Start with what a client is worth
SEO (search engine optimization) means getting your site in front of people when they search Google for something you can help with. Legal SEO services, attorney SEO services, SEO services for lawyers: these all describe the same thing, someone doing that work on a law firm's site.
Before you read anyone's proposal, work out what the work has to earn. Say you run a three-attorney employment firm in Columbus (made up, like the numbers). A typical signed client brings in $6,000 in fees, and you're looking at spending $2,000 a month. That's $24,000 a year, so you'd need four extra signed clients a year just to cover it, before you count the attorney time that goes into reviewing pages.
Four clients a year is something you can check against your intake records. A chart of rising traffic isn't.
What the work should include
Google's own page on hiring help lists the useful services: reviewing your content and site structure, technical advice, content development, keyword research, and knowledge of specific markets. Here's what those look like on a law firm's site, and what you should be able to see when each one is getting done.
| The job | What it means at a law firm | What you should be able to see |
|---|---|---|
| Research | Working out what people search before they call you, by matter type and by place. A keyword is just one of those searches. | A list tied to the matters you want more of, with a reason for each |
| Practice area pages | A page for each type of matter you want, explaining how it works and what happens first | Drafts an attorney has read and approved |
| Answers to client questions | Pages on what people ask before they hire anyone, like what happens at a first hearing | A plan that starts from what your intake person hears most |
| Technical upkeep | Fixing what gets in Google's way or annoys visitors: broken links, bad redirects, missing titles, slow pages | A dated log of changes. Google suggests asking whether you'll be shown all of them, with reasons |
| Local work | Your Google Business Profile, office pages and reviews | A profile your firm owns, with details that match your site |
| Links | Other real sites, like bar groups and local organizations, linking to you | Every link by address, and anything that was paid for |
| Reporting | Calls, forms and signed clients by source, as well as rankings | A monthly sheet you can check against intake |
Not every firm needs all of this every month. A solo in a small county might need a solid Business Profile and eight good pages, then very little for a while. A firm chasing injury cases in a big metro has a much longer road, and SEO for personal injury lawyers goes through that case by case. Our law firm playbook covers how the pages fit together.
What can get your site in trouble
Google's spam policies apply to your site no matter who did the work. Google says plainly that deceptive content created on your behalf could get your site removed from its index, and that you're responsible for the actions of anyone you hire. So look for these in any plan, including one you wrote yourself:
- Paying for links. Google counts exchanging money or services for links as link spam, and that reaches keyword-heavy links placed in guest posts and press releases.
- Near-identical city pages. Pages aimed at specific cities that funnel people to one place are doorway abuse. Write a city page only if you have something real to say about that place.
- Pages made in bulk. Scaled content abuse covers generating lots of pages to manipulate rankings, however they're made. Google's AI guidance says the same of AI tools used that way. For a law firm there's a second problem: one wrong deadline on one page can cost a reader their claim.
- Bought or faked reviews. Google doesn't allow reviews paid for directly or in kind, and the FTC's rule reaches fake reviews too.
The bar rules stay with you
Getting help doesn't move any of this off your desk. Rule 5.3 tells partners to make reasonable efforts to ensure that nonlawyers working with the firm act in line with the lawyer's own obligations. Its comment extends that to services outside the firm, and the Rule 7.2 comment points back to Rule 5.3 when it discusses paying for leads. Here's what to check on any page before it goes live.
| On the page | What to check |
|---|---|
| Past results | The Rule 7.1 comment says a truthful result can mislead if it creates an unjustified expectation that others will get the same. A disclaimer may help. |
| "The best" or "top" anything | The same comment says an unsubstantiated comparison with other lawyers may be misleading. |
| "Specialist" or "expert" | Rule 7.2(c) bars implying certification unless an approved body certified you and you name it. The comment otherwise applies the false-or-misleading standard. Florida says you must be able to objectively verify a claim of expertise. |
| Guarantees | California's Rule 7.1 comment treats an express guarantee of a result as false or misleading. Florida bars statements read as a prediction or guaranty of success. |
| Testimonials | Florida allows them only on several conditions, including that you didn't write them and the person received nothing of value. Other states differ, so look yours up. |
Look at how the work gets paid for, too. Rule 7.2(b)(1) lets you pay the reasonable costs of advertising, and the comment names vendors and website designers. But Rule 5.4(a) bars sharing legal fees with a nonlawyer, with narrow exceptions. So if any arrangement pays someone a percentage of the fees from signed cases, ask your bar before you sign it.
And keep marketing away from live outreach. A website isn't solicitation, because it's aimed at the general public, but Rule 7.3 bars most live person-to-person contact with people when money is a significant motive. If a plan involves calling people who've just had a legal problem, stop and read the rule.
The practical control is dull: name one attorney who approves every page, and keep the date.
What it tends to cost
I couldn't find a neutral price survey specific to law firms, so these are general SEO figures, from companies that sell SEO software.
Ahrefs polled 439 SEO providers (the page was last updated in August 2024). The most common monthly band was $501 to $1,000, chosen by 20.4% of them. Working from the top of each band, it calculated averages of about $1,349 a month for freelancers and $3,209 for agencies. SE Ranking's survey with Duda (published December 2024, 260 responses, mostly small agencies across several countries) found 64% charging under $1,000 a month, and its authors say the sample may be too small for statistical significance.
Go back to your own number from the top of this page. Then ask what ships each month for the price, because a figure means little until you can see what it buys.
Four ways to get it done
| Who does it | It suits you when | What you still do |
|---|---|---|
| You or someone on staff | You run a small local practice and have some hours. Google says a small local business can probably do much of the work itself, starting from its starter guide. | All of it, and finding the time is the hard part |
| A freelancer or consultant | You want one person's judgment on a defined project, or a second opinion on your own plan | Supply the legal knowledge and approve pages |
| An agency that works with law firms | You want a team running it, often alongside ads or web work, and the budget fits | Answer questions, approve pages and watch the numbers |
| Software | You have a working site and someone who'll spend a few minutes a week approving drafts | Read everything, and add what only you know |
If you're planning a new site anyway, Google calls that a great time to bring someone in, and the earlier the better. Law firm website design covers what to protect during a redesign.
Questions to ask, including of yourself
Several of these come straight from Google's list. The rest are specific to law firms. Good answers are concrete.
- Can I see previous work for a firm like mine, and talk to a past client?
- What results do you expect, by when, and how will you measure them?
- Will you show me every change to my site, and tell me why you made it?
- Who at my firm approves each page before it goes live?
- Can I see every link that gets built, and was any of it paid for?
- Who owns the domain, the site, Search Console, Analytics and the Business Profile, and what happens to them if we stop working together?
That last one is easy to get right on day one. Search Console has owners and users, and a Business Profile has one primary owner plus managers who can do nearly everything. Put your firm in the top role and give any helper the role below it. For a first audit, Google suggests giving read access to Search Console only.
How to tell if it's paying
Results show up in a rough order, which helps you see where things are stuck. Work ships. Google shows your pages more often, which appears as impressions in Search Console's performance report. Clicks follow. Then calls and forms, then signed clients.
Google says some changes take effect in hours and others take several months, and that not every change makes a noticeable difference. So review it by the quarter, and don't expect anyone to give you an honest date for a specific ranking.
Ask every new client how they found you and write it in one spreadsheet, with the fee beside it. When you read search data, ignore searches for your own firm's name, since those people were already looking for you.
Then check what happens after the click. In Clio's 2024 study of 500 firms, 48% couldn't be reached by phone and just 33% answered email. If that's you, more traffic means more people reaching your voicemail.
Where Sojig fits
Sojig is our product, so read this with that in mind. It's software. Each week it drafts technical fixes, drafts pages for searches your site misses, drafts an article, tracks your rankings and prepares outreach emails you send from your own inbox. In Manual mode, the default, nothing ships until someone approves it, and a law firm should stay in that mode. Plans start at $99 a month as of November 2026.
It's the wrong pick if you want a person who owns all of this and picks up when you call, and that's a good reason to hire a consultant or an agency that works with law firms. It won't check your copy against your state's rules, and it doesn't run ads. Google also doesn't evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools, ours included. If you're weighing ads against any of this, read law firm PPC vs SEO.