Solicitors · SEO
SEO for solicitors
People search for legal help in precise terms, from 'how long does probate take' to 'settlement agreement solicitor in [town]'. Arête builds your SEO around those searches. One practice area at a time.
From £349 per month, fixed fee
The situation
Why your customers are searching.
Legal search results are crowded with national firms, directories and government guidance. Broad terms like 'solicitors' are hard to win. Practice-area and local searches are more achievable, especially when your firm shows its expertise through accurate, well-structured content. Search engines treat legal topics as high-stakes. Authorship, accuracy and trust signals carry weight.
What sends them looking
- An accepted offer, and conveyancing that needs to start quickly.
- A bereavement that leaves someone responsible for an estate and a probate application.
- A dismissal, grievance or settlement agreement at work.
- A separation, divorce or disagreement over arrangements for children.
- A business dispute, unpaid invoices or a contract to review before signing.
The problem
What costs solicitors work.
Where the work slips away
- Big firms, national conveyancing providers and legal directories own the broad search terms.
- Price and service information has to be published for certain services. Many sites bury it, or set it out in a way clients can't follow.
- Many sensitive enquiries come by phone. Miss the call, or rush it, and they're gone.
- Matters you don't handle, conflicts and cases outside your jurisdiction all eat into fee-earner time.
- Legal content is judged on expertise and accuracy, so thin, generic pages struggle to rank or reassure anyone.
What makes customers hesitate
- Legal fees feel unpredictable, and hourly rates make people nervous about the final bill.
- Prospects worry about discretion when the matter is personal or involves family.
- Has a small firm handled enough matters like theirs?
- Some doubt they need a solicitor at all, and hope a quick free answer will do.
How it helps
What SEO changes.
- Builds a practice-area structure where every service and sub-service has a page matching how people search.
- Creates guides answering the questions clients ask before instructing, reviewed by the solicitor responsible for that area.
- Improves local visibility for each office through Google Business Profile and consistent firm details.
- Adds author and reviewer details, so readers can see qualified people stand behind the content.
What you get
Practice-area keyword map
How clients search for each practice area, grouped by intent and assigned to specific pages so none of them compete with each other.
Client question guides
Articles on costs, timescales and process for each area, drafted from search data and checked by the relevant solicitor.
Author and reviewer markup
Solicitor bylines, review dates and structured data connecting content to named, qualified people.
Office location pages
A page for each office with its practice areas, people, directions and map, supported by an optimised Google Business Profile.
Review generation process
A way to ask for reviews on Google and legal review platforms at a suitable point in a matter, while respecting client confidentiality.
Technical and jurisdiction checks
Indexing, speed and internal linking fixes, with signals that make plain when content applies to England and Wales.
Measurement
The enquiries that count, tracked properly.
What counts as an enquiry
- A phone call during office hours, answered promptly or returned quickly.
- A practice-area enquiry form that captures the matter type and other party details for a conflict check.
- A conveyancing, probate or wills quote request.
- A booked initial consultation with a named solicitor.
What gets tracked
- Rankings and impressions for practice-area and local terms.
- Organic enquiries by practice area, including calls from map listings.
- How readers engage with guides, and how many move on to an enquiry page.
- Review volume and rating on Google and legal review platforms over time.
Worth knowing
What customers check, and the rules to follow.
What customers look for before they call
- Price and service information that's easy to follow, for the services where it's required and ideally beyond.
- The SRA digital badge and regulatory details, showing the firm is authorised and regulated.
- Named solicitors with their practice areas, experience and accreditations, such as Law Society schemes where held.
- Reviews on Google or legal review platforms that reflect the service while respecting confidentiality.
- Plain English on how a matter works, typical timescales and what happens after first contact.
Rules worth knowing
- The SRA Transparency Rules require firms to publish price and service information for certain services, such as residential conveyancing, uncontested probate and employment tribunal claims about unfair or wrongful dismissal, and to display the SRA digital badge.
- Publicity must be accurate and not misleading, including about charges, so fee examples, experience claims and descriptions of outcomes need care.
- Firms are expected to publish their complaints procedure, including how and when clients can complain to the Legal Ombudsman.
- The SRA regulates solicitors in England and Wales. Firms in Scotland and Northern Ireland follow their own Law Society rules, so your wording should match your jurisdiction.
Straight answer
Is it right for you?
Worth doing if you can give it a few months and some solicitor review time. If you need enquiries this week, start with paid search.
Made for
- Firms with practice areas where clients research before instructing, such as probate, family or employment.
- Firms with solicitors willing to review content for accuracy.
- Multi-office practices wanting stronger local visibility for each location.
Not for
- Firms needing new matters immediately, where paid search is quicker.
- Firms unable to commit any solicitor time to reviewing legal content.
Starting price
From £349
per month, fixed management fee
What moves the price
- How competitive the market is
- The current site's technical health
- How much content is planned each month
- Whether local search and maps are in scope
Your ad budget is separate. It goes straight to the platform and is never marked up.
Questions
SEO for solicitors: your questions answered
Does legal content need to be written by a solicitor?
Written by one, no. Reviewed by one before publication, yes. Arête drafts from search research and your input, and the responsible solicitor checks accuracy, jurisdiction and tone. Showing that review on the page helps readers trust the guidance too.
Should a law firm rely on legal directories as well as its own site?
Directories and review platforms can add visibility and trust, and consistent listings support local search. They work best alongside a strong website, because your own pages are the ones you control. Judge paid directory listings on the enquiries they produce.
Start a conversation
Tell Arête about the business and what currently feels missing.
You will receive a direct reply with the most sensible next step, even if that means recommending that nothing needs changing yet.
A direct reply
A personal reply, usually within one working day. No sales script, no chasing.
A short conversation
A look at the business, your current website and what a good result would look like for you.
A clear recommendation
The leanest sensible next step, with fixed scope and a fixed price. Sometimes that's nothing yet, and you'll be told so.
Prefer email? Write to info@aretemarketing.co.uk.