Top Tactics, Average Costs, & What to Avoid

What Is Law Firm SEO?

Law firm SEO is the process of optimizing a legal website to appear in unpaid search results and ultimately put your website in front of people searching for legal services. 

Law firm SEO includes:

• Technical SEO: Improving a website’s performance, crawlability, and indexability
• Local SEO: Optimizing for local search results and Google Maps
• Content creation: Publishing helpful content targeting industry topics and keywords
• Link building: Earning backlinks (links from other sites) to establish credibility 

In a 2025 iLawyer Marketing survey, 92% of respondents said they would use Google to hire a lawyer. So, it’s worth investing in search visibility because it can result in more leads for your business.

Does Law Firm SEO Work?

Yes, law firm SEO works best when you follow SEO best practices and customize the approach to your law firm’s expertise and audience.

Your strategy should reflect:

When done effectively, SEO can deliver benefits beyond site traffic. For example, Ruler Analytics found that organic SEO had the second-highest conversion rate (4.28%) among all marketing channels used by legal businesses.

SEO is a strong long-term investment, and we’ll cover the associated costs in this article. 

Foundations: Prepare Your Law Firm Website for SEO

The following SEO tactics focus on improving your website as a whole and increasing visibility for all pages.

Apply Technical SEO Basics for Law Sites

Technical SEO helps search engines and AI tools crawl, index, and understand your content, so they can show it for relevant queries.

Best practices include:

• Submitting an XML sitemap to Google listing your most important pages
• Using HTTPS to make your website more secure for users
• Improving page speed and load times to improve the user experience
• Adding schema markup (structured data) to provide more information about your content
• Fixing broken internal links and ensuring they point to relevant pages

To check your site for issues with any of the above technical factors, run a technical SEO audit. For example, here’s how to audit a law firm website for SEO using Semrush’s Site Audit tool:

1. Click “+ Create Project”
2. Enter your homepage URL, name the project, then click “Create Project”
3. Set your audit preferences 
4. Click “Start audit”

When the audit finishes, you’ll get a detailed report of your site’s health. Click the “Issues” tab to see what needs to be fixed. Then, click “Why and how to fix it” to address them.

Resolve errors and warnings first to start improving your visibility. 

Optimize for Mobile Devices and Speed

Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means it uses the mobile version of sites for displaying in search results. Plus, ensuring your site loads quickly on all devices is good for the overall user experience, which can impact search visibility. 

Start with responsive design, which adjusts website layout and elements to fit the user’s device (mobile, desktop, tablet).

For example, this law firm’s mobile and desktop versions may use the same text, buttons, and images. But the layout adapts to give a good user experience on each device. 

Beyond design, improve your mobile SEO by:

• Writing mobile-friendly content using short paragraphs, clear fonts, ample white space, etc.
• Avoiding intrusive pop-ups
• Compressing images and using mobile-friendly formats like WebP or AVIF
• Using a content delivery network (CDN) to speed up load times

Do Law-Specific Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of identifying the search terms your target audience uses and helps you decide which ones to create content around.

For example, Keyword Overview shows that “atv accident attorney” gets about 480 searches per month. 

A law firm can create content around this keyword to reach those searchers. 

The AVA Law Group, for example, published an article about ATV accidents to attract people searching for that topic. 

To find terms for your site, use the Keyword Magic Tool. Enter a relevant topic, your homepage URL, target location, and then click “Search.”

You’ll see a table of related keywords and key metrics, including:

• Keyword Intent: The purpose behind the search 
• Search Volume: The average number of monthly searches for that keyword over the past 12 months 
• Personal Keyword Difficulty (PKD %): How difficult it is for your website to rank on the first page for the keyword, based on your content and the competition level

Choose keyword with high search volume and low PKD % to maximize ranking potential and visibility. 

Also consider using the “Questions” tab to find long-tail terms that reflect the way searchers speak when interacting with AI tools like ChatGPT.

Only target topics your law firm has expertise in to ensure accuracy and maintain trust with potential clients.

Local Visibility: Dominate Your Regional Market

Local SEO helps your law firm appear in searches from people in your area who need legal services.

Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile (GBP) is a free listing that can qualify your law firm to appear in the Google Local Pack.

Your profile should give complete, accurate details and encourage potential clients to contact you. Like this law firm’s GBP:

After you create your GBP listing, follow these steps to optimize your Google Business Profile:

• Complete every section of your profile, so searchers have as much information as possible
• Use the Q&A section to answer common client questions
• Add high-quality images of your office, team, events, etc.
• Create GBP posts about news, awards, or community activities
• Ask satisfied clients to leave reviews

Get Local Directory Listings

Local directory listings are online mentions of your firm’s name, address, and phone number (NAP) that help to confirm your firm’s information. 

For example, this law firm’s Yelp Profile is a local directory listing.

Not all directories are high-quality. Focus on the major ones Google uses to verify your services and service areas. 

For a law firm, the major directories often include: 

• Google Business Profile (GBP): Your primary listing for local search visibility
• Bing Places for Business: Microsoft’s equivalent of GBP
• Yelp: Widely used for reviews and business discovery
• Avvo: A lawyer-specific directory and review platform
• FindLaw: A major legal directory and resource site
• Justia: Another high-traffic legal directory
• Lawyers.com:A directory run by Martindale-Hubbell, a long-standing legal resource
• Better Business Bureau (BBB): A recognized consumer trust platform
• Facebook Business Page: Social presence that also counts as a citation source
• Yellow Pages (YP.com): Traditional directory with online listings

Make sure all listings are consistent and up to date to build trust with clients. With Listing Management, you can check multiple directories at once. 

Issues appear in the “Status” column. You can update them manually or use Local Toolkit to make updates automatically from one dashboard.

Manage Online Reviews

Online reputation management that involves tracking and improving your firm’s reviews across multiple platforms can influence whether potential clients contact you. 

In a 2024 Thomson Reuters U.S. Consumer Legal Needs Survey, 82% of respondents said they read online reviews before reaching out to an attorney.

The powerful impact of reviews can tempt some businesses to purchase fake ones. But if you want to remain ethical, never buy fake reviews. And make sure to flag any you think might be fake.

Instead, manage reviews the right way:

• Ask satisfied clients to leave a review
• Respond to negative reviews, especially on high-traffic sites like Yelp and Facebook 
• Analyze your reviews for feedback and insight into your lead generation performance 

To save time, set up automated review responses in Review Management. This ensures negative reviews get an immediate, visible response. 

You’ll also receive alerts for new reviews, so you can monitor progress in real time.

Build Trust & Authority 

The tactics below strengthen your law firm’s credibility through content, backlinks, and schema markup. 

Create Client-Intent Content

Client intent (or search intent) is the reason someone searches for and engages with your brand. Content that matches the user’s intent improves their experience and increases the chance of conversion. 

The four main search intent types are: 

• Informational: The user wants information
• Navigational: The user is looking for a specific site or brand 
• Commercial: The user is comparing options before a purchase 
• Transactional: The user is ready to make a purchase or hire a service 

Use Keyword Overview to identify client intent. 

For example, “best lawyers” has commercial intent (the searcher is still in the research phase). Whereas “get a lawyer” has transactional intent (the searcher is ready to hire soon).

Match your content to the intent. For example, Baron & Associates does a great job of meeting informational intent in this article about the difference between a lawyer and an attorney.

Here’s how they’ve matched intent:

• The blog post explains the topic clearly at the top of the page 
• An FAQ answers related questions
• No intrusive pop-ups, submission forms, or call-to-action (CTA) buttons, which satisfies the user’s research-focused intent 

Build Quality Backlinks

Getting backlinks from other websites to your site is likely to improve your visibility in search engines and AI tools.

High-quality backlinks signal that your site is trustworthy. And local backlinks also show your prominence in your community. 

For example, Backlink Analytics shows that this top-ranking New York City law firm has 90,000 backlinks. 

And many of that firm’s backlinks come from regional and local publications, such as the New York Post and NYU School of Law. 

Some law firm SEO providers may encourage you to buy backlinks without telling you where the links are sourced. Avoid this. Low-quality or spammy links can harm your site’s credibility and raise ethical concerns. 

To earn backlinks properly:

• Sponsor or participate in local events
• Offer legal insights to journalists and writers in your field 
• Partner with other businesses 
• Create helpful guides or resources that other websites want to reference (and link to) 

For example, you can use this ChatGPT prompt to draft journalist emails:

“I’m a lawyer specializing in [insert area of law, e.g., employment law, corporate law, criminal defense, etc.], and I want to write a professional and approachable outreach email to a journalist or media contact. The goal is to let them know that I’m available to offer legal insights or commentary for future articles or reporting. 

Please write a concise, well-crafted email that introduces me, highlights my relevant expertise or credentials, and makes it clear that I’d be happy to be a legal resource for them. The tone should be friendly, helpful, and credible—without sounding overly self-promotional. Make it suitable for sending to reporters covering legal, business, or general news topics.​​”

Customize the prompt to fit your expertise and tone, and then edit the output before sending. Like this:

Consistent outreach builds relationships that can lead to future link opportunities.

Use Schema Markup for Law Firms

Schema markup is code that provides more information about your website’s content, and it can allow Google to display enhanced results (e.g., knowledge panels and rich snippets). 

For example, this law firm has a knowledge panel in search results showing key firm details. That firm uses Organization schema to support the knowledge panel. 

Appearing in rich snippets can improve your credibility and encourage more clicks to your site. 

To add schema to your site, generate the markup and add it to the relevant page on your site. 

Some good schema types for law firms include: 

• Local business schema: Includes your address, hours, and rating. Place this on your homepage for local visibility. 
• Organization schema: Includes your firm name, founders, and social profiles. Also best placed on the homepage.
• Profile page schema: Includes details about individual team members. Add to the lawyer profile pages. 

Law Firm SEO Costs and Return on Investment (ROI) in 2025

The ROI of SEO depends on two factors: your investment cost and the revenue SEO generates for your firm.

Here’s the formula for ROI: SEO ROI = ((return – investment)/ investment) x 100

In 2025, a study from Backlinko found that SEO costs $1,000 to $2,5000 per month.  

Factors that affect SEO pricing include: 

• Practice area: Highly competitive fields, like personal injury, may require larger budgets
• Location: Areas with competing law firms often have higher costs 
• Services provided: Advanced SEO strategies take more time and resources, increasing costs
• Type of provider: Agencies usually charge more than freelancers, and highly experienced providers may charge premium rates

SEO is often more cost-effective than other marketing channels, like PPC, and can deliver strong returns. For example, PageOne Power found that over four years, legal clients saw a three-year ROI between 423% and 642%, depending on the practice area. 

Staying Compliant: ABA Rules for Law Firm SEO

The American Bar Association (ABA) allows lawyers to promote their services in search engines.

However, ABA Model Rule 7.2 sets ethical standards for all online marketing. Do, use this checklist to ensure your SEO work remains compliant: 

• Use your firm’s official name, location, address, and phone number everywhere it appears online
• Clearly list the jurisdictions where you’re licensed to practice 
• Make sure meta tags are accurate and not misleading 
• Target local keywords only in areas where you have a physical office
• Avoid keywords unrelated to your practice areas or jurisdiction 
• Never write or buy fake reviews. Flag any you believe are fake.
• Avoid unsubstantiated claims (e.g., using “best” without evidence)
• Don’t get backlinks from low-quality or spammy sites, especially those with inaccurate content
• When building links, don’t offer financial incentives for partnerships

The Red Flag Detector: 8 Questions to Ask a Law Firm SEO Provider

If you choose an SEO company to run your search visibility work, make sure their methods follow both Google guidelines and ABA rules. 

Customer reviews, case studies, and awards can help assess credibility. But asking direct questions will reveal whether they follow best practices. 

If their answers don’t align with the rules above, consider looking elsewhere.

1. Keyword targeting: How do you decide which keywords make the most sense for my firm? 
2. Location targeting: How do you determine which areas I should focus on in search? 
3. Directory listings: Where will my firm’s information be listed online? 
4. Content creation: Who will be writing the content, and how do they make sure the legal details are correct?
5. Backlink strategy: How do you usually get other sites to link to your clients?
6. AI in content: Do you use AI in the process, and how do you make sure the final content is accurate and still fits my voice? 
7. Review generational: How do you help clients get more online reviews?
8. Overall approach: What’s your process for making sure everything we do follows industry and legal guidelines? 

Take Control of Your SEO with Semrush

If you want control over your attorney SEO, use the Semrush Local Toolkit to maintain accuracy, consistency, and compliance.

Start by checking your local listings to confirm all information is consistent and current. 

Then, use Semrush Local tools to strengthen your regional signals in the areas where you practice.