10 SEO Mistakes That Are Costing Your Law Firm Clients

Are you spending money on SEO but not seeing results? You’re not alone. Many law firms unknowingly sabotage their search visibility and lose potential clients by making avoidable SEO mistakes. This article outlines 10 common SEO mistakes law firms make, from neglecting local optimization to overlooking conversion tracking. While these principles apply across all search engines, the focus here is on Google, which dominates the search market and plays the most significant role in online visibility. Whether you manage your firm’s marketing in-house or work with an agency, these insights can help you identify gaps, correct costly errors, and make your website work as hard as you do.

Clients often turn to search engines long before they ever pick up the phone. If your law firm isn’t showing up when and where they’re searching, you may be missing out on valuable business.

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be one of the most effective tools for attracting new clients. But many law firms make critical SEO mistakes that limit their performance, waste marketing resources, or fail to generate meaningful results.

The following are 10 common SEO mistakes law firms make and practical ways to avoid them and improve digital performance.

1. Neglecting Local SEO

Google has essentially “localized” everything — even law firms are treated like pizza shops now. When someone searches for a “criminal defense attorney,” Google assumes they mean near them and shows localized results. That means even if you’re a top-notch lawyer, if your site doesn’t send strong local signals, you’re not showing up where it counts — on the map or in the local pack.

How to fix it:

Include Local Keywords: Use location-specific terms in your page titles, meta descriptions, H1s, and content. Instead of just “family law attorney,” use “family law attorney in San Jose” or “Los Angeles child custody lawyer.” This helps Google understand exactly where you serve clients.
Claim and Optimize Your Google Business Profile: This is crucial to showing up in Google Maps results. Fill out every section, add photos, choose the right categories, and keep it updated.
Leverage Reviews for Local Visibility: Google favors businesses with positive reviews, especially on Google Business Profile. Encourage clients to leave feedback and respond professionally to all reviews to boost local search rankings and build trust.
Build Consistent Local Citations: Make sure your law firm’s Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) are consistent across the internet — it helps Google verify your business and improves your chances of ranking in the local pack. Tools like Moz Local, Whitespark and Yext can help distribute your citations quickly and keep them accurate.

2. Using Thin or Duplicate Practice Area Pages

Some law firms struggle with underperforming service pages because of content issues that fall into two common traps:

Duplicate Content: Reusing identical content across multiple service pages, changing only the city name or a few keywords.
Thin Content: Pages that contain only a few sentences about a practice area without meaningful detail are unlikely to rank well or convert visitors into clients. They provide little value to users, and Google prioritizes content that is genuinely helpful and informative.

Google considers duplicate and thin content low-quality and may ignore or discount it in search rankings.

How to fix it:

Write unique content for each page instead of copying and pasting across service areas. Even if the legal principles are similar, tailor the content to reflect regional nuances, local court procedures, or client concerns specific to that location. Unsure whether your site has duplicate content? If you’ve used ghostwriters or outside help, it’s worth checking. Tools like Copyscape and Siteliner can help you identify duplicate content across your site.
Make each page substantive and informative by focusing on what sets that area of law apart. If you’re unsure how to expand the content, incorporate hypothetical scenarios to illustrate common legal situations. For example, describe how liability might be determined in a local personal injury case or how custody decisions are approached in your jurisdiction. Just make it clear that the examples are fictional and for general informational purposes, not legal advice.
Another way to enrich your practice area pages’ effectiveness is by adding a concise FAQ section to answer client questions directly, which boosts engagement and SEO. Using conversational, plain language also makes your content more user-friendly, building trust with potential clients and signaling to search engines that your page prioritizes the user experience.

3. Overusing Keywords

Keyword stuffing — unnaturally repeating phrases like “Los Angeles DUI attorney” — not only hurts your rankings, but also undermines your credibility with both search engines and potential clients. It makes content harder to read and signals to Google that the page may be trying to manipulate the algorithm rather than serve users. As a result, Google may devalue or ignore the page for that particular keyword.

How to fix it:

Start by researching the most relevant keywords for your practice area and location. Then, incorporate those terms thoughtfully into your headings, body content, and metadata — but avoid overloading the page. Use keywords where they naturally fit. Always write for humans first. Let the search intent guide your structure and messaging. This approach not only boosts your chances of ranking but also creates a better user experience, which is exactly what Google aims to reward.

4. Ignoring Technical SEO

A slow, broken, or outdated website sends the wrong message to both Google and potential clients. While technical SEO alone won’t secure top rankings, it’s essential for ensuring your site performs well. Optimizing essentials like structure, speed, mobile performance, and security gives your content a better chance to rank and convert. A strong technical foundation, like the one built into Justia Elevate, includes best practices for design, layout, and key metadata like title tags.

How to fix it:

Improving technical SEO doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Focus on these core actions to strengthen your site’s performance and visibility, and check out our in-depth guide to Technical SEO for Law Firms for recommendations:

Use HTTPS to secure your site.
Set up 301 redirects to avoid broken links and preserve SEO.
Improve speed & mobile performance (Core Web Vitals).
Ensure ADA compliance with tools like WAVE.
Add schema (LegalService, FAQ, Breadcrumb).
Audit regularly with Google Search Console or Screaming Frog.
Update sitemaps (XML + HTML) for better indexing.

5. Missing or Weak Attorney Bios

Attorney bio pages are often among the most visited sections of a law firm’s website. Yet, many bios are brief, outdated, or generic, missing the opportunity to showcase the attorney’s unique qualifications and personality. From an SEO perspective, weak or missing bios can prevent your site from ranking for attorney name searches and may even allow third-party directories to outrank you. Additionally, Google also emphasizes E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness), especially for legal content, making strong, detailed bios essential for building credibility and improving visibility.

How to fix it:

Write a bio that goes beyond credentials. Include court admissions, awards, media features, and speaking engagements. Share a few personal details, such as your journey into law or your philosophy on client service, to help build trust with potential clients. Keep content updated and consistent across platforms, but avoid copying it word-for-word to prevent SEO issues. And don’t forget to add a high-quality, professional photo — it makes a strong first impression.

6. Failing to Demonstrate E-E-A-T

Google prioritizes content that demonstrates Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) — especially in legal topics, which fall under its “Your Money or Your Life” (YMYL) category. If your site lacks signals that show you’re a credible, experienced legal professional, your content may struggle to rank, even if it’s well-written.

How to Fix It:

Start with your homepage — clearly showcase your firm’s credentials, awards, years of experience, and practice focus. Include trust signals like client testimonials, professional memberships, and links to internal pages. On practice area pages, demonstrate experience by referencing relevant case types, legal processes, or common client concerns. Add supporting elements like attorney recognitions, client reviews, and links to related blog content.

7. Missing Out on Website Authority

Backlinks — links from reputable external websites to your own — are one of the strongest ranking factors in SEO. Yet many firms underestimate their importance in boosting online visibility and search performance.

How to fix it:

Building a strong backlink profile requires a strategic approach. Avoid spammy tactics or link farms, which can harm your rankings. Focus on acquiring high-quality, relevant links that signal to search engines your firm’s expertise and trustworthiness.

Target Authoritative Legal and Business Directories:
- Legal Directories: Prioritize earning profiles and links from established legal directories such as Justia, Avvo, and others. These platforms are trusted by users and search engines alike in the legal SEO space. (For a comprehensive list, refer to our blog post: Best Free Lawyer & Law Firm Directories for Attorneys to Obtain Profiles.)
- General Business Directories: Leverage tools like Moz Local, Whitespark, or Yext to ensure consistent Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP) information across widely used directories (e.g., Yelp, Yellow Pages, local chambers of commerce). NAP consistency reinforces local SEO signals and strengthens link authority.
- Profile Optimization: For all directories, treat each profile as a unique content opportunity. Avoid duplicate descriptions. Instead, customize each profile with specific, compelling language, fully complete every section, and upload high-quality images. This not only builds trust with potential clients but also enhances your link profile by helping search engines recognize your site as authoritative by providing diverse, original, and fully optimized pages to index.
Build Website Authority With High-Quality Backlinks:
- Content Development: Publish substantive, original content that addresses real client concerns, legal interpretations, or niche-specific topics. Content that is detailed, insightful, and aligned with user intent is more likely to earn organic backlinks from legal blogs, media outlets, and other authoritative sources.
- Prioritize In-Content Placement: Links embedded naturally within the main body of the content (e.g., within a practice area page, an article, or blog post) often carry more SEO weight than those placed in footers, sidebars, or generic resource lists.
Diversify Your Link Profile Strategically:
- Link to Multiple Pages on Your Website: Don’t solely focus on acquiring links to your homepage. Direct efforts toward earning links to multiple internal pages, such as practice area descriptions, attorney bios, FAQs, and blog posts. This broadens the authority passed throughout your website and helps individual pages rank for specific keywords.

Together, these strategies help law firms strengthen domain authority, boost search rankings, and attract more qualified, conversion-ready traffic.

8. Not Tracking Results

Many law firms focus solely on website traffic as a measure of success. However, traffic alone doesn’t guarantee new clients. You may miss opportunities to convert visitors into leads without tracking how visitors interact with your site.

How to fix it:

Implement Conversion Tracking: Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor key actions such as phone calls, form submissions, and consultation bookings.
Analyze Conversion Rates: Regularly assess the percentage of visitors who take desired actions. This helps identify which pages or strategies are most effective.
Set Clear Goals: Determine how many new clients you aim to acquire monthly. This allows you to measure whether your website is meeting business objectives.

Focusing on these metrics can help you better understand your website’s performance and make informed decisions to enhance client acquisition.

9. Letting the Blog Die

A blog that hasn’t been updated since 2020 isn’t helping your SEO. Blogs help you rank for client questions and build topical authority.

How to fix it:

Post Consistently: Aim to publish new content at least once or twice a month to keep your blog active and relevant.
Address Client Questions: Focus on answering common legal questions, explaining legal terms, and providing practical advice that resonates with your target audience.
Leverage AI Tools: Utilize AI-powered tools to identify trending topics and generate content ideas, ensuring your blog stays current and informative.

Maintaining a consistent blogging schedule and leveraging modern tools can enhance your firm’s online presence and authority in your practice areas.

10. Skipping Structured Data

Schema markup, or structured data, helps Google understand your site better and can improve how your pages appear in search results.

How to fix it:

Implement Relevant Schema Types: Use structured data like LegalService and FAQPage schema to help search engines better understand your content and enhance your visibility in search results.
Highlight Key Business Information: Include details such as your firm’s name, address, phone number (NAP), office hours, and areas of practice within your schema markup to improve local SEO and provide clear information to potential clients.
Utilize Tools for Schema Implementation: Add and test schema markup effectively, by employing tools like Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper or plugins compatible with your website platform.
Regularly Audit and Update Schema: Periodically review your structured data using tools like Google’s Rich Results Test to ensure accuracy and compliance with the latest SEO best practices.

By incorporating structured data into your website, you can enhance your law firm’s online presence and make it easier for search engines to index and display your content effectively.

Bonus Tip: No Clear Conversion Path

Even though it’s not a direct SEO ranking factor, conversion is the ultimate goal of your website traffic. You’re missing leads if your website doesn’t clearly tell users what to do next.

How to fix it:

Your website should be built to convert, making it effortless for potential clients to contact your firm. Use clear calls to action like “Schedule a Free Consultation” or “Call Now” on every website page. Keep phone numbers visible and clickable. Add easy-to-use contact forms and consider live chat to engage visitors in real time. Make sure everything works seamlessly on mobile. A streamlined experience turns visitors into clients.

Final Thoughts

SEO isn’t just about rankings, it’s about getting found by the right clients at the right time. If your law firm is making even a few of these mistakes, you could be losing leads without realizing it.

The good news? Each of these issues is fixable, and improving just a few of them can lead to measurable results.

Struggling with local SEO or unsure how your site stacks up? Justia’s legal marketing experts can help you fix what’s holding your site back — and start winning more clients online. Contact us today.