SEO for lawyers. Own your practice area in your city.
The firms winning online search aren't the biggest or the oldest. They're the ones with a page for each practice area, in each city they serve, answering the exact question the client typed.
Why most law firm websites don’t rank
One page for eight practice areas
The single most common structural mistake in legal SEO, and the one that caps every other effort.
No city-level pages
Legal intent is local. Without genuine city pages you're invisible outside your own suburb.
Thin or absent reviews
Google reviews are a ranking factor and a conversion factor at once. Most firms have a handful; the leaders have hundreds.
Slow, image-heavy sites
Legal sites are frequently built on ageing themes. Speed is a ranking factor and a conversion one.
Practice area × location
Nobody searches “law firm”. They search “family lawyer Geelong”, “will dispute lawyer Melbourne”, “unfair dismissal lawyer near me”.
Each is a distinct search with distinct intent, and each needs its own page. Firms with a single “Our Services” page listing eight practice areas rank for none of them and can't work out why.
The maths is simple: five practice areas across four cities is twenty pages, each competing in a far smaller field than “lawyer” ever could.
- Family lawyer Geelong
- Wills and estates lawyer Geelong
- Commercial lawyer Melbourne
- Employment lawyer Ballarat
- Conveyancing solicitor Surf Coast
Written to your advertising obligations
Every page we write for a law firm is built to be defensible under Rule 36 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules, no false, misleading or deceptive claims, no guaranteed outcomes, no unsubstantiated superlatives.
If your firm practises in an area with additional state-based advertising restrictions, we flag it before writing rather than after publishing.
General awareness, not legal advice. Your firm remains responsible for its own compliance. We recommend review by a practising solicitor before publication.
What we do
How long it takes
Technical audit, practice-area mapping, Google Business Profile, review system.
Practice-area and city pages live. Local rankings begin moving.
Page one for local practice-area terms. Enquiries predictable enough to plan around.
Competitive metro terms and higher-value matter types.
Anyone promising faster is selling you something. If your domain is new or has a penalty history, add two to three months to every stage.
Questions
Is SEO better than Google Ads for a law firm?
Different jobs. Ads buy you enquiries today at a high cost per click, legal is among the most expensive categories in Australia. SEO costs more up front and less over time.
Most firms should run ads while SEO builds, then shift the balance.
How many pages do we need?
One per practice area, one per practice area per city you genuinely serve, plus supporting content. A firm with four practice areas in two cities is looking at roughly twelve to twenty pages.
Will this work for a small firm?
Often better. A two-partner firm that owns “family lawyer Geelong” beats a national firm that ranks vaguely for everything.
We are in Geelong but want Melbourne work. Possible?
Yes, though Melbourne is a harder market and takes longer. It needs genuine Melbourne-specific pages, not a suburb swap. We'd be upfront about the timeline.
Law firm SEO, without the snake oil
Legal SEO in Australia is the most contested local search category there is, and the one most full of vendors selling rankings they can’t deliver. Here is the version that stands up.
Practice-area pages are the asset
People don’t search for law firms, they search for problems: “unfair dismissal lawyer”, “family lawyer geelong”, “commercial lease dispute”. Each practice area earns a dedicated page: who it’s for, how matters typically run, realistic cost structures, and the first five questions every client asks in a consult.
Local intent decides most matters
The map pack takes a huge share of legal clicks, which makes your Google Business Profile a ranking asset equal to your website: correct categories, individual practitioner profiles, and reviews requested ethically after matters close, never incentivised, never faked.
Content with a name on it
An article on “what happens at a family law mediation” written plainly and bylined by the practitioner who runs them will outrank a ghost-written keyword page, and earn citations in AI answers. We draft from interviews with your lawyers; they review for accuracy and compliance.
Want us to find what's capping you, before you ever pay us a dollar?
Three answers from you. Twenty-four hours from us. Your site marked up screenshot by screenshot, the brands beating you benchmarked, and a fix-first plan. No pitch inside.
Find the practice areas you could own.
Free audit, about 30 minutes. You keep the findings whether or not we work together.