Use the category for your main practice area, not the general Lawyer category. Keep your firm name exactly as it is registered. Ask each client for a review, and never confirm a client or discuss a case in a reply. Check your state bar advertising rules before you publish testimonials or results.
How customers search for law firms
These are the searches that produce calls in this trade. Each one has a different value and a different level of competition.
| Search | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| personal injury lawyer near me | High value and high competition. Reviews and response speed decide it. |
| car accident attorney | Immediate intent. The caller usually contacts three firms. |
| divorce lawyer | Planned, and the person reads reviews for a long time. |
| estate planning attorney | Lower urgency, higher research, and often a referral. |
| criminal defense attorney | Urgent, and often searched at night. |
| workers compensation lawyer | Specific, and it needs its own category and page. |
Your categories
Main category: Personal injury attorney
Select the category for the practice area that earns the most. A general category such as Lawyer competes with every firm in the city. Add one category for each practice area that you actively accept.
Additional categories to consider:
- Law firm
- Trial attorney
- Family law attorney
- Estate planning attorney
- Criminal justice attorney
Use our category finder to confirm, and read the category guide for the method to change a category safely.
The services to list
Add each service as a separate item. Use the words that customers type, not the words that the trade uses. This list covers most companies in this trade.
- Car accident claims
- Truck accident claims
- Slip and fall claims
- Workers compensation
- Wrongful death
- Divorce
- Child custody
- Estate planning
- Probate
- Criminal defense
- DUI defense
- Business formation
- Contract disputes
- Free consultation
Write one or two sentences for each service. Add a price or a price range if you publish prices.
Hours and availability
Legal searches happen at night and on weekends, especially criminal and accident searches. If you use an answering service, set the hours that a person answers, and say so in the description.
The photos to take
Take these six photos. Each one answers a question that a customer asks before the call.
- The building entrance with the suite number, from the street
- The reception area
- A conference room, empty
- Attorney portraits, taken by a photographer
- The team together
- The parking area or the entrance that clients use
Add three to five photos each week. Our photo audit shows the gaps on your listing.
Your review system
Ask each customer on the day of the job. Send a direct link in a text message. Ask one time, then send one reminder after three days.
Use our review link builder for the link, and the request template for your trade. Answer each review with the reply writer.
Do not offer a discount or a gift for a review. Do not ask only the customers that you think are satisfied. Google and the FTC prohibit both practices.
Your posting plan
Post one time each week. These are the messages that work in this trade.
January
Estate planning and divorce searches rise at the start of the year.
Holiday weekends
Accident and DUI searches rise. Check that your hours and your answering service are correct.
Tax season
Business and estate questions rise. Post short answers to common questions.
All year
Post answers to the questions that clients ask in the first call. Do not promise outcomes.
Suspension risks for law firms
These are the mistakes that remove listings in this trade.
- Practice areas added to the firm name. The name must be the registered name.
- An office at a virtual address or a shared space that you do not staff during your hours.
- A separate listing for each attorney when the rules do not allow it. Review the Google guidelines for individual practitioners first.
- A reply to a review that confirms a client or discusses a case.
- Claims about results that your state bar restricts. Check the rules before you publish.
Examine your business name with our free name checker.
What your website must do
Google reads your website when it selects the businesses for the map. Three things matter most.
- One page for each main service, with the words that customers use.
- The same business name, address and telephone number as your listing.
- A page for each area that you serve, with real local detail.
See local SEO for your website.
An example of the work in order
A two-attorney firm that handles injury and family law. This is an example that shows the order of the work. It is not a client report.
- The firm used Lawyer as the main category, had 6 reviews, and no service list.
- The corrections: main category changed to Personal injury attorney, Family law attorney added, 10 services added, office photos taken, and a review request added to the closing letter.
- The compliance step: the managing attorney reviewed the review request and the replies against the state bar advertising rules before use.
Your checklist
- Main category set to Personal injury attorney
- Additional categories added for regular services only
- Each service listed separately, in customer words
- Business name is the real name, with no extra words
- Hours are correct, and they match the telephone that you answer
- Service area covers the places that you drive to
- At least 15 real photos, and new photos each week
- A review request sent to each customer on the day of the job
- Each review answered within 48 hours
- The same business name, address and telephone number on other websites