Professional firms
Coming up for «employment solicitor» plus your city.
Searches in this sector combine the subject and the place. Each combination is a page, and each page is an enquiry coming in.
Local SEO for a professional firm is worked on with a page per area of practice and per city, written with the words clients use, a well kept Google profile and the firm’s details identical everywhere.
Last reviewed:
Subject plus city: that is how people search
«Employment solicitor» and the name of the city. «Tax adviser» and the district. «Probate» and the town. And, increasingly, the direct question: «I have been dismissed, what do I do». Both forms coexist, and a well written site answers both.
What Google publishes about the local result
There are three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. In professional services, where distance matters less than for a garage, relevance and prominence count for a great deal: well written area pages, a complete profile, reviews and mentions in local media or professional bodies.
Answering questions is ranking
The most natural way to rank a professional firm is to answer in writing the questions you already answer on the phone five times a week. Each one is a real search made by somebody with a problem, and whoever answers it well takes the enquiry.
And what is not promised
Nobody guarantees first place, and in this sector it is worth being doubly wary of anyone who does. What can be promised is doing what is documented, writing well and showing what has been done. Results arrive over months and accumulate.
The same thing, explained in general: Local SEO · Areas of practice
What we do about it
Part of the maintenance: you never have to ask, and it is never billed apart.
- Client words The ones typed with the problem in front of them.
- A page per area And per city when you genuinely serve several.
- Questions answered The ones you already answer on the phone every week.
- A well kept Google profile With your specialty as the category and real hours.
- The same details everywhere Website, profile, professional body and directories.
- Honest reporting Which searches you appear for and which are still winnable.
And this you change with one sentence
You write what you want changed and we publish it.
We want to appear for probate
A page of its own for the area, with the usual questions answered.
We also take clients in the next city
A page for that area, written for there.
Answer on the site what people ask us every week
Questions turned into content with their own page.
Frequently asked questions
How long until it shows?
The profile and the details, weeks. Area pages, months. It is a competitive sector with a lot of published content.
Do you guarantee first place?
No, and in this sector be especially wary of anyone who does.
Do I need a blog?
Notes and alerts work better than a blog: they get published when something happens and demonstrate currency.
What about professional directories?
They bring contacts and take their share. Your own site and profile are what stop you depending on them.
Where all this comes from
Every figure and every rule quoted above, linked to the official text.
- Tips to improve your local ranking on Google Google Business Profile
- Google Search Essentials Google Search Central
The rest of what a website for professional firms includes
Service areas
Each area with its own page, explained in plain language and with what it covers.
An easy first appointment
The client books the first consultation from the site and it reaches you with the matter already written down.
Team and registration
Who is who, with their professional registration number and speciality. Trust you can check.
GDPR and confidentiality
Privacy notices, legal basis and form consents, all sorted.
Notes and updates
Changes of deadline or of rule, published and dated. The cheap way to show you are current.
A serious domain and email
Your own domain and professional email. No free addresses on the business card.
Backups and security
Secure certificate and a daily copy. Your site does not fall over in tax week.
Do you come up when somebody searches your subject in your city?
Try it from a phone, signed out. If you do not come up, we will tell you why and what it would cost.
Write to us