If you launched your law firm website in hopes of generating new clients, but it’s not showing up in Google, you’re not alone.
Search engine optimization (SEO) for law firms is brutally competitive, and it takes a lot of hard work to get seen.
SEO is complex, and certain mistakes can keep your site from ranking.
In a market where leads click the first results they see, SEO (search engine optimization) is life or death for your law firm’s business.
Let’s break down the most common mistakes that can hold your law firm back, along with some solutions.
Table of Contents
You haven’t given your law firm’s website enough time
If you law firm’s website is new, you’ll need to wait for results.
Assuming you’ve been working on your SEO (search engine optimization), it could take six months to a year to see results.
If you’re trying to do it all yourself, the time it takes to rank could be years or you may not see results at all if you aren’t using an effective strategy.
In any case, if you aren’t sure where you stand, get a free SEO site audit or get a consultation from a professional SEO agency as soon as possible.
You don’t have an SEO strategy
Getting visibility in Google takes more than just publishing a few pages with relevant keywords, generated from an online tool. Effective SEO requires a strategic approach with attention to detail. A basic SEO strategy contains the following elements:
- Keyword research. You need to know what terms real people are searching for, and what LSI keywords to include in your content.
- On-page SEO. This includes optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, headers, URL structures, and other on-page elements. Additional aspects of on-page SEO include writing good content, using internal linking, and optimizing images.
- Technical SEO. You need a mobile-friendly, fast-loading site with no crawl errors, broken links, or indexing issues. XML sitemaps and schema markup are essential.
- Content strategy. The content you publish directly impacts your ranking.
- Local SEO. Having a Google Business profile, local citations, client reviews, and content optimized for your service areas are all essential components to optimizing for Google My Business (GMB) listings.
- Link building. You’ll need strong backlinks from authoritative sites to rank. This can be accomplished through guest posting, media mentions, and creating linkable assets that people want to share.
- Analytics and reporting. You can’t improve what you aren’t tracking. But SEO analytics can be complex if you aren’t familiar with everything.
- Ongoing optimization. SEO isn’t something you do once and walk away. You’ll need to constantly monitor and optimize your site to maintain and improve your rankings.
While some people are able to successfully learn SEO on their own, taking a DIY SEO approach is risky. Unless you want to make SEO a part-time job, you’re better off hiring a law firm SEO pro.
Your law firm site isn’t indexed
It’s frustrating to see your site all the way back on page 20+, but if your site isn’t indexed, it won’t show up at all. Here’s how to know which issue you’re dealing with:
- Go to Google and do a site search by typing in: “site:yourwebsite.com”
- See if any of your web pages show up in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
- If none of your web pages show up, they aren’t in Google’s index.
- If pages show up, they’re indexed, but not ranking.
To get your web pages indexed, submit a request for Google to recrawl your URLs through your Google Search Console.
If your pages are indexed, but aren’t ranking, you’ll need to employ an aggressive SEO campaign to get seen.
Google changed their algorithm (again)
Since the beginning, Google has made hundreds of updates, major and minor, and each time, perfectly good websites take a hit. If your site used to show up in searches, but now it’s pushed far back, check to see if there was a recent algorithm change or core update. Sometimes sites recover naturally after a short period of time, but updates have been fierce in the last few years and you might need to call in an SEO pro.
Your law firm’s website content is thin
If all you have is a home page that lists your practice areas and phone number, you probably won’t rank well. The same is true if you publish a single 300-word blog post once a month. A good blog post should answer important questions in-depth and be at least 1,000 words long. It doesn’t help to publish blog posts on a regular schedule if the content isn’t good. You’re better off posting less frequently to ensure your content is high-quality.
Law is a highly competitive market, and you have to do some work to get seen in Google. At minimum, you need a separate web page for each of your practice areas. For example, if you’re a personal injury attorney, you’ll want a separate page for the following:
- Slip and fall accidents
- Dog bites
- Motorcycle accidents
- Truck accidents
- Car accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Wrongful death
- Premises liability
- Medical malpractice
With a single page simply listing your personal injury lawyer practice areas, Google won’t see your site as helpful. Having a separate, well-written web page for each personal injury practice area gives you a better chance at ranking for related searches.
Your web pages are overloaded with legal jargon
Even though Google loves specificity, legal jargon will only confuse people who read your content. And if your leads aren’t searching for jargon, it’s not going to help you rank.
Avoid complex sentences and excessive legal jargon. It’s okay to use technical words to describe your practice areas, explain how the law works, and describe the process people will go through when they file a lawsuit. For example, if you’re a car accident attorney, you’ll need to explain comparative negligence, no-fault insurance, and similar concepts. However, keep in mind that people who need a lawyer will search for “what to do after a car accident” and not “litigation strategy post-MVA.”
You don’t have a sitemap for search engines
A sitemap will tell Google what web pages exist on your site and the relationship between your pages and files. Google uses sitemaps to discover and index web pages, and having one can improve the way your site is crawled. Getting your site properly crawled is essential for getting indexed and ranking.
You haven’t optimized for your law firm’s local SEO
Since the majority of your clients will come from local search, it’s critical to employ a local SEO strategy. This Google My Business strategy is your secret weapon, especially when you’re competing with national firms. At the very least, you need:
- An optimized Google Business Profile. Not having an optimized Google Business Profile is the fastest way to send your leads to competitors. You need a Google Maps listing with high-quality photos, your practice areas, current hours, and real client reviews. If you don’t have a profile yet, or if it’s underdeveloped, make this your priority. Reach out to your satisfied clients for reviews even if it’s been a while since you’ve connected.
- Consistent NAP information. Your name, address, and phone number need to match in all the online directories where your business is listed. Google will compare the information and even if you’re missing a simple “LLC” at the end of your business name, or the suite number is different, it can impact your ranking.
- Local citations. Google loves credibility, and as a law firm, it’s critical to get listed on Avvo, Justia, FindLaw, and Yelp. If you don’t exist on key directories, Google won’t know you’re legitimate. Many local searches for legal advice will lead users to these platforms first, before they ever find your law firm.
- Optimized service pages. When people search for legal services, Google will return results it thinks are most relevant based on a user’s location. You need at least one web page that lists the areas you serve in terms of counties, cities, and/or zip codes. For example, if you serve clients in Houston, specifically state that on your website.
You’re targeting the wrong keywords
In every industry, some keywords and phrases are better than others. Your law firm will want to target relevant legal keywords that indicate someone needs legal services. Publishing purely informational pages about the law won’t necessarily help you show up in search results when people are searching for “dog bite lawyer near me” or “drug charge attorney near me.”
Since law is competitive, the more general your keywords are, the less likely you are to rank. You want to get specific with your practice areas. Target long tail and geo-specific keywords for the best results.
You’re missing important technical components
Not every missing technical SEO component will harm your site, but some are non-negotiable. For example, you don’t want a bunch of broken links and using HTTPS is essential. You might be able to get away with a few missing details, but technical SEO errors add up fast. If you have too many, it will impact your site negatively.
Broken links should be fixed immediately because they can have a significant impact on your rankings. If any of your high-ranking web pages were deleted, Google will eventually delete them from the index. As a result, you’ll lose traffic. To fix broken links, set up 301 permanent redirects before Google realizes those pages are missing. Going forward, avoid deleting pages whenever possible and be careful when choosing your URL structures.
Your backlink profile is toxic
If you didn’t know any better, there’s a chance you may have bought toxic backlinks. Buying links, using link farms, and guest posting on private blog networks (PBNs) will give you a toxic backlink profile. Although you might see a momentary flash of results, it won’t last. Google goes to great lengths to ignore these links. Unfortunately, it’s easy to accidentally pick up low-quality backlinks if you’re not familiar with the industry.
Law firms need white hat link building services to rank better. Compared to the short-lived impact of black hat link building, white hat strategies are sustainable long-term.
You’ve lost good backlinks
In a perfect world, your best backlinks would stick around forever, but sometimes links disappear. Sometimes it’s because a website gets a new CMS (content management system … like WordPress) and the link structure changes (and no redirects are created). And sometimes webmasters remove external links or set them to ‘nofollow’ or ‘sponsored,’ which means they no longer influence your ranking.
Your web server is unreliable
Google doesn’t just evaluate web pages – it takes web server reliability into account when determining ranking. If your site experiences excessive downtime, it can negatively impact your ranking. This doesn’t apply to planned downtime for maintenance or unexpected, temporary issues that get resolved. Google expects web servers to go down once in a while.
Even so, if you take your site offline for maintenance, make sure it returns a 503 code so Google knows it’s temporary.
There’s a problem with your robots.txt or .htaccess files
This is one of the most common issues, especially for WordPress sites. Content management systems like WordPress automatically configure these files based on settings you choose in the admin panel. For example, if you check the box to “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” while it’s under development, it will add code to your robots.txt file telling search engines to ignore your site. Many people forget to uncheck this box when they go live.
Likewise, depending on the plugin and theme you’re using, there could be a problem with your .htaccess file that is creating problems, like 404 pages and redirect loops. If you don’t know how to check for these issues, hire a website developer to investigate the issue
Your anchor text is over-optimized
There was a time when exact match anchor text helped sites rank, but those days are over. Exact match phrases, like “best law firm in Tampa,” can create an unnatural backlink profile. Links with this type of anchor text look manipulative and Google won’t give it much weight.
You’ve used black hat SEO tactics
Tactics like keyword stuffing, hidden text, cloaking, and redirects are all against Google’s terms, and these tactics will get your site suppressed in the search results. If you aren’t sure what your SEO person has done, get a consultation from a professional SEO agency and find out. Most issues can be resolved, but it’s important to act fast so you don’t waste any time.
Google has penalized your site
Google expects webmasters to follow their rules, and when those rules are broken, sites get penalized. If your site has received a Google penalty in the form of a Manual Action, your site won’t rank as well as it should. This is a penalty handed out after a human being manually reviews your site and determines you’ve broken the rules. Google will tell you how to correct the issue, so follow their instructions as soon as possible. If you can’t get the penalty removed, or if you get it removed and you’re still struggling to rank, it’s time to hire a professional SEO agency.
Start ranking in Google and get more qualified leads
Ranking in Google can bring you a steady stream of hot leads who need your legal services right now.
If you’re not ranking on Google, no potential clients will even know you exist.
At SEO.co, we help law firms outrank the competition with high-performance SEO campaigns. We don’t just boost traffic to your law firm website – we get your site in front of people who actually need your services.
When you work with us, you’re investing in long-term growth.
Tired of waiting for your law firm to get seen in Google? We’d love to help. Contact us for a free law firm SEO proposal and start turning searches into clients.
Tim holds expertise in building and scaling sales operations, helping companies increase revenue efficiency and drive growth from websites and sales teams.
When he's not working, Tim enjoys playing a few rounds of disc golf, running, and spending time with his wife and family on the beach...preferably in Hawaii.
Over the years he's written for publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Marketing Land, Search Engine Journal, ReadWrite and other highly respected online publications. Connect with Tim on Linkedin & Twitter.
- Why Isn’t My Law Firm Ranking on Google? Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid - May 5, 2025
- Pros & Cons of Using Indian Link Building Services - April 14, 2025
- Search Everywhere Optimization: The New and Improved SEO - April 14, 2025
