]	A detailed practice-area page with the fee basis, process and the lawyers who handle it
Cost	how much does a divorce lawyer cost, conveyancing fees	Real fee information: SRA price pages in England and Wales, fee guides elsewhere
Questions	how long does probate take, can I sue my employer	Lawyer-reviewed articles that answer the question honestly, with the time limits

Reviews

What are the rules on asking for and replying to reviews?

There are two sets: Google’s, and your profession’s. Google’s review policy bans paying or rewarding people for reviews and bans asking only happy clients. Your professional rules can go further. In the US, Model Rule 7.2 limits giving anything of value for a recommendation, so a gift card for a review is a risk twice over. In Quebec, testimonials cannot be used in advertising at all, and in the UK, consumer law now bans fake reviews and hidden incentives.

Replies are where firms get caught out. The ABA’s Formal Opinion 496 says a lawyer may not reveal client information when answering a negative online review, and the same duty of confidentiality applies under the SRA Code and Canadian and Australian conduct rules. A safe reply thanks the reviewer, does not confirm they were a client or discuss their matter, and invites them to contact the firm. We write reply templates with you and build a simple routine for asking every client, at the right moment, for an honest review.

Structured data

What structured data should a law firm website use?

Structured data tells Google exactly what your firm is. Schema.org’s LegalService type is the one to use for each office. The older Attorney type is marked as deprecated in favor of LegalService, which many firm sites still have not caught up with.

Property	What it tells Google
@type: LegalService	This is a legal practice, and a local business, at this address
address, geo, telephone	Where each office is and how to call it, matching your Google Business Profile exactly
openingHoursSpecification	Your real hours, including any 24/7 line
areaServed	The cities, states or provinces you serve
knowsAbout / hasOfferCatalog	Your practice areas, matching your practice-area pages
Person (for each lawyer)	Name, job title, worksFor, alumniOf and memberOf for the bar or law society, linked to their profile page

Google does not show review stars for reviews a business hosts about itself, so we do not add self-serving review markup.

Choosing an agency

How do you choose a law firm SEO company?

Ask questions that separate real work from reports. Who will own your Google Business Profile, website and content if you leave? (It should be you.) Who writes and reviews practice-area content, and does a lawyer at your firm sign it off? Will you see calls, forms and consultations, or only rankings? Does the agency know your bar, SRA or law society advertising rules? How many near-identical city pages does it plan to build? And how long is the contract, and why?

Be wary of guaranteed first-page or number-one rankings, of bought or incentivized reviews, of extra listings for one office, and of shared “exclusive” lead programs you do not control. Each can leave a firm worse off than before. With us you own every account, page and report, and our reports come from your own data.

How it works

How does law firm SEO work with us?

01AuditProfile, site, rankings and competitors in your area.

02FixListings, technical issues and structured data.

03BuildPractice-area and office pages, reviewed by your lawyers.

04GrowReviews, content and reporting from your own data.

FAQ

Questions we get asked

How long does law firm SEO take to work?

Fixes to your Google Business Profile and site can show in weeks; new practice-area and office pages usually take a few months to build momentum. Legal searches are among the most competitive, so it depends on your area and where you start from. The audit tells you honestly.

How much does law firm SEO cost?

It depends on the number of offices, practice areas and how competitive your market is. We give you a quote after the audit, so you know exactly what the work includes before you commit.

Can you guarantee first-page rankings?

No, and nobody honest can. Google decides rankings. What we can promise is the work: a sound site, a correct profile, trustworthy pages and reporting that shows what is changing.

Do you write legal blog posts?

Yes, but only articles that answer questions your clients actually ask, drafted by us and reviewed by a lawyer at your firm. Generic legal blog posts rarely bring in cases.

Can you do SEO for several offices or states?

Yes. Each staffed office gets its own Google Business Profile, office page and reporting, and pages for each state or province reflect the rules there.

Will SEO help with AI search, like ChatGPT and Google’s AI answers?

Yes. The same foundations, clear and consistent firm details, trustworthy practice-area pages and genuine reviews, are what AI assistants rely on. See AI search optimization.

Do we need a new website for law firm SEO?

Not always. If your current site is fast, secure and easy to edit, we work with it. If it holds you back, we can rebuild it. See law firm website design.

Something else on your mind? Ask us directly →

Keep exploring

Related services

Law firm website designSites that win clients.Explore →

Local SEOShow up in your area.Explore →

Reviews & reputationMore genuine reviews.Explore →

Let’s talk about your project.

A free 30-minute call with the people who would do the work. No obligation, no sales script.