Google Maps results
For most local searches, Google shows a map with three firms before any website. Your Google Business Profile decides whether you are one of them.
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SEO for lawyers · Australia
SEO for Australian lawyers.Found by clients near you.
Most people choose a lawyer close to home, and they start on Google: the map results, the reviews, then your website. We set up and tune each of those for small law practices across Australia, as an add-on to a new or rebuilt website.
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Where local clients look
Three places a local client finds a law practice.
Your service pages
When someone searches for a service, such as a family lawyer or a conveyancing quote, Google looks for a page about that service near them.
Directories and listings
In Australia, legal directories and listing sites often rank above individual practices. Law society referral services list practices too, such as the Law Society of NSW Solicitor Referral Service, the Law Institute of Victoria's Find Your Lawyer and the Queensland Law Society's Find a Solicitor. Your details need to match everywhere.
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What we do
Local SEO, done in this order.
Each step makes the next one count, so we start with the facts Google already holds about your practice.
Google Business Profile
We set up or correct your profile so it describes your practice accurately: the right name, address and phone, the category that matches your main work, your services, opening hours and real photos of your office.
- Checked against your law society listing
- Duplicate or old listings reported for removal
- Links to the right page on your site
Consistent practice details
Your practice's name, address, phone and website should be the same everywhere Google looks. We check the directories that list lawyers, starting with your law society's referral service, and correct what is out of date.
- Old addresses and phone numbers found
- Corrections made, or clear steps for your team
- One record of where your practice is listed
Reviews
A simple review link your team can send when a matter closes, and replies written in your practice's voice. We never buy, write or reward reviews: Google's rules and the Australian Consumer Law forbid fake and misleading reviews.
- A review request link for your staff
- Replies drafted for your approval
- Replies never confirm who is a client
Local service pages
A page for each service you offer, written for the place you serve, with your office address and what a local client needs to know. We only write pages for places where you have an office or genuinely work, because thin pages for suburbs you don't serve can harm the whole site.
- One page per service you offer
- Your office address and map on each
- No copied suburb-by-suburb pages
Search Console and tracking
Google Search Console set up under your practice's account, with calls and enquiry forms tracked, so you can see which searches bring clients to you.
- Search Console owned by your practice
- Calls and forms tracked
- Regular notes on the searches that find you
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A straight answer
What local SEO can and can't do.
Google says local results depend on three things: relevance (how well your profile matches the search), distance (how far you are from the person searching) and prominence (how well known your practice is). We can't change distance. We work on relevance and prominence, and nobody can promise a position in the map results.
Google: tips to improve your local ranking ↗
SEO content is advertising, so the same rules apply. Rule 36 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules means we never write claims such as “Brisbane's best family lawyers” or imply an accreditation a lawyer doesn't hold. In Queensland and Western Australia, personal injury content on your own site is limited by state law, so we don't build pages that chase personal injury searches beyond those limits.
The advertising rules for lawyers' websites, summarised ↗ · Articles and AI answers: see SEO & AEO ↗
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Questions
Questions about local SEO.
Do you offer SEO without a new website?
Local SEO is an add-on to website setup or redesign. Your Google profile sends people to your website, so the website has to work first.
How long does local SEO take?
Fixes to your profile and listings take effect as Google re-reads them. Rankings usually move over months, not days, and nobody can promise a position.
Can you rank us in suburbs where we don't have an office?
Map results depend heavily on where the searcher is, so a profile does best near its own address. We write pages for areas you genuinely serve, but we never create fake offices or pages for places you don't work.
Should we pay for directory listings?
Not as a first step. We start with your Google profile, your law society listing and the free directories that already rank for your services, then tell you plainly whether a paid listing is likely to be worth it.
Can you do SEO for a personal injury practice in Queensland or WA?
Yes, within the limits. Your Google profile, listings and the pages the state law allows on your own site can all be set up properly, but we won't write content that advertises personal injury services beyond what that law permits.
Will you reply to our reviews?
We can draft replies for you to approve. A reply never confirms that someone is your client or mentions their matter.
Who owns the Google profile and Search Console?
Your firm. Both stay under your firm's Google account, and you can remove our access at any time.
How much does it cost?
Local SEO is scoped and quoted separately from the website, on the same 15-minute call.
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The next step
See your new site before you decide.
Send us your firm’s name and city and we’ll build a free preview of your new homepage, or book a 15-minute call.