People don't search for "a lawyer". They search for a DUI lawyer near the courthouse at 11 pm, a divorce attorney who handles custody in their county, or a car accident lawyer who works on contingency. I build law firm websites around those real searches, one practice area at a time, within your state bar's advertising rules, and I measure success in signed cases, not traffic.
Every page is written to your state's advertising rules and approved by your attorneys before it goes live.
Each practice area is its own topic with its own searches. I map them in three layers: the practice area (personal injury), the case type (truck accidents), and the place (your county or city). Each search gets one page, and each page answers what that client needs to know before calling: how the process works in your state, what it costs, how long it takes and what to do first. City pages are written for that place, with its own courts and local details, never copies. This is the semantic SEO method behind all my work; more on my Semantic SEO page.
Every practice area is searched differently. Here is what changes for each one.
More on each industry I work in: Industries.
For most practice areas, the map pack decides who gets the call. I set up your Google Business Profiles the way Google's rules allow: one for the firm's location, and one for each public-facing attorney, named with their real name and no extra keywords, which is a common reason firms get suspended. Categories match your real practice areas. Your name, address and phone match everywhere, including legal directories. More: Local SEO.
Your website is advertising under your state bar's rules, which in most states are based on the ABA Model Rules. The core rule is simple: nothing false or misleading, even by leaving out a fact.
Every page names the responsible attorney and includes contact details, and goes live only after an attorney approves it.
Legal pages are held to Google's highest quality standard, because a wrong answer can cost someone their freedom, money or family. I build trust into every page:
Attorney bios with bar admissions, years in practice, education and real case experience.
An author and an attorney reviewer named on every guide, with a review date.
Your state bar number and jurisdiction where your rules require or allow it.
Clear contact details, office locations and hours.
Mentions of memberships, publications and speaking, linked to the source.
Reviews drive the map pack, and clients decide on them. They also carry rules. The FTC bans fake reviews and reviews that depend on being positive, and some state bars limit testimonials. So I set up a simple process: ask every client the same way at the end of their case, through one link, with no filtering, no rewards and no scripts. Steady reviews, a few each month, work better than bursts.
The strongest legal links come from places that already know you: bar associations, legal directories, local news, community groups, law schools and the organizations you support. I find and earn those, and pitch your attorneys as sources for local reporters. No link packages and no paid guest posts, because Google treats bought links as spam. More: Link Building.
Most legal searches happen on phones, often in a hurry. I fix speed, mobile layout, crawl and indexing problems, add accurate structured data for your firm and attorneys, and make sure calling or booking takes one tap from every page. More: Technical SEO.
People now ask ChatGPT and Google's AI Mode to recommend a lawyer. AI answers on legal topics are careful and lean on clear facts: practice areas, locations, attorney credentials and reviews that match across the web. I make sure those facts are accurate and consistent. More: AI Search Optimization.
A ranking report doesn't pay your staff. I track the path from search to signed case:
Calls and forms tracked by page and practice area.
Leads matched to your intake or case management system, so you see which became consultations and signed cases.
Response time watched, because clients often hire the first lawyer who answers.
Monthly reports by practice area: searches won, leads, consultations and signed cases.
SEO takes months. Google Ads and Local Services Ads can bring calls now, while your pages grow. I plan both from the same search data, so ads test which practice areas and cities convert before we invest in pages for them. More: Google Ads.
Every practice area, case type and location, matched to one page.
Technical issues, Google Business Profiles, directories and content gaps.
The advertising rules for your state that affect your site, written for your review.
Researched, written and sent for attorney approval.
Target sites and outreach status.
Rankings, calls, consultations and signed cases by practice area.
You share Search Console, analytics, your Google Business Profiles and intake data. I audit the site, local presence and competitors in your markets.
We pick the practice areas and locations that matter most to your firm and its capacity.
Technical fixes, profile cleanup, directory corrections and call tracking.
Practice area and city pages in priority order, each approved by an attorney before it goes live.
The review process starts; outreach begins.
Signed cases by practice area decide where the next month's work goes.
Site, local and competitor audit, practice area map and a prioritized plan.
Everything in the audit, plus monthly pages, local work, reviews, links and reporting. One practice area and market to start.
Researched, rule-aware pages your team or another agency can publish.
Local and technical fixes can help in the first months. New practice area pages usually take three to nine months to rank, longer in competitive areas like personal injury in large cities.
Yes, by being more specific. A small firm can win "custody lawyer in [county]" long before it wins "divorce lawyer" in a big city.
Yes. I research and write every page, and your attorneys approve it before it goes live, because you are responsible for what it says.
They do different jobs. Ads bring calls now and test which areas convert. SEO builds lasting visibility. Using both, planned from the same data, usually works better than either alone.
Yes. Advertising rules differ by state, so pages are written to your state's rules and checked by your attorneys.
I can set up a process that asks every client the right way. I never buy, write or filter reviews.
All of the areas above. Each one gets its own page plan, because each is searched differently.
I'm a consultant, not an agency. You work directly with the person researching, writing and measuring your pages.
Send me your site and your main practice area. In 1 to 2 days you get a short video and a written summary with the 3 fixes that matter most.
